Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Community health promotion includes purposefully established and implemented processes to improve and protect the community’s health. Community health promotions combine nursing and population sciences to assess and diagnose a given population to define existing problems and establish the available and needed resources to execute and evaluate an elaborate health action through activities and programs by and for the community. Notably, health promotion empowers community members to live healthy lives, reducing the risks of target diseases, health disparities and improving quality of life. Health promotion also challenges the existing healthcare systems to upscale their involvement in promoting healthy living, increasing the availability and accessibility of quality and safety of healthcare services. Therefore, health promotion is a crucial aspect of population health and effective in improving and protecting the health of residents of a given setting. This paper introduces a target community for health promotion, describes this community’s crucial health promotion concept, and the role of community health nurses in health promotion.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Setting and Community

The setting and community for the health promotion are the rural Saskatchewan (SK) residents elderly adults aged 65 and over.  SK is the largest agricultural province in Canada, with one of the highest rural populations and prevalence of diabetes. About 26% of people in SK live with prediabetes or diabetes, and about 9% live with undiagnosed diabetes. According to Alam et al. (2020), rural residents of Saskatchewan experience a high prevalence of diabetes with a higher incidence among the elderly aged 65 and above. Significantly, diabetes is associated with adverse physical and psychological health impacts that can lead to premature death, reducing lifespan by about 15 years (Diabetes Canada, 2021). It is imperative to develop community health programs that promote awareness and disease prevention within rural SK.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The target population faces an increased risk of diabetes and poor health outcomes. For older people, diabetes is the leading cause of vision heart attacks, poor eyesight, strokes, kidney failure, end-stage renal disease, and limb amputations in Canada (Alam et al., 2020). Compared to the non-diabetic population, diabetic adults are also highly predisposed to cardiovascular health complications. Diabetes also impacts productivity or work capability, contributing to low individual and family incomes and the inability to afford health service, leading to poor life quality and life expectancy. Therefore, the significant health promotion concepts include diabetes risks, community resilience, health literacy, and community health interventions.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Diabetes Risks

Due to the high prevalence and incidence of diabetes among older adults in rural Saskatchewan, it is essential to establish risk factors and predictors to guide appropriate community health interventions. The common risk factors of diabetes are modifiable, including overweight and obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy/poor diet (Diabetes Canada, 2021). These are individual-level factors contributing to the high prevalence of diabetes and can be mitigated through health literacy. Other factors that contribute to diabetes prevalence include genetics and accessibility of healthcare services. Furthermore, studies have shown that indigenous populations have increased risks of developing diabetes and have 3 to 5 times higher prevalence rates (Wulff, Donato & Lurie, 2017). There has been a consistent increase in the incidence of diabetes in rural Saskatchewan, with individuals with obesity twice likely to develop diabetes compared to overweight individuals (Alam et al., 2020). Equally, access to health care is a critical challenge to the rural diabetic population compared to the urban dwellers, increasing the vulnerability to diabetes complications and comorbidities (Diabetes Canada, 2021). Due to diabetes impact on functionality, older populations cannot access health facilities for screening, health education, and intervention.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Aging and genetic factors also increase the risk of diabetes among the elderly in the rural community. Alam et al. (2020) establish that having family members with a history of diabetes was a critical determinant of an individual’s chances of developing diabetes. Other crucial risk factors for diabetes in rural Saskatchewan include gender, age, and low income (Alam et al., 2020). Statistics indicate that more males than females have a higher prevalence of diabetes at a national ratio of 8.4% to 6.3% (Statistics Canada, 2018). Moreover, males over 45 years have a higher risk of developing diabetes than females. Together, these factors contribute to targeted community health intervention.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Furthermore, occupational exposure to agricultural chemicals contributes to the higher prevalence of diabetes in rural Saskatchewan (Alam et al., 2020). Again, an increased incidence of diabetes in rural SK is associated with sleep apnea, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance, which can aid intervention strategies. Equally, an individual’s level of education contributes to higher or lower incidence rates of diabetes. Supporting health literacy could directly impact adequate glucose control and effective self-management of diabetes for this population. The outlined diabetes risk factors underscore the high diabetes prevalence in rural SK. Hence, by defining diabetes risks and creating awareness of the risks and the potential for modification, community health promotion will significantly impact the prevalence of diabetes in the community.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Community Resilience

