Working with Communities

Introduction

Individual health is influenced by the surrounding of people and their daily activities. In helping get rid of a disease in a community the understanding of the community is vital. One has to make sure that they have a clear look at the health programs within the area. It is done through research that is collected about the community. The data that is collected will be key in helping to deal with any health issue within the community. One of the common health issues that result from a community’s way of life is dengue fever. The disease is caused by a virus that results from the lifestyle of the people within a community. It is therefore important that health practitioners understand the area before dealing with the disease (Cherifi & Santucci, 2013). Once the characters and the life of the people are understood an approach can be made towards helping to deal with the disease. It is done through awareness and empowerment of the individual to help deal with the disease. Once that is done the process is analyzed and more recommendations given on the future approach of the disease.

PART 1: Strategies to Engage With a Community to Implement a Program to Address Dengue Fever.

In dealing with dengue fever health practitioners will need to engage with communities in order to find the most appropriate solution. The approach should in such a way that it will increase awareness to the members of the community. The awareness will mainly focus on the gap that will be established about the community members. In addressing the health concerns the following strategies will be used in helping the communities:

Citizen Participation

In helping deal with the disease the first and best approach will be allowing citizen participation. Citizen participation is an approach that allows members of the public to be involved in finding out about the concern of the disease. The approach will involve getting data from the community members of their experience with the disease. It will help collect data and get gaps about the disease. It is this that will help the practitioner to know and understand how to approach the disease. The strategy will use different approaches in helping the citizen to understand the disease (Rogge, Theesfeld & Strassner, 2020). It will involve getting the data through interviews, questioners, and even phone calls. It can also be achieved by going through the health records of the patients to be able to find out more information. With the kind of approach, a bond will be created between the practitioners and the community members that will help to ease the work.

Mass Mobilization

Once the information about the concern has been established getting to the people to know about the issue is key. The next strategy will be getting the people to understand the disease and what actions are going to be taken. The mass mobilization will be done in various ways and venues. It will first involve the citizen involved in the first process of participation spreading awareness. The process will involve the members spreading awareness within their members of the community. It will include their family members, relatives, and neighbors. The other people that will be key in the process will involve the community leaders within the area (Eguren, 2008). The community leaders will use their position in reaching out to the people about the disease and its progress over time. Once those have been exhausted the next approach will be the use of the media channels. The media channels will include television, radio, and social media platform (Jung & Joshi, 2012). In the process the members will be of the community will be given vital information about the disease. The information that will be given out will include the sign and symptoms of the disease. These include fever, muscle, and joint pains and headaches, and many others.

Social Action

It is an approach that is will be taken based on the stage of the disease. The action is taken toward the normal life of the people. It is done majorly to cause a disruption in the way people within the society behave. It is done by changing the normal life of people and making them adapt to the disease. The approach will involve guiding the people on how they should lead their lives. In this case, people will be told how they lead their lives by community leaders. In the approach, the people will have to adjust through the following means in order to survive from the disease. It will involve the people being observing health regulations that are set towards dealing with the disease. It will involve social interaction such as coming together to deal with the disease.

PART 2: Core Domains of Capacity-Building to Support the Journey to Community Empowerment and Ownership of a Prevention Program for Dengue Fever.

In dealing with the disease and the prevention there are a number of community buildings that can be used. There are based majorly on the community able to take off the disease in question with the following being the basic domains:

Learnings Opportunities and Skill Development.

In dealing with the disease the following is the number one preventing the disease. In dealing with a community with such a disease. The community must be ready to key in and help in solving the problem. Once the community is involved the members need to be given enough knowledge about disease prevention. The knowledge can be passed through the learning abilities and opportunities in the community. The community members need to have the ability to know and understand the language that will be used in educating them about the disease. If the language becomes a barrier then the translation is one option that can be used in saving the community (Allegrante et al., 2009). Apart from that, the community needs to be empowered with their skills and ability to counter the disease. The skill empowerment is however limited only to members within the health faculty. If the two are combined the fight against the disease becomes a success because of the approach that the community will take.

Resource Mobilization.

The action that is taken towards the prevention of the disease demand that the member’s resources are available. Once resources are made available for the practitioners it becomes easy for them to execute their duties. The resources that are used include the protective gear that is used in the process of preventing the disease. The gears will help the practitioner to deal with the disease with speed. The resource mobilization is focused on the members of the public and various bodies that are responsible for helping deal with the disease. The people are allowed to make their different contributions that are geared for the support against the disease. The resources should be made available at the correct time and in the correct form possible. Once the resources have been made available they will facilitate all the due processes in the fight against the disease.

