Abstract
The present paper aims at evaluating the skills and abilities needed for the public health professional in order to eliminate the negative impact of some health issues on the health of the target population. The population group selected for the analysis is young people (18-35 years old). The health issue is HIV prevention. The paper covers three major areas. First of all, the approaches to monitoring the target population’s health, along with current evidence, are offered. Secondly, the ways of diagnosing the impact of the target population’s health are suggested, and examples are given. Thirdly, the ways of investigating the effect on target population health are analyzed. Additionally, the appropriate data that might be useful for such an investigation is provided. The ideas expressed in the paper are supported by current research in the field of healthcare. In the introduction, the significance of the chosen health issue and population group is explained. The conclusion offers a summary of the main points of the paper. Through the use of evidence and examples, the importance of the opinions and facts outlined in the paper is emphasized. An assessment project is a helpful tool for public health professionals as well as healthcare employees.
Introduction
The selected public health issue that will serve as a basis for the project is HIV prevention. The target population is young adults (aged 18-35 years old) in Chicago, Illinois. This health problem bears a high level of significance because of its extensive negative impact on the target population group. Adverse outcomes that may appear due to HIV vary from mild to severe health problems.
Due to these facts, the issue of HIV prevention is among the most crucial ones, and it requires serious and immediate consideration. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways of monitoring the health of young adults, discuss the diagnosing options, and analyze the impact of the health issue on the target population’s health.
The Ways of Monitoring the Health of the Target Population
In order to monitor the health of the target population, it is necessary to analyze the statistics of young people’s health issues in Chicago, Illinois. To do so, the public health professional has to contact local hospitals and ask their representatives to provide data on young people belonging to risk groups. The second approach is visiting shelters for homeless people, where the risk of HIV spread is much higher.
In both cases, the public health professional will need to observe the population group representatives, analyze their health condition to identify the symptoms of HIV, and encourage them to do HIV tests. This can be done both by direct observation and by asking young people about their lifestyle habits and health problems.
A particular group of young people that is at risk of developing HIV is represented by drug users. Current evidence on this issue testifies that substance and drug abusers tend to engage in unsafe intercourse and frequently have sexually transmitted infections (Bonar et al., 2016). With the help of this data, it is easier to identify a specific group requiring additional attention in the whole target population segment. Evidence from another recent study indicates that young people have a low motivation to do HIV tests (Brown, Carballo-Diéguez, John, & Schnall, 2016).
This information may be employed by the public health professional with the aim of identifying a possible way of monitoring data. At the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind that the motivation level to do such tests should be increased. Thus, it is possible to monitor the health of the target population through HIV tests, but the public health professional should come up with the idea of encouraging these people to do the testing.
The Ways of Diagnosing the Impact on Target Population Health
To diagnose the effects on the health of the target population, it is necessary to evaluate the prevalence of diseases among young people. Particularly, in relation to the investigated health problem (HIV prevention), the public health professional needs to come up with reliable diagnostic measures that will not take up much time and will be easy to implement. An example of an effective diagnostic procedure is HIV testing (Van Handel, Kann, Olsen, & Dietz, 2016). Such an approach is viable for any young person belonging to the target population group.
Another example is sending text message reminders to promote medication adherence among young people who have already been diagnosed with HIV (Garofalo et al., 2016). This approach is useful for diagnosing the effect of the investigated health issue on those young people who are already infected by HIV. Therefore, the two examples are helpful in the process of diagnosing that will be performed by the public health professional. One of the examples may be employed to control the health condition of HIV-infected people. Another one may be used to encourage the youth to manage their health and prevent the possibility of HIV.
The Ways of Investigating the Impact on Target Population Health
To analyze the influence on the target population’s health, it is crucial for the public health professional to investigate the extent of HIV’s negative effect on young people. The skills required in this respect include the profound knowledge of the problem, analytical skills, and abilities to integrate and interpret the findings. The following data may be used to support the outlined skills:
- mortality rates among HIV-infected young people (Mirani et al., 2015);
- the statistics of blood pressure problems in HIV-positive youths (Chatterton-Kirchmeier, Camacho-Gonzalez, McCracken, Chakraborty, & Batisky, 2015);
- the problems appearing in the process of transitioning young adults from pediatric to adult care (Hussen et al., 2017).
All of these ways of investigating the impact of the health issue on the target population will be of great help for the public health professional. By analyzing the rates of mortality and the complications that may occur in patients with HIV, it will be easier to explain the significance of HIV prevention.
Conclusion
The main ideas reflected in the paper are related to the problems of diagnosing and investigating the impact on young people’s health as well as the ways of monitoring the health of the target population. The most important assessment techniques needed by the public health professional to address the selected public health issue are analytical and persuasive skills.
With the help of them, along with integrative abilities, it will be easier to arrange a campaign on preventing the spread of HIV among young people. Taking into consideration the severity of health problems that may develop due to the HIV-positive status, it becomes apparent that this health issue requires considerable attention.
References
Bonar, E. E., Whiteside, L. K., Walton, M. A., Zimmerman, M. A., Booth, M. B., Blow, F. C., & Cunningham, R. (2016). Prevalence and correlates of HIV risk among adolescents and young adults reporting drug use: Data from an urban emergency department in the United States. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 15(1), 3-28.
Brown, W. III, Carballo-Diéguez, A., John, R. M., & Schnall, R. (2016). Information, motivation, and behavioral skills of high-risk young adults to use the HIV self-test. AIDS and Behavior, 20(9), 2000-2009.
Chatterton-Kirchmeier, S., Camacho-Gonzalez, A. F., McCracken, C. E., Chakraborty, R., & Batisky, D. L. (2015). Increased prevalence of elevated blood pressures in HIV-infected children, adolescents and young adults. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 34(6), 610-614.
Garofalo, R., Kuhns, L. M., Hotton, A., Johnson, A., Muldoon, A., & Rice, D. (2016). A Randomized controlled trial of personalized text message reminders to promote medication adherence among HIV-positive adolescents and young adults. AIDS and Behavior, 20(5), 1049-1059.
Hussen, S. A., Chakraborty, R., Knezevic, A., Camacho-Gonzalez, A., Huang, E., Stephenson, R., & del Rio, C. (2017). Transitioning young adults from paediatric to adult care and the HIV care continuum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA: A retrospective cohort study. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 20(1), 21848.
Mirani, G., Williams, P. L., Chernoff, M., Abzug, M. J., Levin, M. J., Seage, G. R. III, … Van Dyke, R. B. (2015). Changing trends in complications and mortality rates among US youth and young adults with HIV infection in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(12), 1850-1861.
Van Handel, M., Kann, L., Olsen, E. O., & Dietz, P. (2016). HIV testing among US High school students and young adults. Pediatrics, 137(2), e20152700.