The public issue chosen for the present project is HIV prevention. HIV is a severe disease that can impact different age groups. However, the current paper is focused on the most vulnerable population. Thus, the target group selected for the project is represented by young adults living in Chicago, Illinois. The issue is related to the paper because the developed policy will encourage the participation in preventive measures among the members of the target group. Being one of the greatest burdens for the healthcare systems of many countries all over the world, HIV is dangerous due to the lack of treatment and severe health complications. Therefore, the only productive way of eliminating the spread of this condition is preventing it. The present paper incorporates methods of informing and empowering the target population. Also, the skills needed for mobilizing community partnerships will be delineated. Finally, the abilities of the public health professional pertaining to developing policies addressing the public health issue will be discussed.
Informing, Educating, and Empowering the Target Population
Public health nurses need to possess the most effective skills, abilities, and knowledge that may help to inform, educate, and empower the target population. In the present project, several approaches to encouraging and teaching the selected group of people will be employed. First of all, the empowerment through peer group leaders is considered as a highly productive method (McCreary, Kaponda, Davis, Kalengamaliro, & Norr, 2013). Researchers note that behavioral change interventions involving the empowerment of peer group leaders have a rather positive effect on the participants. One of the reasons why public health leaders should use this encouragement technology is that leaders help group members through their self-identification as change agents (McCreary et al., 2013).
Another effective way of empowering and informing the target population is through community-based research (Thompson, Molina, Viswanath, Warnecke, & Prelip, 2016). With the help of this approach, it is possible to reduce health disparities and convince the selected population group to participate in the prevention project. Thompson et al. (2016) note that this method helps to reach positive health outcomes. Thus, it seems quite relevant to employ this empowerment approach in the current campaign.
One more tool the public health leader might employ to educate the target population on HIV is the use of social networking technologies (Young et al., 2013). Research indicates that young people engaged in activity groups on social websites express a higher degree of willingness to participate in prevention projects than those who are not involved in any social groups. Therefore, all the described tools can be used by the public health leader with the aim of educating, informing, and empowering the participants.
Mobilizing Community Partnerships
When seeking to mobilize community partnerships to address the selected public health issue, the healthcare professional needs to employ integrative abilities as well as skills and knowledge. This stage of the project policy development is particularly important since the successful engagement of communities is known to have a positive impact on the healthcare issue elimination. Abara, Coleman, Fairchild, Gaddist, and White (2015) emphasize the significance of community partnership in addressing HIV. Cornish, Priego-Hernandez, Campbell, Mburu, and McLean (2014) also conclude that such cooperation promotes HIV prevention.
To mobilize community partnerships, the public health leader needs to employ the abilities of communication and persuasion. Also, it is crucial for the leader to prepare a concise report on what has been done so far and what is planned to be done. Such a summary will not only inform the community about the campaign but will also demonstrate the seriousness of the public health leader’s intentions and the devotion with which this professional treats the project. For the benefit of the target population, the nurse needs to do everything possible to mobilize community partnerships.
Skills for Developing Policies to Address the Selected Public Health Issue
The healthcare leader needs to address the selected issue at three levels of the healthcare system: macro, meso, and micro. At each of these levels, specific skills and abilities are required. At the macro level, the nurse needs to implement the HIV prevention policy and intervention. Thus, at this point, it is crucial to have the knowledge of public health legislation and demonstrate excellent persuasion, advocacy, and communication skills. At the meso level, the public health leader will need to deal with community leaders and other stakeholders occupying managerial positions. The most important at this point are collaboration and effective assessment skills (“Competency assessment,” 2014). Finally, at the micro level, the nurse needs to work directly with the participants of the target population group. The skills to be used at this stage are collaboration and communication. Also, the leader needs to have excellent explanatory and persuasion abilities. The knowledge required at this level comprises the evidence-based practice, community-based research, and all the other components of research that the public health leader has performed before developing the policy.
Conclusion
The main ideas of the paper refer to the skills, abilities, and knowledge needed for the public health leader while working on the development of the capstone project policy. A significant part of the paper is dedicated to empowerment methods to be used when addressing the target population. In particular, the empowerment through peer group leaders, community-based research, and social networking technologies are considered to be effective. Other crucial subjects discussed in the paper are focused on mobilizing partnerships and developing policies. It is noted that community mobilization is highly significant to reach out to the target group. Also, the skills to be used at different levels of the healthcare system are identified. The paper is expected to promote the implementation of the project aimed at HIV prevention among young adults from Chicago, Illinois.
References
Abara, W., Coleman, J. D., Fairchild, A., Gaddist, B., & White, J. (2015). A faith-based community partnership to address HIV/AIDS in the southern United States: Implementation, challenges, and lessons learned. Journal of Religion and Health, 54(1), 122-133.
Competency assessment: Tier 2 public health professionals. (2014). Web.
Cornish, F., Priego-Hernandez, J., Campbell, C., Mburu, G., & McLean, S. (2014). The impact of community mobilisation on HIV prevention in middle and low income countries: A systematic review and critique. AIDS and Behavior, 18(11), 2110-2134.
McCreary, L. L., Kaponda, C. P. N., Davis, K., Kalengamaliro, M., & Norr, K. F. (2013). Empowering peer group leaders for HIV prevention in Malawi. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 45(3), 288-297.
Thompson, B., Molina, Y., Viswanath, K., Warnecke, R., & Prelip, M. L. (2016). Strategies to empower communities to reduce health disparities. Health Affairs, 35(8), 1424-1428.
Young, S. D., Cumberland, W. G., Lee, S.-J., Jaganath, D., Szekeres, G., & Coates, T. (2013). Social networking technologies as an emerging tool for HIV prevention: A cluster randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 159(5), 318-325.