The selected public health issue serving as the basis for the intended final capstone project is HIV prevention. The target group is composed of young adults from Chicago, Illinois. The problem is closely related to the paper because it will help to develop and introduce a public health campaign, which is the purpose of the project. HIV is one of the greatest burdens of the healthcare system because of severe health complications and the lack of treatment. Thus, only prevention measures can save the lives of young people from the danger posed by HIV. The present paper will include the evaluation of the target population’s health, the approaches to developing a public health campaign, and the ways of assessing the project.
Assessing the Target Population’s Health
Public health professionals need to acquire and operate a set of evaluation skills in order to perform their duties in the most effective way. In particular, the competency assessment involves several domains of skills:
- analytical;
- communication;
- program development;
- cultural competency;
- public health science;
- systems thinking and leadership;
- financial management and planning;
- community dimensions of practice (“Competency assessment,” 2014).
In order to assess the health of the target population, the most crucial domains will be communication skills, program development, and community dimensions of practice. Along with these abilities, the public health nurse will need to incorporate knowledge and integrative abilities in the process of evaluating the target population’s health. Current evidence on HIV assessment indicates that evaluation skills are crucial to single out young people that are at the highest risk of HIV. For instance, Bonar et al. (2014) note that the danger of developing HIV increases in drug users. Therefore, the public health nurse will need to use communication skills to persuade young people to participate in the project. Further, program development skills will be employed to evaluate the campaign’s objectives. Finally, community dimensions of practice will be necessary for the effective assessment of the target population’s health. With the help of these skills, the public health nurse will be able to select the most effective approaches to be included in the project as well as outline the key participants.
Developing a Public Health Campaign
In regard to the selected public health issue impacting the target population, the public health professional will have to introduce a public health campaign. The creation of such a program requires expertise as well as development and integrative abilities. The necessary knowledge should include professional practice aspects, health protection, public health care principles, social justice, and determinants of health. Development skills required for the campaign development include interaction and training. Integrative abilities, as outlined by Kligler et al. (2015) are focused on such crucial aspects of care as utilizing a patient-centered approach, gathering a comprehensive health history, and showing skills in using evidence. Also, integrative skills include the promotion of behavior change in individuals and communities, collaboration with individuals and families to create a plan of care, and incorporation of ethical regulations in the health practice (Kligler et al., 2015).
An example of an effective HIV prevention campaign is the combination implementation introduced by Chang et al. (2013). The suggested approach is a localized application of evidence-based procedures that promote a high quality of interventions for HIV prevention (Chang et al., 2013). Other examples of developing the public health campaign are counseling, HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy support, behavior change, and demand creation (Chang et al., 2013).
The Implementation and Evaluation of the Campaign
To assure the implementation of the campaign, the public health professional will arrange the collaboration with local hospitals, school, and shelters. These are the primary places of the target population’s gatherings. Further, it will be necessary to seek support in families since they also have a great impact on the success of the campaign. Two strategies are proposed for the project. The first one is encouraging the youth to do HIV testing to check whether they are at risk (Van Handel, Kann, Olsen & Dietz, 2016). The second strategy is sending personalized text message reminders promoting medication adherence to those representatives of the target population who are already infected (Garofalo et al., 2016). With the help of the second approach, the public health nurse will eliminate the spread of the disease from infected individuals to HIV-negative young adults.
The expected outcomes are concerned with the altered attitudes of the target population group toward HIV testing and medication adherence. In the long run, it is hoped that the rates of HIV-infected young adults in Chicago, Illinois will decrease. Apart from the professional knowledge, the implementation and evaluation of the campaign will require such integrative skills as collaboration with families and patient-centeredness. The assurance skills needed for successful promotion include high levels of communication and persuasion abilities.
Conclusion
The paper includes the description of the planning skills, integrative abilities, and knowledge needed for the public health professional to implement the health prevention campaign. In particular, the required evaluation abilities include financial management and planning, program development, communication, cultural competency, public health science, and other skills. Training and interaction constitute the necessary development skills. The evaluation domain is represented with such abilities as patient-centeredness and collaboration. The main ideas reflected in the paper refer to the assessment of the target population’s health, development of the public health campaign, and the projects’ implementation and evaluation. The paper aims at establishing the campaign’s key stages.
References
Bonar, E. E., Whiteside, L. K., Walton, M. A., Zimmerman, M. A., Booth, M. B., Blow, F. C., & Cunningham, R. (2014). Prevalence and correlates of HIV risk among adolescents and young adults reporting drug use: Data from an urban emergency department in the United States. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 15(1), 3-28.
Chang, L. W., Serwadda, D., Quinn, T. C., Wawer, M. J., Gray, R. H., & Reynolds, S. J. (2013). Combination implementation for HIV prevention: Moving from clinical trial evidence to population-level effects. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 13(1), 65-76.
Competency assessment: Tier 2 public health professionals. (2014). Web.
Garofalo, R., Kuhns, L. M., Hotton, A., Johnson, A., Muldoon, A., & Rice, D. (2016). A randomized controlled trial of personalized text message reminders to promote medication adherence among HIV-positive adolescents and young adults. AIDS and Behavior, 20(5), 1049-1059.
Van Handel, M., Kann, L., Olsen, E. O., & Dietz, P. (2016). HIV testing among US High school students and young adults. Pediatrics, 137(2), e20152700.
Kligler, B., Brooks, A. J., Maizes, V., Goldblatt, E., Klatt, M., Koithan, M. S., … Lebensohn, P. (2015). Interprofessional competencies in integrative primary healthcare. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 4(5), 33-39.