NURBN2021 Nursing Essay Sample
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: Choose one of the four topics to address for your essay.
1. 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. (** Indonesian study tour students are recommended to select this or topic 2)
2. Women are a vulnerable population group. Critically analyse and discuss why women are vulnerable in relation to health outcomes and what the nurse can do to empower women, families, children and communities to promote health for women. (** Indonesian study tour students are recommended to select this or topic 1)
3. Australian Indigenous teenagers are a vulnerable population group. Critically analyse and discuss why Indigenous teenagers are vulnerable in relation to health outcomes and what the nurse can do to empower families, teenagers, children and communities to promote health for Australian Indigenous teenagers.
4. Often hoarding and mental health issues relating to hoarding situate adult people at the margins of society and as a result, these people may have poorer health outcomes in relation to their physical and mental health. Critically analyse and discuss why people who hoard are vulnerable in relation to poorer health outcomes and what the nurse can do to empower families, children and communities to promote health for people who hoard.
INSTRUCTIONS: please also refer to the instructions, marking guide and submission links In Moodle):
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)
Solution
Introduction
Registered nurses play a significant role in health promotion programs and interventions to prevent diseases within a society. This study has selected the population group of teenagers belonging to the indigenous population in Victoria, Australia. According to(Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary,2023), the population of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria is 66,000 in the year 2021. This contributes to one percent of the total population of Victoria. University Assignment Help, From the population distribution graph below the teenage population can be noted to be highest among the aboriginal population of different age groups which is around 20 percent that is illustrated in Figure 1 mentioned in the appendix.
There are studies that infer that the common health problems among the teenagers of this population are habits of alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking or substance use, and mental health disorders (Steele et al., 2021). The study will include a critical analysis of the determinants of health within the population and the vulnerability in the population groups. The study will discuss the role of nurses in primary health care and how they can bring change in society. The study further reflects on the health promotional program known as the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health program” funded by Australia's primary health networks (Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, 2022, November 15). This will help in understanding the role of nurses in health promotion and healthcare for the targeted teenage population and its importance.
Discussion
According to ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics), the survey data of Health estimated that there is a one-third gap in health between the non-indigenous population and the indigenous population of Australia (Heraganahally et al., 2022). The social determinants that are responsible for the health gap among teenagers of the aboriginal population are,
Economic Stability - Due to the increase in unemployment rates among indigenous populations there is poor economic stability within their families. This contributes to the health effects among teenagers in which mental health disorders are common (Eckhoff, Sørvold & Kvernmo, 2020). The problems like anxiety and depression due to family condition including physical abuse and poverty leads to such conditions among teenagers. There is an increase in the weekly income of the Aboriginal population who lives in the city of Victoria. It is a $1,000 household weekly income in the year 2021 (Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary, 2023).
Education Quality and access- there are reports that the aboriginal population faces cultural and ethnic discrimination in the educational institution which becomes one of the major obstacles to getting equal access to education that leads to poor performance and an increase in rates of dropouts among teenagers. According to (Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary,2023), the people between the age of 20 to 24 years of the aboriginal population in victoria have reported 60.8% have completed their 12 or high school in the year 2021.
Quality of healthcare and its access- There are reports that the aboriginal population has fear of disrespect, racism, negative interventions, and judgment regarding healthcare (Eliacin, Matthias, Cunningham & Burgess, 2020). Due to such issues, they are not willing to avail the services of healthcare. The other factor is the location of major healthcare institutions with advanced facilities that becomes difficult for the Aboriginal population to access.In Victoria, Australia it was reported that there was an elevation in the percentage in conditions of arthritis, asthma, and mental health conditions in the year 2021. According to (Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary, 2023), among these, the most increased percentage was for mental health disorders which were 21.6 %. This infers that the medical care quality and its accessibility are not appropriately provided to the population.
The role of nurses in primary health care is crucial in any medical service for preventing diseases and keeping people healthy (Li et al., 2020). They help in providing health promotion and care within society. In Australia, the population with increased aged is increasing who are prone to health deterioration needs an accessible and strong primary health care system. Primary health is known to be the first level in contacting the individuals, communities, and families that approach healthcare support. In Australia, primary healthcare includes individualized care with health promotional programs for preventing disease and development within the community (Heumann, Röhnsch & Hämel, 2022). This also incorporates interconnecting principles that work for access, equity, community self-determination, empowerment, and collaborations among inter-sectors. It is known to encompass the understanding of economic, social, political, and cultural determinants of the healthcare system.
The role of primary healthcare nurses includes disease prevention, health promotion, palliation and rehabilitation, public and population health, disease prevention, postnatal care and antenatal care, healthy aging, treatment of the patient, providing care to the patient, family, and child health nursing, and policy development related to healthcare and society. Collaboration between public health and primary care will improve the effectiveness delivering of the healthcare system. This is legally driven to environmental monitoring, administering communicable disease management, and health promotion. For example in the case of mental health issues the nurses collaborates with the medical experts that are therapist and psychiatrists during the process of treatment such as CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy). Primary care provides generalized care in different stages of life from the infant phase to the ages of older adulthood.
