A Wellness Education Program

A Wellness Education Program

Nurses play a critical role in promoting population and individual health by implementing appropriate interventions.  The windshield survey provides useful information on the strengths and weaknesses of a community.  As a result, nurses use data collected to identify health concerns and tailor health promotion and preventive program.  Consequently, the paper proposes a wellness education program to address the health concerns identified in the windshield survey (alcoholism, drug abuse and the failure to use birth control) and improve the members’ health.

Health Problem

The windshield survey revealed the community has various health problems that should be addressed to improve the population health.  The issues include alcoholism, drug addiction and the failure to utilize birth control.  Alcoholism and drug use have led to a high rate of unemployment, as residents are not willing to get jobs and lack of income making it hard to care for families.  Moreover, access to healthcare services including reproductive services is a challenge because of the lack of income.  Most persons do not use birth control, as they believe they are too expensive.

A Wellness Education Program and its Benefits

The education program is critical to raising awareness about drug and alcohol use and birth control practices.  Substance abuse prevention needs awareness of the factors that place young persons and adults at risk and modifying them (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013).  Residents will be educated on some of the factors including being brought up by parents using alcohol and drugs and availability of the substance.  The intervention will increase residents’ knowledge and get rid of negative attitudes that increase the risk of substance abuse.  The target audience will be informed about birth control methods such as oral contraceptives to increase their use.  The lack of oral contraceptive knowledge leads to discontinuation of the method.  Thus, ensuring women understand the available methods for birth control and their benefits will encourage their use (Hall, Westhoff, & Castano, 2013).

Cultural Consideration

The United States population has become diverse in the past years due to the increase in the number of minorities and this presents a problem and opportunity to improve health outcomes (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  Advanced Practice Nurses and patients have different views and attitudes towards the diversity and life experiences with diverse communities.  As a result, nurses should be cultural competent by learning about other cultures and appreciating their effect on health care.  They should be nonjudgmental and willing to learn more about their own cultures and others to ensure positive encounters with patients (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  Therefore, the nurse will consult with one of the community members to learn about the cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes that influence their behavior and access to healthcare services.  Information obtained will be used to tailor the education program and ensure it is culturally sensitive and beneficial to the residents.

Linguistic Consideration

The community is racially and ethnically diverse, but most of the residents are white according to the survey.  Therefore, a translator or interpreter will be required when implementing the program to eliminate language barriers and motivate members to attend education sessions.  Minorities have limited English proficiency and this hinders access to care and leads to healthcare disparities, as they are unable to successfully communicate with healthcare providers (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  The interpreters and translators will ensure members understand the education content to increase their knowledge and equip them with skill to overcome addiction and use birth control.

Education Consideration

The learning styles of the community members such as kinesthetic, auditory, and visual will be taken into account when delivering the information.  The content will be provided using lecturers, discussions and power points to meet the needs of the learners (Hope Health, 2016).  Individuals will attend classes to learn about substance abuse, its effect on personal and family life, and their careers.  They will learn about the benefits of birth control and available methods.  Lastly, they will be taught about the risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse to create awareness and bring behavioral change.  The teaching sessions will last one hour to ensure coverage of important topics to change participants’ attitudes, beliefs, and behavior.  PowerPoint will be used to explain the content as visual learners learn by seeing.  Then the members will discuss the topics covered in class to gain more knowledge from peers and then teach back method will be used to determine their understanding.

CAM, Traditional Medicine, Holistic Health, and Spirituality Considerations

 Patients use complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) to ensure holistic care by promoting health and wellbeing, managing chronic diseases and encouraging psychological and spiritual growth.  Less than 40% of patients using CAM share the information with the doctor because of suspicion and dissatisfaction with the system of care (Ali & Katz, 2015).  In this case, participants will be asked about CAM use and how they affect their health and wellbeing (Ali & Katz, 2015).  In addition, information on the use of traditional medicine and spirituality will be obtained and included in the education program.  Spiritual beliefs and attitude towards traditional medicine influence the use of reproductive care and substance abuse treatment.

