Part One
Health is the most significant social challenge faced by communities in all societies across the globe. Community empowerment can be described as the strategies put in place to help the community in regaining control over their lives in aspects such as mental health. According to Crawford (2009), there are four core principles of community health empowerment when basing on the health empowerment theory which are; health empowerment is an inbuilt aspect and continuously ongoing in an individual, it is a way of expressing the health well-being pattern for an individual, it is an innovative and current process of change and, it represents the relationship between an individual and the surrounding environment. From a critical overview of the theoretical principles, it is evident that they are all aimed at equipping the community socially and economically in tackling health issues facing them.
Social change describes the foreseeable outcomes arising as a result of increased understanding and awareness of community members too; rise in civic participation, attitudinal change, public will and to changes in policies aimed at rectifying injustices. Kloos et al., (2012) asserts that community and social change are necessary to empower people in handling the social problems they face such as health. Such a move needs to be carefully monitored and evaluated to ensure that the target goal of empowering the community is achieved. Furthermore, it calls for participation of all members of a community to promote inclusiveness and sense of ownership thus reduce resistance during the implementation of empowerment initiatives. Foster-Fishman et al., (1998) describes empowerment as a way the community members acquire influence over cases and their consequences with are of importance to the individual members or the community at large. From Foster-Fishman et al. assertions, it can be deduced that empowerment can be interpreted differently by people and varies regarding time and form.
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Part Two
Individuals with Mental Health Problems in Camden County, New Jersey
a) Consciousness Raising
Consciousness-raising shall be used in promoting community awareness on the issue of mental health problems in the county as a way of empowering Camden County community on handling the health problem. ‘Knowledge is wealth’ and therefore equipping members of the community with this knowledge shall give them the basis of tackling it. This approach coincides with empowerment principle of community knowledge as it will provide them with information regarding the health problem. Furthermore, it goes hand in hand with the policy; capacity building as it allows for the community with the necessary resources to tackle the issue. Education the community through awareness can help in reducing ignorance and perceptions and thereby improve the community to think about it constructively. Additionally, those who previously did not have information about the social problems can turn to start to contribute significantly towards handling the issue (Bahraminejad et al., 2014). In turn, this can facilitate faster achievement of the desired outcomes.
The approach also promotes the principle of inclusion; by this, it means that creating awareness in the community about mental health problems shall develop a feeling of involvement on what is going on around them. By this, they are likely to be motivated supporting initiatives targeted at eradicating it. Such an assertion coincides with Bahraminejad et al., (2014) finding that the success of community-based initiatives is dependent upon the participation of all stakeholders as it creates a sense of ownership among them. It is justified to assert that as long the effort is targeted at the community, they should also be involved so that the initiator does not seem to impose it on them. Therefore, this approach is best explicitly suited when undertaking community empowerment initiatives to facilitate their acceptance and support. It is imperative to note that, the creation of awareness also promotes the success of community-based efforts as knowledge of the initiative empowers them to make a positive contribution towards that ensure success.
b) Social Action
Social action can be described as an initiative taken to rectify wrong issues in society through formulation and implementation of creative ideas and processes, for instance, change of societal ways of handling mental health problem. Problems such as those relating to mental health require a new approach to managing them to promote social justice specifically amongst those people suffering from it. For instance, a parent may decide to restrict their children suffering from mental disabilities in the house to avoid shame or considering it as the best way of taking care of them. However, with the advent of new findings in medical research, some mental conditions can be cured while others can be managed depending on the cause. Therefore, there is a need for the society to seek medical attention and provide their children with the optimal medical care. Social action is an initiative that has been undertaken by the community as a whole once they can handle it (Kasmel and Tanggaard, 2011).
c) Community Development
In this approach, the city comes together formulate and implement solutions aimed at overcoming the problems community members face as a whole. Here crucial aspects that must come it play include; participation by all stakeholders in the community to promote inclusiveness. Other distinctive features of community development include, community ownership, all member have equal opportunity to participate in the initiative, and every member is accountable for the role they play. It is worthy to note that solutions generated by the community members have a higher likelihood of success since they are tailored to the problems that the community is facing (Bahraminejad et al., 2014). The community members can use evidence-based strategies as the city has a deeper understanding of the problems they face where for instance, in this case, mental health problems.
Camden County community understands that mental health problems is a significant social issue affecting the society and therefore, the solution the city develops shall be focused on eliminating the cause of the problem and identification of management measures. The result of the collective formulation of solutions shall be an improvement of the community regarding knowledge and ways of handling the issue (Bahraminejad et al., 2014). Since community development is a process, it calls for continuous learning especially at an organizational level to boost the members’ capacity in handling the problem in the long-term.
d) Community Coalitions
The main concern in this approach is to build unanimity through engaging different organizations and stakeholders in pushing for a common voice in addressing problems facing the community. An initiative that has support from all stakeholders is likely to face less resistance during implementation than that initiated by a section. Community coalitions are necessary to ensure that all members of a community are provided with an equal opportunity to participate in community initiatives. Furthermore, they are essential in boosting the community’s capacity in handling the mental health problem basing on the assumption that the more people are on board, the more the number of resources available to tackle to the problem.
