Population health focuses on the entire wellbeing of the population, which considers both the social, mental, and physical health. Community health nurses aim to improve population health using unique skills, competencies, and knowledge. Community health nurses today collaborate with community members and agencies to promote population health (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). For example, community health nurses can act as leaders of an inter-professional team that comprises of community leaders and other stakeholders to design programs for promoting community health, such as disease prevention programs. After designing programs, the team conducts a community and environmental evaluation to identify the needs and assets related to the community’s history and people, and the community’s belief systems, social systems, idea systems, and physical environment. The team can then assess the effectiveness of programs in light of the health attitudes and behaviors, and contextual, cultural, and ecological domains, and design intervention programs for the community based on these factors. Finally, the team tests the intervention to identify its acceptability and feasibility, collect preliminary effectiveness data, and refine the intervention for formal testing in other communities.
Community assessment involves a comprehensive health description that considers the mental, physical, social, and economic health of the community. The evaluation also includes access to resources that help the community meet these needs. Examples of these resources include religious and non-profit organizations, educational services, employment, safety and the physical environment. It is vital to appraise community resources as part of the evaluation because highlighting community assets helps in the identification of the existing community resources that contribute to function or dysfunction of the community (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). These resources also influence community health. For instance, robust community resources increase the resilience of the community against external threats to its optimal health. Inefficient resources to address the community needs may increase the possibility of poor overall community health (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). For example, the existence of immunization programs could offset disease epidemics.
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Reference
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2015). Public health nursing-e-book: Population-centered health care in the community . Elsevier Health Sciences.
