Introduction
The human condition is one of the essential values and must be supported at all levels. Health educators’ work is to tutor the population to involve them in active participation in their health matters. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the Healthy People 2030 initiative, its goals, and the possibility of involving the complex in the work of a health educator.
Main body
The peculiarity of this program is the presence of many clear goals, the adherence to which contributes to improving living standards throughout the country. So far, the initiative includes 355 measurable objectives and research goals (“Browse objectives,” n.d.). Such a broad list, divided into several sections, allows addressing each of the problems that exist in healthcare. The initiative addresses issues such as different health conditions and specific diseases, recommendations for behavior, and considers the concept of health in terms of populations, systems, and social determinants (“Browse objectives,” n.d.). These sections provide both general guidelines that can be followed directly and essential sources for research.
Healthy People distributes a straightforward, structured approach to healthcare and high living standards. Thanks to such a clear division, it becomes possible for health educators to study each of the topics provided purposefully. The goals indicated in these topics allow forming a general direction of activity. This decade-long initiative raises relevant issues that all practicing educators should pay attention to. For example, the first section, Health Conditions, provides information on the most common diseases at the moment, such as cancer and problems with the cardiovascular system. Since the number of patients with such diagnoses is large, and the risk of receiving these diagnoses is high, their coverage is especially important. On the other hand, the initiative makes it easier to reach out to specific groups of people, for example, LGBT communities, by drawing attention to those problems that might otherwise have gone unnoticed (“Browse objectives,” n.d.). Thus, with the help of this structure, it becomes possible to draw people’s attention to issues that are especially acute in modern society.
However, to entirely refer to the described directives, it is not enough just the official Healthy People website’s list. To effectively provide assistance to those in need and disseminate information in the most accessible form, it is necessary to use additional sources. These may include, for example, scientific journals widely distributed over the Internet. These health-related sources can provide further information on the Healthy People initiative itself. An example of this approach is an article from The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics by McGowan, Kramer, and Teitelbaum (2019), which examines this program’s features in the context of the law. Such sources allow a better understanding of the program itself to effectively implement the goals in practice, taking into account the studied features, in this case, interaction with the law. Another example is an article from the Journal of Cultural Diversity that addresses a specific group of people, namely the elderly, as part of this initiative (Clark, 2017). Likewise, the knowledge gained from such sources enables Healthy People to be implemented more effectively.
Such sources may also include articles directly related to the initiative and general research on similar topics. For the most part, scientific journals provide the most reliable information that can be used in further work. However, such texts are often quite challenging to understand, so popular publications can be used as analogs. Various open sources that provide statistics are also engaging since it is usually much easier to convey the necessary information with specific numbers. So, for example, in connection with the latest events, it will be especially relevant to use the site with statistics on COVID-19 (“Coronavirus cases,” 2020). Leveraging proven, publicly available data will help to more effectively achieve the Healthy People initiative’s goals.
Finally, the last issue related to this program is tracking results. Fortunately, most of the goals posted under this initiative have an exact target. Within the framework of my chosen leading indicator of health, social determinants, economic stability, accessibility of education and medical services, and quality of life in the context of society are considered (“Browse objectives,” 2020). For most of these goals, a threshold is specified that must be reached. Health educators need to strive to achieve this limit, but tracking results can become problematic with continuous work.
In this case, it is possible to express at least two options that allow you to analyze the situation related to achieving the goal effectively. Firstly, every health educator can compile statistics within the framework of his / her activity, thereby, in practice, examining current progress. For example, when conducting conversations about economic stability and the importance of stable earnings for proper health care, statistics can be collected. The second method takes more time but allows analyzing a larger area and condition of many people. For such research, you can also use various kinds of scientific sources and research conducted by other people. For example, one of the topics within the selected health indicator is access to education. For information on this initiative’s success, one can refer to studies such as Prieto, Flacke, Aguero-Valverde, and Van Maarseveen (2018). However, the downside of this approach is the need to wait some time before getting statistical results.
Conclusion
Thus, the Healthy People 2030 Initiative provides a wide range of relevant guidelines for educating the public about health. To implement the described principles and goals in work, it is also necessary to use additional sources, for example, scientific journals and available statistics. Finally, progress towards achievement can also be monitored from similar sources.
References
Browse objectives. (n.d.). Web.
Clark, L.A. (2017). Health disparities and social determinants of health among the elderly. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 24(4), 118-125.
Coronavirus cases. (2020). Web.
McGowan, A. K., Kramer, K. T., & Teitelbaum, J. B. (2019). Healthy People: The role of law and policy in the nation’s public health agenda. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 47(S2), 63-67.
Prieto, L. M., Flacke, J., Aguero-Valverde, J., & Van Maarseveen, M. (2018). Measuring inequality of opportunity in access to quality basic education: A case study in Florida, US. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 7(12), 465.