Individual health and aggregate populations within various communities are often dependent on the ability of that community to identify the health problems they face (Becker, 1974). Additionally, the willingness of the individuals/groups to adhere to the proposed lifestyles aimed at maintaining health and well-being. Nurses and other medical practitioners have a role to assess the milestones achieved by the measures put in place to minimize the effect of specific risks. This role may be best summed by an acknowledgment that nurses need independence to initiate interventions that help patients and respective families to assume more responsibility in practicing bets health practices (Becker, 1974).
Noting that the proposed plan to support breastfeeding is based on the health belief model and hence focused on the influence of the environment and the subject’s belief, the program’s evaluation focuses on the factors perceived to negatively affect breastfeeding (Green, 1999). These include embarrassment, competing time demands on the mother, mothers’ confidence about nursing and nourishment of the baby, and need for social support (Green, 1999).
It is vital to note that social support affects all the other factors either directly or directly and hence evaluation must take a broader perspective rather than simply focus on lactating mothers. However, evaluation goes beyond the subjects. Those implementing the changes are also subject to evaluation if the success of the program is to be fully defined.
Successful evaluation will therefore depend on methods adopted in the evaluation of the contributions of the identified stakeholders. The methods will include;
- Evaluation of the changes in nurses’ and other practitioners’ attitudes during the implementation of the plan.
- The evaluation value the nurses and practitioners attach to the program.
- Evaluation of Communication levels between the practitioners.
- Survey of knowledgeability and willingness of the nurses and practitioners to avail information to the patients.
- Survey of the changes resulting from the plan to nurses, practitioners, mothers, and society in general.
- Survey of the changes in lactating trends.
The variables in evaluation will therefore include;
- Staff attitudes and perceptions.
- Patient attitudes and perceptions.
- Changes in lactation behaviors were achieved during the implementation period.
Evaluation will therefore focus on answering the following questions:
- Does the nursing assistant feel that they can make a difference in client care?
- Do other members of the health team value their input?
- Do they feel valued as a member of the team?
- Did the assistants find that the staff nurses listen to them?
- Does the staff nurse provide cues to the nursing assistants?
- Does the nursing assistant feel that they have the knowledge and resources to make a difference (self-efficacy)?
- Who supports or recognizes the nursing assistant during their care of patients?
- What are the barriers to working with elderly clients as perceived by nursing assistance?
About the breastfeeding mothers, the following questions will be useful in identifying their perception about breastfeeding and further how the community influences their breastfeeding decisions:
- How important is breast-feeding is to the mother (i.e. breastfeeding can be used as a method of birth control, to have a healthy baby; attitude toward breastfeeding)?
- Does the mother believe that she has the ability and resources to start and continue with breastfeeding (i.e. enough milk, prevent sore nipples, able to eat properly)?
- Who offers support for breastfeeding (social support)?
- What barriers have the mother identified that might become an issue related to breastfeeding (i.e. not able to breastfeed before, seeing friends who had a difficult time, working, other children to take care of, etc)?
- What is the mother’s desired outcome (i.e. healthy baby, bonding with the infant, feeling good about herself as a mother, meeting a cultural and or religious requirement, etc.)?
Strategy for disseminating the results of the project to key stakeholders, and the greater nursing community
The strategy used in the dissemination of the results of the project to stakeholders goes a long way in shaping the future adoption or rejection by the community as well as the nursing community. Just as the health belief model proposes, society often adopts a given approach when they believe that they would draw maximal benefit from it. Taking all these into consideration, several approaches are proposed in the dissemination of the results of the proposed project and the findings of its evaluation. These include
- Giving presentations: to community members, local health facilities, business groups, and community focus groups.
- Working with local media – local newspapers, radio, and television stations;
- Other ways will involve:
- Writing reports
- Creating newsletters
- Using the internet to create a website for your project,
- Access professional journals by collaborating with university or college-based research teams.
It is important to mention that the latter dissemination methods target the elite members of the society and more so those in the nursing practice (Green, 1999). It targets those who can read and understand the findings of the project. These approaches provide a wealth of information and the process that led to the findings of the research. However, the first two focus on all stakeholders regardless of their level of education. They are only provided with information considered vital to shaping their perception and response to breastfeeding of children
References
Becker, M. (1974). The health belief model and personal health behavior. Thorofare, NJ: Slack.
Green C.P. (1999). Improving Breastfeeding Behaviors: Evidence from Two Decades of Intervention Research. Washington, DC: US Agency for International Development (USAID).