Leadership.

In the fight against the disease, the key aspect will be on the contribution of the leaders in fighting the disease. The range of leaders to only political leaders due to their influence on the members of society. The leaders will involve all the leaders from the family head to top political and religious leaders. The leaders will play an important role in educating the community members about the disease. Once the community members have been informed of their role by their leaders they will tend to follow instructions (Broome & Seabrooke, 2015). Leaders also play a vital role when it comes to the mobilization of resources. Also, leadership will provide sufficient information on the fight against the disease.

Communication.

Looking at the previous stages of the discussion the awareness of the people about the disease is important. The people need to get informed of what is going on in order to deal with the disease. The communication is made available through various patterns which include the media and people. All the two communication channels are important as they help with dealing with the disease in the community. The communication will help one to understand the causes and the approach that has to be taken in order to deal with the disease. In dealing with the disease if communication is dealt with in the process then the program’s success will be limited (Yeatman, 2002).

PART 3: The Health Belief Model used To Motivate and Educate the Community Dengue Fever Advantages and Disadvantages

The health belief model is a theory that is used to enhance understanding of the individual disease. The understanding of the disease is made more prone through the discussion of the influence of the community towards one acquiring the disease. The individual is made to understand the disease from the perspective of how it influences one to acquire it first. It may include the fears within the person that make it possible for them to acquire the disease. In the same theory, it will deal with the psychology of the individual and the disease. If the consequence of the disease is made known to the person what is going to be the effect on his health. Once the individual is made to understand that the triggers within him will determine the chances of getting the disease (Hall, 2011). The model tends to predict the patterns within an individual and community and the chances that they will get infected by the disease.

Advantages

Addresses the cognitive of an individual thereby making it easy to understand. The belief will deal with the thinking of an individual. This will make them have an informed decision about the certain thing that they believe in. it will include the consequences of the disease and hence take care of themselves (Inal & Dogan, 2018).

It segments the beliefs of an individual into four segments; perceived susceptibility, severity, benefit, and barriers. In comparison with the other models, the approach is more holistic which will mean one can have a personal decision.

Disadvantages

The model lack explanation for people dealing with serve mental illness. The model does not explain and give an understanding for individuals with serve mental illness that is how they will cope with the explanation of the disease. It is what a limitation of the model is in disease prevention.

It does not explain logistical consideration for the people with serve mental illness. The approach does not show how people can get access to health care. It makes it difficult for such people to benefit from the model.

 Transtheoretical Model

The model is more described as the stage model which aims altertering with the behavior of an individual in order to change their behavior. The approach of the model is in such a manner that it will help the individual make a prior decision and get to the healing process. The stage is made in a way that is similar to therapy. In the initial stage of the process which is more of intuition, the individual is made away of their behavior. Once tha is done a person is made to understand the influence of their behavior on the disease. However, it allows individuals to make decisions on their own (Zhu, Ho, Sit & He, 2014). It is not for any call of action and hence everything is dependent on the person’s readiness and willingness.

Advantages

The model is a great deal as it allows an individual to closely assess their behavior and hence make an informed decision (Song & Kim, 2011). Decision making is key in the process as it will enable a slow but steady change in the person’s behavior.

Limitations

The theory does not keep into consideration the social aspect of an individual. In line with this, the theory does not address the fact that one has the influence of the social background such as the income of an individual. It plays a key role in the healing process of an individual and hence needs not to be ignored.

The theory does not put it clearly on how much time each stage should take it, therefore, does not show how the process can be measured. It becomes difficult to assess the success or failure of the program.

Conclusion

Health measures are important for any given individual in the community. It is however important to note that the health effects revolve from both an individual and community. The collective behavior of the members of a community is what leads to health issues within the community. With the health issue in the talk, they are always needed for the intervention of the community in order to avoid the spread. The spread might go to a further extension to the members of neighboring communities. In addition to that, it will spread further to other parts and ends up becoming a world pandemic. If it reaches this point the control will be difficult and the damage done will be serious. In order to deal with that, an approach to saving the community from health concerns involves some steps. The steps will involve getting enough information about the members of the community. Once the information has been gathered about the members engaging them is vital. Once the members having been involved coming up together to fight the disease will follow subsequently. The choice of the approach is based on the benefit that the members of the community will get.

Reference

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