Purpose: As a registered nurse, a key part of your role will be to identify and assess the need for health promotion and illness prevention interventions in both individuals and communities. Some of your roles could include the provision and/or sourcing of health education, supporting people to improve their lifestyle factors, supporting people in managing their chronic conditions, and identifying and acting upon environmental factors contributing to illness in the community.
This essay is designed to help you develop the necessary skills to:
1. Identify what constitutes vulnerability in a population group,
2. Research and critically analyse the key concepts essential for successful health promotional and educational programs as it relates to the role of a nurse, essential to providing appropriate patient centred care.
3. Write and present material that is logical, concise, with good expression of English grammar, spelling and referencing.
Essay Topic:
Children are a vulnerable population group of any society or community. Critically analyse and discuss why children are vulnerable in relation to health outcomes and what the nurse can do to empower families, children and communities to promote health for children.
Instructions:
Pick one of the above topics and introduce and describe this group of people and why they are vulnerable to poor health. Use health statistics and literature to review the population group’s key health issues. (Guide 150 words)
Review the social determinants of health, human rights issues and human behavioural factors that may contribute to the poor health outcomes of your chosen population group. Use literature and research to support your assertions in your writing. (guide 450 words)
Discuss how as a nurse you can work with these people, with varying health literacy levels, by empowering them through change, community advocacy and primary health care. Give three examples of what the nurse can do 1. To create change in the community, 2. To advocate for better healthcare and 3. To deliver primary healthcare to this population group (guide 500 words). Discussion and examples need to be supported by the literature.
Find one health promotional program for your population group and consider 1. What is the service/program`s name and what does the service/program do? What population group does it target for its service and what geographical location does it outreach to? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the program in relation to your vulnerable population group. Reference the program reviewed, your assertions and/or discussion. (approximately 300 words)
Provide a conclusion about why the nurse’s role in primary healthcare and health promotion for this vulnerable population group is important. (No references are needed in the conclusion) (guide 100 words)
Format: The essay format must include an obvious introduction, a body detailing the crucial aspects of the topic, a conclusion and a reference list.
References: A minimum of 10 references must be used for the essay. These should be no more than 7 years old unless of historical significance and/or of specific relevance to the topic. These references must be a mixture of books and journals or Library database sources. Dictionaries, Wikipedia or Yellow Pages are not considered primary references and therefore will not be counted in the reference count.
