Best practices in health promotion and disease prevention for a diverse population

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

The Effectiveness of Community Engagement in Meeting Needs of a Diverse Population

This literature provides insights to interdisciplinary team members on appropriate methods to be undertaken to meet the needs of the elderly population. The identified approach involves building trust and rapport with communities and ensuring that they are involved when the exercise is being conducted. The purpose of involving the community is to ensure that they not only own up the process but also is a good way through which potential donors are identified.

Furthermore, this method is meant to advocate for transparency and minimize healthcare disparities (Keyko, Cummings, Yonge & Wong, 2016). Besides, it ensures a great level of participation because people are open and express themselves only if they are part and parcel of the exercise. Through this, satisfaction from the community needs is always guaranteed (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015).

Barriers to Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Promotion of health services and strategies of preventing spread of diseases in rural areas face myriads of challenges. Some of those challenges can be beyond the scope of those who try to promote healthcare while others can be overcome. Some of the barriers likely to hinder health promotion include poor infrastructure, community isolation as well as lack of good specialty care (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). These challenges are complicated by the fact that the prevalence of chronic health conditions increases with age, therefore, provision of care will be affected by many factors (Huey Jr, Tilley, Jones & Smith, 2014). As the brochure illustrates, the vulnerable population under consideration comprise elderly people from different ethnic group, religion, culture, race, and beliefs. These community factors can raise other challenges such as language barrier.

How such challenges can be overcome?

One of the best ways to overcome such challenges is to involve the community as has already been discussed in the previous section. More so, religious leaders can be involved as well. The two groups can help promote the acceptability of the health promotion programs being undertaken. Another undertaking is that we shall beforehand learn some phrases as well as words that are sensitive in that culture as a way of avoiding their use in the program (Huey Jr et al., 2014). Finally, identifying what local medicine the people use and how we can incorporate them would also serve as a better way through which the exercise can receive higher acceptability. Implementing these ideas will help overcome the challenges that can be foreseen.

How the Strategies Positively Impact Health Outcomes

Engaging the community as a way of meeting the health issues of a given community is one of the most reliable ways of ensuring health promotion as well as prevention of diseases are adhered to. Involving the community helps remove any doubt from their minds of the program being undertaken and also ensures that they participate.

Community members who hold a higher stake and command respect can be used as advocates and hence enlighten the community of the benefits of the health promotion strategies. I have the highest level of confidence that when a community is healthy the nation too becomes healthy (Shi & Singh, 2014). This will eventually result to positive results globally. Promotion of healthcare activities should however start from grass roots at the level of the community for easy acceptability and impact creation.