A person’s wellbeing is crucial in ensuring one’s proper functioning in society, hence the need to promote the health of members of the community and prevent diseases. Health care has adopted new strategies in ensuring the promotion of health and disease prevention. These strategies are mostly evidence-based and serve to meet the specific health needs of members of a diverse population. Veterans are part of a diverse population comprised of the community, and they present unique health care needs warranting best practices. An educational program is the best strategy to promote health care and prevent diseases among this population.
Veterans are a particular part of the community, whose health needs differ slightly from other citizens. Veterans dedicate their lives to protecting and serving the country, which comes at the expense of their health. This group goes through horrendous experiences in war zones that may leave them mentally and physically challenged. As a result, they are in dire need of adequate health care to help them cope with the health challenges experienced. Nurses should, therefore, focus on evidence-based practice in the form of educational programs to help these veterans in overcoming their health challenges.
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An educational program is considered the most effective strategy to be applied to this population. Educational programs are community-based, hence the integration of several stakeholders in ensuring the mental and physical well-being of veterans (Hahn & Truman, 2015). These programs allow for the collaboration of different parties with diverse skills and knowledge, through which they help each other develop (Hahn & Truman, 2015). Veterans can learn new skills and enhance their military skills to be well equipped for life after deployment.
The programs also identify specific health needs required by the population. As a result, healthcare providers can come up with interventions that meet these needs, hence providing adequate health care (Hahn & Truman, 2015). The responses are mostly based on existing knowledge and evidence, thereby increasing their effectiveness.
Furthermore, educational programs consider contextual factors that affect health including cultural issues (Hahn & Truman, 2015). These factors may promote disparity which the programs seek to eliminate. Therefore, using a community-based approach, educational programs encourage health equity as services are provided for all members of the population, regardless of their socioeconomic or cultural status. For these reasons, an educational program is the best approach for treating veterans.
Veterans present various health needs that warrant strategies to overcome. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depressive disorders are among the leading health challenges faced by this group (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). These disorders affect the functioning of veterans in the civilian world as they tend to experience post-war stress. Traumatic Brain Injury is also another mental challenge that veterans endure. Trauma happens as a result of war such that veterans are exposed to highly traumatic conditions, which result in brain injuries.
The population also faces physical health challenges such as amputations. Amputations are common as wars tend to lead to distressful eventualities (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). The loss of a body part contributes to the levels of stress thereby making it difficult for veterans to survive in the public world. As a result, the application of best practices in healthcare meets the health needs of these veterans, which eventually results in positive impacts on their physical and mental wellbeing.
There exist several barriers to disease prevention and health promotion in this population. Disease prevention is affected by the amount of time spent in war as well as the intensity of events that lead to physical, mental and psychological damage (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). The time spent in war affects the transition from military to civil life, such that veterans are already accustomed to life in the wild. Eventualities such as PTSD, depression, and TBI are therefore inevitable.
There also exist various challenges that affect health promotion for veterans. The lack of timely access to health care often discourages veterans from seeking medical help (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). In the field, the soldiers are trained to preserve through pain and overcome physical challenges. When they are back in the civilian world, veterans tend to prefer persevering through the pain instead of enduring long wait times for healthcare provision.
Secondly, the veterans suffer from stigma which prevents them from accessing health care (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). Stigma is affected by their personal beliefs of improved health, whereby they believe that they would be unemployable once society realizes they are not well. Their own beliefs make them feel dissociated from the community after deployment hence affecting their employability. The stigma also leads to loss of jobs, which makes them shy away from seeking medical assistance in a bid to protect their jobs.
The stress of increased cost of healthcare is also another barrier to health promotion (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). Veterans are often faced with competing life priorities, which they try to meet through various jobs they partake. As a result, they tend to deprioritize health care due to the increased costs, hence affecting health promotion.
Veterans suffer from self-isolation and self-reliance, which increases the levels of depression (Misra-Hebert et al., 2015). Self-sufficiency is as a result of conditioning during deployment such that they feel wholly dependent on themselves. Self-reliance takes a toll on their mental well-being as it prevents them from seeking out professional medical help. As a result, they end up experiencing deteriorating health with no medical assistance to get through these episodes.
