Health Promotion Essay Paper
Health Promotion Essay Paper
Select an ethnic minority group that is represented in the United States (American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian American, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander). Using health information available from Healthy People, the CDC, and other relevant government websites, analyze the health status for this group.
In a paper of 1,000-1,250 words, compare and contrast the health status of your selected minority group to the national average. Include the following:
Describe the ethnic minority group selected. Describe the current health status of this group. How do race and ethnicity influence health for this group?
What are the health disparities that exist for this group? What are the nutritional challenges for this group?
Discuss the barriers to health for this group resulting from culture, socioeconomics, education, and sociopolitical factors.
What health promotion activities are often practiced by this group?
Describe at least one approach using the three levels of health promotion prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary) that is likely to be the most effective in a care plan given the unique needs of the minority group you have selected. Provide an explanation of why it might be the most effective choice.
What cultural beliefs or practices must be considered when creating a care plan? What cultural theory or model would be best to support culturally competent health promotion for this population? Why?
Cite at least three peer-reviewed or scholarly sources to complete this assignment. Sources should be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and public health content.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not require
Health promotion – Native Hawaiian
Part 1.
The selected ethnic minority group is Native Hawaiian. The 2010 US national census reveals that the group comprises of 0.2% of the national population at 527,000 million people. 55% of the population resides in Hawaii with the remaining 45% spread across the US. In Hawaii, the ethnic group only accounts for 21% of the state population. A review of the group’s historical background shows that it was a dominant group in the region until the late 18th century when it came into contact with the Western world through Captain James Cook. This contact introduced new ailments (such as syphilis, smallpox, measles and tuberculosis) that would reduce the group’s population by 90% over the next 100 years. During the 19th century, the Hawaiian language and culture continued to be disdained by the European visitors as pagan and primitive. Health Promotion Essay Paper These visitors would later take residence along with possession of Hawaii’s economy, politics and land. Owing to the initial decline of the Native Hawaiian population after its first contact with Europeans, foreigners were encouraged to take residence and provide labor for the pineapple and sugar industries that performed favorably in the area’s climate. The loss of native Hawaiian culture, land and people reached its pinnacle at the end of the 19th century when the native queen was forcefully ousted by European missionaries and businessmen. Despite attempts by the US government to redress the cultural injustices (through legislation) that Native Hawaiian’s experienced over the course of their history after the 18th century, the truth is that Native Hawaiians are a small population that continues to experience cultural injustices owing to their small population that makes them a distinct minority. To be more precise, this population has experienced a colonizing European majority who subjugated them and subjected them to long-term discrimination and injustices. These historical losses in self-identity, culture, land and people have shaped the psychosocial and economic landscape of the native Hawaiian people while limiting their capacity to actualize optimal health (Mokuau et al., 2016).
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Part 2.
The Native Hawaiian population experience many health disparities as a minority group. In fact, the group reports some of the highest mortality rates and shortest life expectancy for cardiovascular conditions, cancer, diabetes, and substance abuse. Firstly, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among Native Hawaiians with prevalence reported at 4.2%. This is twice the prevalence figure reported for the American Caucasian population. The mortality rate for cardiovascular conditions is similarly high, exceeding the national average by 34%. Secondly, cancer is the second leading cause of death within this population with the highest incidence rate when compared to the whole nation. These disparities are linked to lifestyle, internal and external factors that include tobacco use being highly prevalent, presence of genetic markers for tumor aggressiveness, diagnosis at advanced stages of the disease, and absence of culturally appropriate interventions. Thirdly, diabetes is a source of concern with the population reporting incidence at 11.6%, a figure that is more than twice the national figure at 5.1%. Mortality rate is also high, at twice the national figure with the figures blamed on most patients being unaware of their disease status. Finally, substance abuse is a concern with rates reported at 5.2% when compared to the national average at 2.7%. The situation is blamed on behavioral and social issues that include disproportional incarceration burden, increased violence in many settings, unsafe sexual practices, and high rates of psychosocial issues such as suicide and depression.