Understanding the basic structure and concepts of well-being and health induces health literacy in the population (Schillinger, 2020). The increased health literacy within a population strengthens society with improved health status. The nurses, as well as medical professionals, plays important role in increasing health literacy within society by providing the correct health-related information and guiding them accordingly. Using approaches such as creating a comfortable environment by using easy language and providing space for asking questions to the patients and their families to discuss the health issue will health in providing health literacy in society. The example for this illustration is the care provided to the patients of mental health which includes their role in assessments and treatment. Nurses use their behavioral and communication skill to make the patient comfortable and share their problems that helps in better diagnosis. They further educate the patient and their family about the detected disorder and helps in treatment measures like psychotherapy. Nurses also have a role in advocating for the rights of social policies for promoting justice, health equity, and fairness adequately within primary care (Ramos-Gomez, 2019). Policy advocacy is important to be addressed social factors as they help in shaping the health of the population. Nurse advocacy helps the disadvantaged and poor population in achieving health equity with better healthcare services.
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health program" is a mental health promotional program which is funded by PHN (primary health networks) for engaging the culturally appropriate services regarding mental health to the people belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community (Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, 2022). This program enables the engagement of culturally appropriate and provides evidence-based mental health services to the population of the Aboriginal population. This program can be availed by many areas of society including local populations. The services that are involved with this program are support for complex mental health issues, psychological therapies, coordination for clinical care, and case management. The increased prevalence of mental health issues in the younger population among the aboriginal population has made such programs to be helpful for society (Young et al., 2019). These populations have a long history of grief, trauma, cultural disconnection, and loss that have led to increased cases of mental health disorders within the population. This requires appropriate support culturally which can recognize the association between mental health, physical health, social needs, spiritual needs, and emotional well-being. This program aims to ensure that the population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals would get easy access to culturally appropriate support for mental health.
The PHN (primary health network) works with the collaboration of local health networks of communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals for engaging in services of mental health that is culturally appropriate(Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, 2022). It ensures that the services meet the needs on an individual basis within the community including different ages of people including teenagers and children. The funding agency also takes care of providing complete support in complex cases and needs. The teenagers are provided with appropriate help with counseling services, they need to go and keep their problem to avail of the services (Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, 2022). On the other hand, because of the issues like peer pressure and bullying teenagers are not comfortable going and speaking up about their problems. The agency thus needs to create awareness programs to make the teenagers comfortable and approachable to come for help.
Conclusion
A society's health improvement initiatives and disease prevention efforts heavily rely on nurses. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that there is poor economic stability within the families of indigenous people as a result of rising unemployment rates. The prevalence of mental health disorders among adolescents harms their health. In order to prevent diseases and maintain people's health, nurses play a critical part in primary healthcare. They support society's efforts to promote and care for its well-being. The PHN (primary health network) collaborates with local health networks of communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide culturally appropriate mental health care.
References
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. (2022, November 15). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Program.Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-mental-health-program?language=en#about-the-program
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. (2023, March 30). Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.health.gov.au/
Eckhoff, C., Sørvold, M. T., &Kvernmo, S. (2020). Adolescent self-harm and suicidal behavior and young adult outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous people. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 29, 917-927.https://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/17091/article.pdf?bitstreamId=91285&locale-attribute=en
Eliacin, J., Matthias, M. S., Cunningham, B., & Burgess, D. J. (2020).Veterans’ perceptions of racial bias in VA mental healthcare and their impacts on patient engagement and patient-provider communication. Patient education and counseling, 103(9), 1798-1804.https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/27489/Eliacin2020Veterans-AAM.pdf?sequence=1
Heraganahally, S. S., Ghimire, R. H., Howarth, T., Kankanamalage, O. M., Palmer, D., &Falhammar, H. (2022).Comparison and outcomes of emergency department presentations with respiratory disorders among Australian indigenous and non-indigenous patients. BMC Emergency Medicine, 22(1), 1-12.https://bmcemergmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12873-022-00570-3
Heumann, M., Röhnsch, G., &Hämel, K. (2022). Primary healthcare nurses’ involvement in patient and community participation in the context of chronic diseases: An integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(1), 26-47.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jan.14955
Li, X., Krumholz, H. M., Yip, W., Cheng, K. K., De Maeseneer, J., Meng, Q., ... & Hu, S. (2020). Quality of primary health care in China: challenges and recommendations. The Lancet, 395(10239), 1802-1812.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7272159/
Ramos-Gomez, F. (2019).Understanding oral health disparities in the context of social justice, health equity, and children’s human rights. The Journal of the American Dental Association, 150(11), 898-900.http://www.uccoh.org/uploads/6/0/8/9/60892411/understanding_oral_health_disparities_in_the_context_of_social_justice_health_equity_and_children%E2%80%99s_human_rights.pdf
Schillinger, D. (2020).The intersections between social determinants of health, health literacy, and health disparities. Studies in health technology and informatics, 269, 22.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7710382/
Steele, M. L., Meurk, C., Schess, J., Yap, L., Jones, J., Harden, S., ...& Heffernan, E. (2021). Substance use and help?seeking among justice?involved young people in Queensland and Western Australia: A cross?sectional survey of 14–17?year?olds. Drug and Alcohol Review, 40(4), 617-626.https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:0ae6ea2/UQ0ae6ea2_OA.pdf
Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary (2023) Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/victoria-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-population-summary#:~:text=In%20Victoria%2066%2C000%20people%20identified,%2C%20and%200.7%25%20in%202011. (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Young, C., Craig, J. C., Clapham, K., Banks, S., & Williamson, A. (2019). The prevalence and protective factors for resilience in adolescent Aboriginal Australians living in urban areas: A cross?sectional study. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 43(1), 8-14.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1753-6405.12853
Appendix
Figure 1: Population distribution graph of the Aboriginal population living
(Source: Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary, 2023)
(Source: Victoria: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary, 2023)
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