Week 6 Assignment 1: Population-Specific Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Paper

Week 6 Assignment 1: Population-Specific Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Paper

Ethnic vulnerable populations are met with a lot of barriers in health and well-being, including health prevention and disease prevention. The Hispanic population is one of the largest vulnerable groups in the United States (Falkner et al.,2018) and yet all their health issues stem from lack of healthcare accessibility, communication/cultural barriers.

The World Health Organization’s definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not merely absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 2019). The definition of health changes daily, there are more attributes related to good health, for instance, mental, physical, emotion, social aspects, all contribute to one’s health. Among the Hispanic population, health issues are a big problem because majority of this population is without health insurance. Additionally, Social, and cultural identity together with language are heavily depended on by the Hispanic community. The U.S hosts 58.8 million Hispanics and yet there still exists factors such as language/cultural barriers, lack of health insurance and lack of medical care (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). These barriers affect the health of Hispanics. Heart disease, cancer, Diabetes, stroke, HIV/AIDS (Falkner et al, 2018) are some of the common diseases for the Hispanic population, standing at a higher risk of getting diseases more than the white population. 40% of American adults could develop type 2 Diabetes, however, a Hispanic adult is at higher risk at 50% of developing the same disease if not even at a younger age.

Historical perspective

To this population, family and culture are highly valued, therefore they try to follow the same tradition when raising their children. They foster unity amongst each other. Prayer and religion are powerful in this community, and they believe prayer to heal. Home remedies, herbs and folk healers play a big role in disease healing, and they are also superstitious when it comes to disease and their root cause. Socioeconomic barriers explain why Hispanic communities tend to depend on their diet which is mainly carbohydrates such as rice, tortillas, spicy foods, and drinks that are high in sugar. These foods are cheap and affordable to them. And the same applies to when they go out to eat, they will order from fast food restaurants that have bulk quantities enough to feed the whole family. It is such unhealthy eating habits that eventually lead to conditions like hypertension, Diabetes, and obesity. Latino adults are 47% more obese than any other race while Latino children are more obese at 25.8% than other races (Despres, 2018). All these factors make it hard to promote any healthy approaches because this population relies on their culture and beliefs whole heartedly, for instance this population would rather see their spiritual healers (Chesnay & Anderson, 2020) when they are sick instead of seeking medical help.

Health Promotion Approach

Health promotion is a process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health (Lin, 2016). We as health care providers should be emphasizing the importance of healthy behaviors in our patients and the ways diseases can be prevented. However, there are five levels of prevention namely primordial, primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary (Kisling, 2021). Latinos are faced with many chronic illnesses and there are many approaches that can be used to educate them on how to prevent these illnesses. For instance, due to the language barrier, educational material should be printed in Spanish specific to causes of Diabetes would be effective in raising awareness (Vince, 2017). Primary prevention would consist of teaching about risk factors for various types of diseases to prevent them from occurring.  Health providers should screen people that are at risk of developing diseases such as Diabetes, hypertension and encourage them to modify their lifestyles such diet intake, exercise, and losing weight.  Part of the interventions should be to emphasize the need to change their lifestyles therefore attaining the primary level health goal. However, since the Hispanic population usually lacks health insurance, they would benefit more from free clinics.

Secondary prevention includes introducing healthy behaviors that will help slow the progression of a disease that already exists. For the case of hypertension, this would mean checking blood pressure frequently, changing one’s diet to healthy foods, exercise, and medication. Providers need to emphasize the need to keep this illness in control and trying to avoid progression of the disease. For this population, explanations would need to be given on the side effects of obesity, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle, sodium intake.

As for tertiary and quaternary prevention, nothing much can be done to change the situation. The disease has progressed further that it is irreversible. The providers in this case will have to help teach the population on how to live with the disease while still encouraging to still practice healthy habits. The providers will frequently check the patient’s lab work, blood pressure, blood sugar, depending on the disease they carry.

Health disparities

Hispanics are one of the most disadvantaged groups to experience health disparities. Health disparities are variables that contribute to an unequal distribution of resources for a population and this population faces disparities such as language barriers, lack of education, poverty, cultural beliefs, and lack of legal status (Gomez et al., 2019).  They have the lowest socioeconomic status, lower education levels, less access to medical care, and lack of health insurance compared to the other minority group (Shiro & Reeves, 2020). Since language barrier is a problem in this population, navigating the health care system presents as a challenge. This challenge is complicated by the fear of deportation. Since majority of these immigrants are undocumented, they do not want to risk attempting to get health care services for fear that they will be identified as illegal immigrants.

Illiteracy is another problem that prevents Hispanics from getting well-paying jobs. The fact that they were not educated, the most jobs they can get are minimum wage jobs that do not pay much to take care of their families, bills, medical expenses.

According to Mechanic and Tanner (2007), assistance will be offered to that population whose current situation is not of their own choosing such as the children, the blind, veterans, and the elderly. Looking at the Hispanic population, it is considered a victim because they did not choose to have the socioeconomic inequalities that they face today. This population was faced with poverty, low income, no education, no of which were of their own choice. This population would love to see equality and fairness. Equal job opportunities, better employment, equal cost of living, unfortunately they cannot, because in their own country the wealthy population runs the country. And making matters worse, this population has come to the U.S for a chance at better and fair living only to be met with almost the same problems that took them out of their country.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource

Social JusticeClick here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS:

Social justice is a concern for the equitable measuring of benefits and burdens in society” (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2020). Using a social justice framework, everyone would be permitted safe, adequate, and affordable housing. This means changing our perspective of illegal immigrants as a human right violation from its stigma of this population. Illegal immigrants were detained on the U.S-Mexican border and this worsened as families were separated; children were taken away from their parents (Felter, Renwick & Cheatham, 2021). Instead of looking at this population as felonies, they should be extended the same care and compassion just like any other citizen. They should be able to access health care and other services without fear of deportation and stigmatization.

