Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

Health screening according to Durojaiye, (2009) is a systematic application of a test or inquiry, to identify individuals at sufficient risk of a specific health problem to warrant further investigation of direct preventive action, among persons who have not sough t medical attention on account of symptoms of that problem. According to this definition the main aim of screening program is to detect disease or risk factor, among the general population, in order to implement earlier preventive or therapeutic intervention because the highest benefit one can derive from a specific treatment is when the disease is less advanced (Rosemary Pope,1992). Screening is different to diagnosis. screening is performed on people without symptoms Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

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Screening participants are also self-selected and therefore cannot be assumed to be identical to non-participants with respect to disease risk. Despite the difficulty, researchers have reported the benefits of screening. The most recognized benefit of health screening according to Durojaiye, (2009) is it’s effectiveness in reducing morbidity and mortality from disease by detecting it before symptoms occur. A report in 2006, by the Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer Screening, shows that screening saves 1,400 lives a year in England. In Australia, The age-standardized breast cancer mortality rate in women of all ages declined significantly from 28 per 100,000 women in 1996 to 24 per 100,000 in 2005. Mortality from breast cancer among women aged 50-69 was reported to have declined from 62 deaths per 100,000 in 1996 to 52 deaths per 100,000 in 2005 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008) . Evidence also suggests that a reduction in death rates of around 95% is possible in the long-term with cervical cancer screening. The screening of pregnant women to identify and intervene early with risks to their health and that of their babies are associated with improved health status among high-risk populations (Durojaiye, 2009). The idea of screening therefore is to prevent, not to cure. Pope (1992)Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation’s public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report.

HEALTH21, the health policy framework for the European Region of WHO, introduces a
new type of nurse – the family health nurse – who will have a key role in addressing the
needs of the family within the context of the community. Family health nurses will play a
role throughout the life course and along the entire health–illness continuum, with
particular reference to the needs of the most vulnerable groups in society. They will have
in-depth knowledge of the determinants of health, and will base their practice on primary
health care and public health principles.
To enable them to carry out this role effectively and to plan their work accordingly, they
will need to have a thorough understanding of the community and its needs. They will also
require the necessary competencies to assess families and individuals with their health and
related needs, so that their care can be jointly planned. To this end, they will need to be
competent to undertake community, individual and family needs assessment. This document
offers a comprehensive tool to assist the family health nurse in doing just that.
The authors of the document, who are themselves grounded in community practice, take the
practitioner systematically through the health needs assessment process in a very precise
way. They clearly point out that health needs assessment is not a one-off exercise but an
ongoing process that allows us to plan health care and public health programmes. Subjects
such as profiling the population, deciding on priorities, planning public health and health
care programmes, implementing planned activities and evaluating health outcomes are each
addressed in some depth and the practitioner is provided with know-how in each area. An
appendix provides a very useful framework for assessing the health needs of individual
families.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay
The second section of the document is a training pack that can be adapted by individual
countries to their needs. It will be of particular use to those countries that are introducing
the family health nurse concept and wish to ensure that such nurses have easy access to a
training programme in community and family needs assessment. Nevertheless, needs
assessment and the follow-up action are the responsibility of all nurses working in
community health practice, and this practitioner’s and trainer’s pack will thus be a very
important tool in this context.

The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation’s health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public’s health.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses:

The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement.
The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system.
The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation.
Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

In Chapter 2, we examined the extant literature to determine the overall implementation of secular programs within the Black church community. The programs examined cover a wide range of services, including those related to health, economic well-being, education and youth outreach. But to what extent are these programs effective? What gaps in programming can be observed, and how can these gaps be filled? What other implementation problems do these programs experience?