Resiliency is a central population health theme due to the increasing complexity of population health issues affecting individuals and communities equally. Most significantly, populations are vulnerable to chronic illnesses such as diabetes. Community health resilience contributes to population health management whereby communities are strengthened to use available public health and care systems to improve community members’ social, behavioral, and physical health and ability to endure and recover from the increasingly complex population health issues (Wulff, Donato & Lurie, 2017). Health resilience is a crucial long-term strategy for the selected community to reduce diabetes prevalence and mitigate adverse health outcomes.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The concept of community health resilience has been widely studied, and crucial components elaborated in literature. For this community, community resilience county can be established by overcoming health challenges associated with high risks of diabetes and through community health promotion to increase diabetes risks awareness, health literacy, and increased establishment of accessible and sustained health care centers. According to Wilson et al. (2017), community resilience has various facets, including physical, environmental, social, economic, and communal dimensions. This consent and the inherent ideologies are crucial for the selected community considering its impact in various aspects of diabetes management such as community health support, family support, socioeconomic status, coping skills, and level of education. (Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Therefore, achieving and sustaining community resilience will be a significant long-term intervention to strengthen community and individual health strategies and goals. Wilson et al. (2017) argue that the ability to overcome health challenges, material advantage, community, and personal health planning and goal setting contributes to community health resilience. Comparatively, rural SK residents diagnosed with diabetes at a younger age experience severe diabetes symptoms, poor treatment outcomes, and a high rate of complications because most of the community consists of indigenous people. Therefore, establishing and sustaining community health resilience is crucial for health promotion in the selected community.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Health Literacy

Health literacy is a crucial population health mitigation measure. Inadequate health literacy has been associated with poor self-management of diabetes, particularly glycemic control and self-care (Marciano, Camerini & Schulz, 2019). Self-management is a critical aspect of diabetes care as it equips the individuals to monitor and report to the attending nurse about their health status to assist with clinical assessment and recommendation. The changes observed and recorded by the patient can help improve individual involvement in their care, reduce direct medical costs due to complications associated with poorly controlled diabetes (Adam, O’Connor & Garcia, 2018). Significantly, self-management of diabetes provides a platform for interaction between a patient and healthcare professional, crucial for appropriate health assessment.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Furthermore, self-management of diabetes allows patients to contribute to their care, which is a significant element of evidence-based practice. Dahal & Hosseinzadeh (2020) showed that health literacy improves general knowledge on diabetes, physical activity, quality of life, and self-efficiency. Healthcare personnel uses clinical appointments to educate the patient on how to manage their condition. Health literacy promotes the reduction of behavioral risk factors and aids the adoption of healthy behaviors, including appropriate diet and increased physical activity (Adam, O’Connor, & Garcia, 2018). Challenges to self-management of diabetes include social isolation, the barrier to accessing and preparing quality food, inadequate self-agency, and resilience (Chan, DeMelo, Gingras, & Gucciardi, 2015). Other factors such as the inability to regulate blood glucose, obtain information about diabetes, fear of complication, and financial costs limit effective self-management of diabetes (Donovan, 2017). These findings are typical drivers of diabetes education in community health centers as part of broader population health promotion and control.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Community Health Intervention

Considering the magnitude of diabetes as a health issue, it is vital to establish community-wide intervention programs to educate the community members on prevention and management measures. Ideally, healthcare professionals are trained to develop appropriate skills and be cognizant of the resources needed and support frameworks to enable diabetic patients to develop relevant coping skills (Egbujie et al., 2018). Nurses also provide quality healthcare services, i.e., evidence-based diabetes management and policy formulation, to ensure appropriate intervention measures and guiding principles are followed to provide safe and quality healthcare for diabetes patients.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Furthermore, nurses are vital in community health intervention as they confirm and modify intervention strategies, monitor and change aspect of self-management that has limited positive outcomes on patients. Nurses help establish appropriate self-management schemes and coping skills, offering advanced care and psychological support (Nikitara, Constantinou, Andreou, & Diomidous, 2019). Nurses provide guidance, education, and counseling/advice to people diagnosed with diabetes about self-management skills and issues. Presently, there are community health intervention programs in Saskatchewan, albeit not enough as more interventions are needed to reduce the diabetes prevalence among older adults.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The organization communicates essential diabetes findings to the farmers to educate and inform them on the impact of agricultural chemicals and other factors on diabetes prevalence. The outreach program and research findings published by the Agricultural Health and Safety Network at the Canadian Center for Health and Safety are crucial evidence of community health intervention against diabetes in Saskatchewan (Alam et al., 2020). The community health intervention should encourage physical activity to prevent overweight and obesity. Moreover, education interventions should be enhanced to promote suitable lifestyles among rural dwellers. This could be made possible by encouraging collective intervention by bringing up peer/support groups whose members have significant risks or are diagnosed with diabetes, including smokers, low-income families, or the elderly.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Conclusion

