In United States, notable disparities in healthcare are still in existence for the various vulnerable populations despite efforts put in place to eliminate them. One of such disparities comprises of risk factors. This essay aims at evaluating various vulnerable populations in relation to the potential risk factors, methods in which a community health nurse would focus in health promotion among different vulnerable populations, and how health promotion for the mentioned populations would differ from health promotion in a home setting. These populations include of the school-aged, chemically dependent adolescents, and senior citizens.
The risk factors vary across the different vulnerable populations. School-aged children are usually faced with unique patterns of risk factors. Mainly, school-aged children, especially those from families with a lower socioeconomic status, are experience risk factors associated with poor health status and inadequate primary care. As a result, they have a poor health status; hence prone to various illnesses (Prostran, 2018).Further, the exposure to toxic environment affects development of children increasing risk to diseases. On the other hand, chemically dependent adolescents abuse drugs such as alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana tend to experience heritable risk factors and psychiatric disorders (Prostran, 2018). Heritable risk orders comprise of familial patterns such as child maltreatment and psychiatric disorders are such as AOD. Finally, the most prevalent risk factors for senior citizens mainly comprise of mental illness, malnutrition, and substance abuse.
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Multiple intervention methods have been put in place to aid in the promotion of health among vulnerable populations. Notably, health care systems have established policies, which ensure that vulnerable populations have access to health care services in the community. Community health nurses play a significant role in the prevention of diseases associated with different risk factors. For school-aged children, community health care nurses mainly focus on nutrition hygiene and the prevention of communicable diseases. In order to prevent the prevalence of ailments among school-aged children, community health care nurses ensure that they vaccinate all school-aged children (Baciu, Negussie, Geller & Weinstein, 2017). Further, for chemically dependent adolescents, community health care nurses ensure that they provide prevention, treatment, and recovery support services related with substance disorders. They provide information on information about diseases associated with substance abuse, advice on how to respond to various forms of addiction and guide parents on proper parenting. Finally, community health care nurses help in the intervention and treatment against mental illness, malnutrition, and substance abuse among senior citizens through offering advice on mental health promotion, good nutrition, and physical exercise (Baciu, Negussie, Geller & Weinstein, 2017). They also offer routine healthcare for the older people.
In conclusion, the intervention of community health care greatly varies to that of a home setting in multiple ways. Community health care involves on health interventions based on community settings such as health centers and schools. On the other hand, health care in a home setting mainly focuses on services that promote the patient’s well-being. The nurses involved in home health care have a greater role in determining the conduction of particular interventions. Home-based primary care mainly entails personal focus, while community based primary care mainly focuses on disease-orientation.
References
Prostran, M. (2018). Clinical Trials in Vulnerable Populations . Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand.
Baciu, A. Negussie, Y. Geller, and A. & Weinstein, J. M. (2017) .Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity .Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
