Health Promotion Plan Essay

Health Promotion Plan Essay

Health Promotion Plan Essay

Communities’ and nations’ productivity depends on the health status of their people. As a result, it is challenging to remain optimally productive if some populations do not live healthily as generally expected. Due to their critical mandate in health care delivery, health care professionals should assess the needs of unique populations and develop appropriate health promotion programs. Such programs improve health outcomes by engaging and empowering people to change behaviors and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Behavior change is instrumental in reducing the adverse impacts of diseases, including poor quality of life, mortality, and increased vulnerabilities to other health conditions. The purpose of this paper is to describe a health promotion plan for LGBTQIA+ struggling with substance abuse.

Population Identification

The population includes LGBTQIA+ volunteers who attend an awareness program at the community’s resource center. Most are students attending colleges and universities and ready to share their everyday struggles and seek support. They are between 18 and 30 years, mainly from minority populations, with African Americans the dominant group. All are unmarried, and most do not have a reliable income. Most work part-time as virtual assistants, bloggers, and editors, among other jobs allowing them to work while studying. It is rational to group them in the lower social ladder based on their income and employment statuses.

Population Characteristics: Health Concern

Substance abuse is a severe health concern that lowers people’s quality of life and impedes productivity. The population struggle with bhang smoking and alcoholism, among other substances. Most can be classified as addicts since they have abused drugs for over a decade. From a health perspective, substance abuse increases people’s risk of mental health problems and sexually transmitted diseases (Kilbourne et al., 2018; Murali & Jayaraman, 2018). Dealing with comorbidities interferes with people’s ability and desire to seek medical assistance. Substance abuse also interferes with schooling and increases vulnerability to crime, poverty, and social stigma (Zwick et al., 2020). Considering that they are young people, evidence-based interventions are crucial to promoting behavior change. Else, their productivity will reduce and vulnerability increases, expanding the proportion of unhealthy people increasing the overall health care costs.

Predisposition and the Need for a Health Promotion Education Plan

Health concerns vary across populations depending on access to resources, social class, beliefs, and culture, among other factors. Different factors predispose LGBTQIA+ to substance abuse. According to Ackermann (2021), the main reason for high substance abuse within the LGBTQ community is discrimination and social stigma. Although their acceptance has increased recently, almost all LGBTQIA+ individuals encounter discrimination. Homophobic encounters come from family members, friends, and colleagues at school and work. Such discrimination alongside harassment makes many LGBTQIA+ individuals seek solace in substance abuse.

Besides discrimination, lack of support and internalized homophobia are other leading causes of substance abuse among LGBTQIA+ individuals. Harris and Marciniak (2019) found that most individuals do not reveal their identity since they fear discrimination. Such closed life increases anxiety, loneliness, and feelings of rejection. In turn, most members turn to substance abuse to dull the pain. Concerning internalized homophobia, many individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+ tend to self-identify with sexuality stigmas (Ackermann, 2021). Eventually, they become victims of self-loath and cannot feel comfortable in their natural state. Alcoholism and drugs serve as suitable options for suppressing negative thoughts.

Since substance abuse exposes this unique group to other health and social dangers, a health promotion educational plan could help them realize the need for behavior change. The educational plan will raise awareness of the dangers of living in seclusion and seeking solace in substance abuse. Besides awareness, the educational plan will link up the attendants with community resources and support groups education, social support, and treatment. The individuals will be further encouraged to seek specialized treatment options, particularly those dealing with addiction and severe comorbidities. Above all, they will be helped to set realistic goals to guide positive behavior change.

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Developing a Sociogram

A sociogram shows relationships among a group sharing many characteristics. It visualizes the underlying relationships, helping to understand the group and unique behaviors in detail (Anderson et al., 2021). When developing a sociogram for LGBTQIA+ individuals struggling with substance abuse, the primary focus should be positive correlations. Herein, the individuals will describe positive social behaviors and lifestyles, helping them cope with stigmatization and avoid comorbidities. Such correlations include hobbies, dietary patterns, and mental health practices. It is also crucial to examine negative correlations. They include economic hardships and cultural beliefs about LGBTQIA+ affecting support and increasing vulnerability to substance abuse.

Agreed-Upon Health Goals

1. Improve self-knowledge on substance abuse as an LGBTQIA+ individual.

Activity: individuals should identify five risks of substance abuse and three interventions for positive behavior change.