Health promotion is crucial in protecting and improving community health. A comprehensive assessment and diagnosis of community health issues is vital for establishing, planning, and executing targeted health promotion and associated nursing interventions. For this community, diabetes risks, community resilience, health literacy, and community health interventions are crucial processes and concepts for effective health promotion. These concepts and inherent processes are essential in determining the root cause of community health issues and identifying resources to provide a sustainable solution. Determining community risk would aid the targeted intervention, while establishing community resilience would help evaluate how the community can use its resources to manage the health issues. Lastly, health literacy would be crucial in determining the need for health awareness and training the affected individuals on coping skills, while community health interventions refer to the expertise and evidence-based solutions critical to managing the community health issue. Therefore, health promotion is a comprehensive strategy for mitigating population health.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

References

Adam, L., O’Connor, C., & Garcia, A. C. (2018). Evaluating the impact of diabetes self-management education methods on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 42(5), 470-477.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.11.003

Alam, M. S., Dyck, R., Janzen, B., Karunanayake, C., Dosman, J., & Pahwa, P. (2020). Risk factors, incidence, and prevalence of diabetes among rural farm and non-farm residents of Saskatchewan, Canada; a population-based longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders, 19(2), 1563-1582(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40200-020-00693-z

Chan, J., DeMelo, M., Gingras, J., & Gucciardi, E. (2015). Challenges of diabetes self-management in adults affected by food insecurity in a large urban center of Ontario, Canada. International Journal of Endocrinology, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/903468

Dahal, P. K., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2020). Association of health literacy and diabetes self-management: a systematic review. Australian journal of primary health, 25(6), 526-533.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) https://doi.org/10.1071/py19007

Diabetes Canada. (2021). Diabetes in Saskatchewan: Backgrounder.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) Ottawa. Retrieved 2 November 2021, from https://www.diabetes.ca/DiabetesCanadaWebsite/media/Advocacy-and-Policy/Backgrounder/2021_Backgrounder_Saskatchewan_FINAL.pdf

Donovan, C. (2017). Challenges in Self-Management of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in a Rural Community of Eastern Canada. Perspectives, 39(3), 6.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Egbujie, B. A., Delobelle, P. A., Levitt, N., Puoane, T., Sanders, D., & van Wyk, B. (2018). Role of community health workers in type 2 diabetes mellitus self-management: A scoping review. PloS One, 13(6), e0198424. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0198424

Marciano, L., Camerini, A. L., & Schulz, P. J. (2019). The role of health literacy in diabetes knowledge, self-care, and glycemic control: a meta-analysis. Journal of general internal medicine, 34(6), 1007-1017(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-04832-y

Nikitara, M., Constantinou, C. S., Andreou, E., & Diomidous, M. (2019). The role of nurses and the facilitators and barriers in diabetes care: A mixed-methods systematic literature review. Behavioral Sciences, 9(6), 61. (Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fbs9060061

Statistics Canada. (2018). Health Fact Sheets Diabetes 2017 [Internet].(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) Retrieved 2 November 2021, from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-625-x/2018001/article/54982-eng.htm

Wilson, A. L., McNaughton, D., Meyer, S. B., & Ward, P. R. (2017). Understanding the links between resilience and type-2 diabetes self-management: a qualitative study in South Australia. Archives of Public Health, 75(1), 1-13. (Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)https://dx.doi.org/10.1186%2Fs13690-017-0222-8

Wulff, K., Donato, D., & Lurie, N. (2015). What is health resilience, and how can we build it?. Annual Review of Public Health, 36, 361-374.(Community Health Promotion Scholarly Paper Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122829