Part 3.
The poor health reported among Native Hawaiians is linked to socioeconomics, education and sociopolitical factors. Most of the population lives below the poverty level while experience higher unemployment rates even as they live in impoverished conditions. These conditions have made it difficult for them to attend school so that they report low levels of education since they cannot pay for school. Also, it has limited their food choices and access to healthcare since they are unable to pay. In addition, it has caused many of them to experience imprisonment even as they turn to crime as a strategy for making money. A noteworthy and disturbing statistic is the high number of Native Hawaiians who are homeless despite residing in their homeland. Given that many Native Hawaiians are heavily influenced by their traditional culture that holds a holistic view of health in which spiritual, land, community and family realms are interrelated, the losses that this group has experienced makes it many times harder for them to bridge the existing disparities. Besides that, the small population reported for the group ensures that they are underrepresented within the political arena thus making it harder for them to receive political support for their health agendas.
Part 4.
Health promotion among Native Hawaiians has typically applied the socio-ecological model that has four levels. The first level is healthy lifestyle that focuses on the individual in terms of behavior and thoughts. The second level is intrapersonal level that focuses on readiness for behavior change, assertiveness, internalization of stereotypes, weight loss expectations, locus of control, perceived discrimination, and cultural identify. The third level is interpersonal level that focuses on child care, social network size, family and cultural identify, household income, discrimination, family support, and family activities. The final level is community level that focuses on cultural stereotypes, role models, weight-related social expectations, safe living, supportive organizations, affordable healthy foods, and access to culturally relevant activities (Kaholokula et al., 2018; Moy et al., 2012).
Part 5.
A health promotion approach could focus on preventing cardiovascular disease incidence among the group. At the primary level, the focus would be on preventing incidence before the disease process begins through the use of regular exercises and healthy eating. At the secondary level, the focus would be on applying measures that result in early diagnosis and prompt treatment through regular screening and examination for cardiovascular disease. At the tertiary level, the focus would be on rehabilitation that allows individuals who have been diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases to resume normal healthy living through rehabilitating, reeducating and retraining patients who have been sick (Catalano, 2015).
Part 6.
There are cultural practices that must be noted when creating a care plan for Native Hawaiians. The first practice is balance (lokahi triangle) whereby healing must address the spiritual, mental and physical realm needs. The second practice is family (ohana) whereby all family members should be involved in the decision-making and care plan. The third practice is compassion (aloha) and care for (malama) whereby there is a need to feel cared for and respected in the healthcare relationship (Stanford School of Medicine, 2019). These cultural practices are best supported by the Health Belief Model that uses individual beliefs to predict health-related behavior. Using the model, the individual beliefs in the cultural practices can be used to predict how each patient would perceive susceptibility, severity, benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy (Catalano, 2015).
References
Catalano, J. (2015). Nursing now! today’s issues, tomorrow’s trends. (7th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis Company.
Kaholokula, J., Ing, C., Look, M., Delafield, R. & Sinclair, K. (2018). Culturally responsive approaches to health promotion for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Ann Hum Biol., 45(3), 249-263. doi: 10.1080/03014460.2018.1465593
Mokuau, N., DeLeon, P., Kaholokula, K., Soares, S., Tsark, J. & Haia, C. (2016). Challenges and promise of health equity for Native Hawaiians. Expert Voices in Health & Health Care, National Academy of Medicine. Retrieved from https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Challenges-and-Promise-of-Health-Equity-for-Native-Hawaiians.pdf
Moy, K., Sallis, J., Trinidad, D., Ice, C. & McEligot, A. (2012). Health behaviors of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults in California. Asia Pac J Public Health, 24(6), 961-969. doi: 10.1177/1010539511408068
Stanford School of Medicine (2019). Traditional health beliefs: Native Hawaiian values. Retrieved from https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hawaiian_pacific_islander/fund/health_beliefs.html . Health Promotion Essay Paper