1. Maintain health each day.

Activity: identify three behaviors for self-care to practice daily.

1. Commit to taking a step towards recovery.

Activity 1: seek specialized treatment within a month and join a support group.

Activity 2: gradually reduce substance intake and adopt a healthier lifestyle.

1. Commit to overcoming stigma.

Activity 1: avoid social isolation and accept self-identity.

Activity 2: choose a hobby and read positive information.

Expectations and Meeting Group Needs

Generally, the group comprises people who need help and encouragement to change behavior. Accordingly, the educational session should focus more on knowledge, empowerment, and encouragement to help attendants make informed decisions. Since they are young people in colleges and universities, technologies can be used to educate them. Follow-up is also necessary for monitoring and ensuring they stick to healthy living to achieve the set goals.

Conclusion

The LGBTQIA+ community is among the unique populations in the United States. They have faced stigmatization for a long time, with many individuals opting to hide their identities to avoid stigmatization. Seeking solace in substance abuse implies health and social problems and more vulnerability to comorbidities. As a result, the primary objective of the educational session is to empower the individuals and encourage them to adopt healthy behaviors. To achieve the desired goals, they should be helped to identify sources of support and community and health resources available for them.

References

Ackermann, K. (2021). Why substance abuse is higher within the LGBTQ community. American Addiction Centers.https://americanaddictioncenters.org/lgbtqiapk-addiction/why-substance-abuse-is-higher-within-the-lgbtq-community

Anderson, M., Devlin, A. M., Pickering, L., McCann, M., & Wight, D. (2021). ‘It’s not 9 to 5 recovery’: the role of a recovery community in producing social bonds that support recovery. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 28(5), 475-485.https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2021.1933911

Harris, D., &Marciniak, K. (2019). LGBTQ discrimination in America.Essential Library.

Kilbourne, A. M., Beck, K., Spaeth‐Rublee, B., Ramanuj, P., O’Brien, R. W., Tomoyasu, N., &Pincus, H. A. (2018). Measuring and improving the quality of mental health care: A global perspective. World psychiatry, 17(1), 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20482

Murali, V., &Jayaraman, S. (2018). Substance use disorders and sexually transmitted infections: A public health perspective. BJPsych Advances, 24(3), 161-166. doi:10.1192/bja.2017.14

Zwick, J., Appleseth, H., & Arndt, S. (2020). Stigma: How it affects the substance use disorder patient. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 15(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-020-00288-0

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Instructions
Health Promotion Plan
• Choose a specific health concern or health need as the focus of your hypothetical health promotion plan. Then, investigate your chosen concern or need and best practices for health improvement, based on supporting evidence.
o Bullying.
o Teen Pregnancy.
o LGBTQIA + Health.
o Sudden Infant Death (SID).
o Immunizations.
o Tobacco use (include all: vaping e-cigarettes, hookah, chewing tobacco, and smoking) cessation. (MUST address all tobacco products).
• Create a scenario as if this project was being completed face-to-face.
• Identify the chosen population and include demographic data (location, lifestyle, age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, education, employment).
• Describe in detail the characteristics of your chosen hypothetical individual or group for this activity and how they are relevant to this targeted population.
• Discuss why your chosen population is predisposed to this health concern or health need and why they can benefit from a health promotion educational plan.
• Based on the health concern for your hypothetical individual or group, discuss what you would include in the development of a sociogram. Take into consideration possible social, economic, cultural, genetic, and/or lifestyle behaviors that may have an impact on health as you develop your educational plan in your first assessment. You will take this information into consideration when you develop your educational plan in your fourth assessment.
• Identify their potential learning needs. Collaborate with the individual or group on SMART goals that will be used to evaluate the educational session (Assessment 4).
• Identify the individual or group’s current behaviors and outline clear expectations for this educational session and offer suggestions for how the individual or group needs can be met.
• Health promotion goals need to be clear, measurable, and appropriate for this activity. Consider goals that will foster behavior changes and lead to the desired outcomes.
Document Format and Length
Your health promotion plan should be 3-4 pages in length.
Supporting Evidence
Support your health promotion plan with peer-reviewed articles, course study resources, and Healthy People 2030 resources. Cite at least three credible sources published within the past five years, using APA format.
Graded Requirements
The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.