In light of these barriers, the educational program developed is tailored to overcome them and provide adequate health care for veterans. The mental health care provided by the program facilitates a smooth transition into the civilian lifestyle (Olenick, Flowers & Diaz, 2015). As such, the plan eliminates tendencies of self-isolation and self-reliance, and one can seek medical help whenever necessary. By enforcing a community-based approach, the program allows veterans to interact with other people to improve their social skills, which further eliminates self-reliance and self-isolation.
Additionally, the program provides training to build on the veterans’ military skills and knowledge (Olenick, Flowers & Diaz, 2015). The practice also equips them with skills necessary to conduct different tasks. The training is meant to provide these veterans for the job market, hence eliminating the stigma that comes along with the realization that an employee is a veteran. The training also improves their employability, therefore making them viable for employment, and thus fitting into the community.
Furthermore, the program focuses on the reintegration into society after military separation (Olenick, Flowers & Diaz, 2015). Thus it allows veterans to access resources necessary for facilitating this integration. Peer support is encouraged thereby providing veterans with physical and emotional support, to help them deal with the reintegration. Through this program, veterans can overcome instances of PTSD, depression, and trauma. Involving the community in the program also facilitates easy integration.
Health promotion and wellness strategies have a positive impact on health outcomes. These strategies reduce health disparities at the local, national and international levels. Educational health programs, in particular, are crucial in promoting health equity (Hahn & Truman, 2015). Education is a social determinant of health as it eradicates poverty, and therefore necessary in promoting the health of the community. Basic training provides fundamental knowledge and skills that improve health promotion and health outcomes.
Stakeholders in the health department have formulated policies such as the Health in all systems, to ensure those disparities are eradicated, and wellness is promoted (Hahn & Truman, 2015). These policies apply to the state, federal and international levels. The systems support a social and physical environment fit for promoting good health for all people. The plans also encourage the use of evidence and knowledge in enhancing healthcare practices.
The state of California promotes the use of education in enhancing collaboration in strategies to improve health care, by providing policies that favor this integration (Hahn & Truman, 2015). More so, it addresses factors that prevent learning of students in a bid to promote wellness. Moreover, the European Union takes a social-determinants-based-approach in ensuring that education is most beneficial to the health and well-being of all people (Hahn & Truman, 2015).
In conclusion, health promotion strategies are necessary to improve the health of veterans. Several barriers to meeting the health needs of veterans have been highlighted in this discussion. Furthermore, the effectiveness of an education program in overcoming the obstacles has also been discussed. Health promotion and wellness strategies are also crucial for eliminating disparities and improving health care.
Educational Program: Outline of Content and Structure of the Program
The program will contain the following aspects:
Presentation by veteran experts on transition.
Patient plans to identify the health needs of veterans
Case studies and simulations to track progress and identify issues affecting veterans in their transition.
Peer discussions to allow discussions on issues affecting veterans
Educational sessions to provide knowledge on health issues affecting veterans.
The program will be structured as follows:
In-patient and out-patient classes to meet the health needs of the veterans.
An educational center that provides physical, audiovisual and audio content on the health of veterans.
A website to share knowledge and education on health interventions and wellness.
Support groups that will guide the transitioning of veterans.
Video system for unlimited interaction with health care providers and also information dissemination on wellness and health promotion.
References
Hahn, R., & Truman, B. (2015). Education Improves Public Health and Promotes Health Equity. International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation , 45 (4), 657–678. doi: http://doi.org/10.1177/0020731415585986
Misra-Hebert, A., Santurri, L., DeChant, R., Watts, B., Rothberg, M., Sehgal, A., & Aron, D. (2015). Understanding the Health Needs and Barriers to Seeking Health Care of Veteran Students in the Community. Southern Medical Journal , 108 (8), 488–493. doi: http://doi.org/10.14423/SMJ.0000000000000326
Olenick, M., Flowers, M., & Diaz, V. (2015). US veterans and their unique issues: enhancing health care professional awareness. Advances in Medical Education and Practice , 6 (635–639). doi: http://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S89479