Marketing

Attracting individuals to take part in a program and maximizing participation is a concern due to the lack of effective marketing (Hope Health, 2016).  In this case, the well education program will be marketed using different methods including posters, fliers, announcements and the word of mouth to increase participation (Hope Health, 2016).  The fliers and posters will contain information on the goals of the program, including preventing substance abuse and the usage of birth control methods.  Additionally, they will contain useful information on the benefits of attending the program to motivate people to join.  The benefits are increasing knowledge of alcohol and drug use and the importance of birth control, better pay, and long-term jobs.  Besides, community leaders and non-governmental organizations such as churches will be used to spread information on the program to reach a large number of the residents.

Incentives

 Incentives will be used to guarantee participation and completion of the program.  They will be used to encourage participants to embrace healthy behaviors including using contraceptives and discourage drugs and alcohol (Hope Health, 2016).  Those who lead healthful lives will receive tangible and intangible incentives like monetary rewards, videos, certificates, and recognition.

Legal, Ethical, and Economic Factors that Affect Health and Wellness of the Population

Socioeconomic factors influence the health and wellbeing of the community members as they increase the risk for diseases and influence access to care.  American Indians and Latinos have excess morbidity due to various factors including the low socioeconomic status (Mendez-Luck et al, 2015).  The United States census Data indicated that 23% of the Latinos live below the poverty line compared to 27% of American Indians (Mendez-Luck et al, 2015).  Communities that lack resources have high rates of preventable diseases and mortality (Mendez-Luck et al, 2015).  The windshield survey revealed the community lacked essential resources such as sports facilities and hospitals and this affected the population health.

Ethical principles (nonmaleficence, duty, and justice) affect preventive care and health promotion.  Nonmaleficence principle ensures the well program does not cause harm to participants.  The education initiative is beneficial to the residents as it will promote behavioral change and improve their socioeconomic status.  The justice principle is important when providing care to vulnerable populations as it prevents discrimination and healthcare disparities.      Cultural competence promotes patient or individuals’ autonomy and justice (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  For this reason, Advanced Practice Nurses have a duty to respect cultural differences and reduce the negative consequences associated with the differences.  They should engage with patients in a culturally competent way and value their lives and the changes in the cultural and social environments (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).

Local and Federal Laws, Preventive Care and Health Promotion

Federal and state laws including the Affordable Care Act affect the provision of preventive care and health promotion.  The law makes healthcare affordable by expanding Medicare to all persons in families that earn less than 133% of the FPL to eliminate healthcare disparities (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  ACA supports the provision of primary and preventive care through the nurse-managed health centers (NMHC).  NMHC are important places to offer holistic care that concentrates on wellness and health promotion.  The facilities provide different primary care services to low-income persons, racial and ethnic minority groups, and disadvantaged populations.  Advanced Practice Nurses including Nurse practitioners work in the facilities and they prescribe and determine the appropriate treatment for patients (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).

Economic Impact

The “culture of poverty” myth has hindered the elimination of systemic conditions that encourage marginalization.  Poverty affects the emotional and physical health of citizens and leads to health disparities (Waite, Nardi, & Killian, 2013).  The windshield survey revealed the community members live below the poverty line because of the lack of employment, unwillingness to look for long- term jobs, drug, and alcohol abuse.  Low-income prevents the members from accessing essential services such as birth control and alcohol, and drug addiction treatment.  For this reason, improving the socioeconomic status will help eliminate health disparities by guaranteeing access to quality, safe, and timely care.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the education, cultural, language consideration discussed above will be taken into account when implementing the program to make sure it is beneficial to the population.  Initiating the program will reverse the negative trends and promote a positive attitude towards work, family, life, and wellbeing.  This will in turn improve the residents’ socioeconomic status and their capability to meet their basic needs such as healthcare.