In Chapter 3, we will examine the effectiveness of these programs and validate their usefulness to the community and their timeliness, and attempt to determine common denominators in predicting the success or failure of a proposed program.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

BEHAVIORS Observed behaviors within the church include: ¢ Person involvement by the church pastor ¢ Provision of community service programs, either with or without outside assistance, including community health, mental health and substance abuse programs, youth programs, literacy and economic programs

¢ Involvement of the congregation in these programs ¢ Interaction with outside resources to provide services for congregants and community members ¢ Screening of programs to offer in order to maximize effectiveness for the congregation EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMS Overall, the programs noted above have the potential to be highly effective in serving the needs of the congregation.

Which programs were particularly effective, and where could improvements have been made to increase the effectiveness of the programs studied? The area of community health outreach was proven to be very effective. Both Project DIRECT, which dealt with diabetes education and screening, and the Los Angeles Mammography Promotion in Churches Program, that provided community screening, education and intervention for mammography care, were ranked as highly effectively by pastors, congregants and researchers.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

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Both programs inspired permanent changes in church programs and ministries, including organization of health committees, permanent health and screening programs for many factors such as blood pressure and diabetes and community support for a healthy lifestyle that had previously been lacking. What factors did these two programs have in common that allowed for the success of the programs? The most important factor in the success of these two community health programs was participation by and support of the church leaders, particularly the pastor.

Without the support of these key figures, uptake by congregants would not have been as enthusiastic, and the programs may not have been as successful in the churches they were implemented in. The recognition of the importance of their congregants health was a vital component in ensuring the pastors support for these programs. Another factor in these programs success was the support of researchers and care providers.

This included not only the logistical support for screening and diagnostic tests, but assistance to the pastor in education, discussion of the causes and symptoms of the monitored condition, and development of a rapport and personal relationships with both the pastor and congregants. A final factor in these programs success was the targeted match between the program and the churchs demographic. Physical health programs showed an overall high success rate; however, formal mental health programs did not fare as well in these studies, showing some of the lowest overall success rates.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

Blanks study showed that mental health programs within the Black church are not strongly tied to the formal care system, with almost no referrals from the churchs informal care system to the formal care system. The reasons for this are complex difficult and untrusting relationships between minority patients and white caregivers, a lack of cultural sensitivity and historical understanding on the part of white caregivers, lack of formal care providers in underserved populations, and lack of resources within a church to implement a formal program.

Other problems included a difference between religious and psychological worldviews on the causes and treatment of psychological issues, the formal care systems relative non-recognition of natural helpers such as may be found in an informal care setting and relative reluctance of minority patients who are suffering mental distress to seek formal care. McCoy offered many suggestions for easing the relationship between the formal care system and the informal care system and increasing the effectiveness of these programs.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

These suggestions included cultural sensitivity training and education on African-American history and discussion of the Black churchs social and cultural milieu, leading to understanding and acceptance of non-normative behavior; cultivation of personal relationships between caregivers and the pastors of the church they serve, as well as caregivers and congregants; information transfer by formal care providers to pastors on the signs of mental distress and what care to provide; and to conform to the cultural norms of the church, including those regarding relative forms of address and respect to church elders.

In between the notable success of community health programs and the seeming failure of formal mental health care programs fall the rest of the programs examined above. The REACH Program, a grass-roots economic program created by the church and not supported by any outside agency, is a notable success despite difficulties interacting with the external system; youth ministry programs are a mixed bag, ranging from very effective to only moderately effective.Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay

There is no hard data on the effectiveness of literacy and education programs. Factors in success or failure of these programs are largely the same as in the programs above: clearly defined mission, community need, dedicated personnel and capable outside support (or at least lack of opposition) are likely to produce a successful program, where lack of clear statement of purpose, not enough help and lack of community need are likely to lead to failure.

Some analysis of particular difficulties which all programs, successful or not, experienced, is required to understand the difficulties faced by social programs within the Black church in general. These hurdles were encountered in all the studies above. They include training and staff availability (including pastor availability), availability of church resources, timeliness and targeting of programs and interactions with outside agencies. Formal Carers in Health And Screening Programs Essay