The coalitions can be between the different organizations present in a particular community, for instance, healthcare providers and insurance providers or the community members and those groups. However, the success of the coalitions is dependent on the alignment of the different sides allying. Divergent goals are likely to result in the collapse of the initiative put in place while convergent goals create a mutual relationship between the stakeholders in the coalitions and therefore success. For instance, healthcare practitioner aiming to eradicate mental health problem same with the community and thus they have to put their resources together regarding skills, human resources, capital, and facilities to achieve the goal. Some health problems such as mental health are quite complex that they require multiple interventions in managing them (Butterfoss, Goodman and Wandersman, 1993).
e) Organizational Consulting
The community may lack some skill set that is necessary for finding solutions to a particular problem that it is facing which would require external sourcing. The city may lack professionals with a mental health specialty. Hence, they have to consult organizations outside the community that have a hobby in dealing with psychological problems. In such a situation, consultation is necessary for various reasons. Firstly, it shall enhance the community’s knowledge concerning the health problem as ideas from sourced from can help in guiding the measures put in place to handle it. Secondly, it shall create a mutual relationship between the community and the organization in such a way that the community shall benefit from the advice the organization shall give an, in turn, the organization shall benefit from knowledge about the prevalence of the condition.
The result of the consultation shall be the empowerment of the community through boosting their ability to handle the problem facing it. According to Butterfoss, Goodman and Wandersman, 1993), organizations consulting helps the community to be engaged in medical research which is particularly vital in handling other issues facing the society such as health disparities. Furthermore, it is imperative to note that organizational consulting helps to bridge the knowledge gap in the community concerning mental health and therefore accelerative achievement of the desired outcomes.
f) Alternative Settings
The most significant challenges that come in the pursuit of community development is measuring and implementation of community empowerment. The problem raises questions about the ways of measuring empowerment which the community can base on to measure the success of the strategies put in place. It is the desire of all people to have control over health conditions which therefore call for the inclusion of settings such as homes and schools. It should be noted that setting initiatives are communally owned, and hence every member of the society has an equal say in matters concerning the setting. Furthermore, the communality call for the context of a structure to facilitate coordination amongst all stakeholders regarding decision making and dialogue.
An alternative setting approach evolves in two ways namely, top-down pathway and the bottom-up pathways. The center of the former comprises of professional organizations which come together to tackle the problem that has arisen in the community (Bloch et al., 2014). The bottom-up pathway, on the other hand, the necessity for change results from the beneficiaries which are the community. In this path, a forum I created to facilitate the transformation of ideas into a tenacious plan and strategy.
g) Policy Research and Advocacy
Policy research and advocacy is an approach to community empowerment that aims to suggest policies considered appropriate for initiating reforms to promote community development. Strategies employed to ensure the success of this approach include conducting surveys and assessments, consultations, white papers and policy briefs. These procedures are targeted at providing the policies being formulated are in line with the needs of the community. Something interesting about this approach is that it ensures that the policies expressed do not impact negatively on the members of the community thus promoting social justice. Moreover, it supports inclusiveness regarding the community being involved the formulation of policies regarding their well-being (de Leeuw, Clavier, and Breton, 2014). However, it should be noted that the stakeholders involved must have an understanding of the problems, the community is facing; something that can be achieved through including the member of the community in the process.
References
Bahraminejad, N., Ibrahim, F., Riji, H. M., Majdzadeh, R., Hamzah, A., & Keshavarz Mohammadi, N. (2014). Partner's engagement in community-based health promotion programs: a case study of professional partner's experiences and perspectives in Iran. Health promotion international , 30 (4), 963-975.
Butterfoss, F. D., Goodman, R. M., & Wandersman, A. (1993). Community coalitions for prevention and health promotion. Health education research , 8 (3), 315-330.
Crawford Shearer, N. B. (2009). Health Empowerment Theory as a Guide for Practice. Geriatric Nursing (New York, N.Y.) , 30 (2 Suppl), 4–10. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2009.02.003
de Leeuw, E., Clavier, C., & Breton, E. (2014). Health policy–why research it and how: health political science. Health Research Policy and Systems , 12 (1), 55.
Foster-Fishman, P. G., Salem, D. A., Chibnall, S., Legler, R., & Yapchai, C. (1998). Empirical support for the critical assumptions of empowerment theory. American Journal of Community Psychology , 26 (4), 507-536.
Kasmel, A., & Tanggaard, P. (2011). Evaluation of changes in individual community-related empowerment in community health promotion interventions in Estonia. International journal of environmental research and public health , 8 (6), 1772-1791.
Kloos, B., Hill, J., Thomas, E., Wandersman, A., & Elias, M. J. (2012). Community psychology: Linking individuals and communities . Cengage Learning.