Health literacy is strongly associated with patients being able to engage in complex disease management and self-care (Hickey et al.,2019). Low literacy plays a significant role in Hispanic population’s health. Literacy and health are interrelated. For a person to follow and understand medical information and discussions, they must be able read, write, and speak a common language. This is a problem for the Hispanic population whose educational level and language barrier are a big concern. One study found that 74% of Spanish-speaking patients have less-than-adequate health literacy as compared to 7% of English-speaking patients (Healthy people, 2020).

The nutritional status of this population is concerning. Hispanic families tend to rely on inexpensive foods to feed their families. Because of their low-income status, families are forced to eat unhealthy foods which are high in fat and calories, leading to chronic conditions such as obesity. Hispanics are the second-highest obesity prevalence in adults, with a rate of 47.8%. When it comes to overweight rates including obesity rates, Latinos surpassed the general population by ten percentage points (American Psychological Association, 2019).

Implementing a Community-Based Participatory Research health promotion project with the Hispanic population means setting up easy access policies for this population to get health care services. Community based participatory care would benefit immigrants in that they would have a provider in the community that would listen and understand their concerns while respecting their cultural beliefs. One con that is noticeable is the same people have experienced a lot of disappointment when it comes to obtaining healthcare services, so having to trust someone would take a while, even if it is within the community. Another con would be language barrier since English is not their first language, makes communication a problem, and sometimes a translator may not be available to assist, which can be frustrating for the immigrants trying to communicate with the provider. Conflict between the immigrant’s cultural beliefs and western medicine/ treatment is another issue. The fact that different cultures have different beliefs, makes it hard for them to accept anything or idea that deviates from their own culture.

The diversity in U.S populations keeps growing with immigrants such as the Hispanics. As diversity spreads, health promotion is noted to change depending on a certain race and its cultural beliefs. Hispanics are so planted in their cultural beliefs when it comes to healing, prayer, and the importance of spiritual healers. Low literacy makes it hard for this population to comprehend or follow directions, which in turns leads to poor health promotion and disease prevention. The best way to improve health literacy with the Hispanic population is to use Spanish speaking translators. This will simplify communication between the people and the providers. Another option is to print out health literature in Spanish, with clear explanations of health promotion.

As a provider, impacting the Hispanic community is treating them without any biases. Knowing, understanding, and respecting their culture and their beliefs is essential to providing care to this community. Everyone has their own beliefs and culture, so it is up to me as a provider to keep my ethnocentrism in check, to make sure that I do not force my beliefs on others. As a nation, health promotion and disease prevention is highly emphasized. Today, all health care providers are initiating all levels of prevention in their establishments. Doctors are encouraging screening, vaccinations, blood pressure checks, teaching about diet and exercise.

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Ethnicity and health in america series: Obesity in the Latino-Hispanic community. American Psychological Association. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/latino-heritage/obesity.

Chesnay, M. D., & Anderson, B. A. (2020). Caring for the vulnerable: Perspectives in nursing theory, practice, and research. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Despres, C. (2018, October 8). Report: With obesity at all-time high, Latinos fare worst. Salud America. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from https://salud-america.org/report-with-obesity-at-all-time-high-latino-kids-and-adults-fare-worst/.

Felter, C., Renwick, D., & Cheatham, A. (2021, August 31). The U.S. Immigration Debate. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0.

Health literacy. Health Literacy | Healthy People 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/health-literacy.

Hickey, K. T., Masterson Creber, R. M., Reading, M., Sciacca, R. R., Riga, T. C., Frulla, A. P., & Casida, J. M. (2018, August). Low health literacy: Implications for managing cardiac patients in practice. The Nurse practitioner. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6391993/.

Lin, C. C. (2016). Health Promotion for Cancer Patients. Cancer Nursing, 39(5), 339–340.

Mechanic, D., & Tanner, J. (2007). Vulnerable people, groups, and populations: Societal view. Health Affairs, 26(5), 1220–1230. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.26.5.1220

Rangel Gómez, M. G., López Jaramillo, A. M., Svarch, A., Tonda, J., Lara, J., Anderson, E. J., & Rosales, C. (2019). Together for health: An initiative to access health services for the Hispanic/Mexican population living in the United States. Frontiers in Public Health, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00273

Shiro, A. G., & Reeves, R. V. (2020, October 1). Latinos often lack access to healthcare and have poor health outcomes. here’s how we can change that. Brookings. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/09/25/latinos-often-lack-access-to-healthcare-and-have-poor-health-outcomes-heres-how-we-can-change-that/.

Vince. (2017, February 10). Health Promotion in the Hispanic population. Soapboxie. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/Health-Promotion-in-the-Hispanic-Population.

World Health Organization. (2019, August 1). Constitution of the World Health Organization. World Health Organization. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution.

Week 6 Assignment 1: Population-Specific Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Paper – Rough Draft Sections 1–3 Required, 1–4 Encouraged