Men and Accessing Health Services - Research Proposal Example

Men and accessing health services Name of student Institution Instructor Date Introduction Men need to seek health assistance at various stages of the life span for management of an acute or chronic disease or illness, or for preventive health care. However, research has shown that men have poor health seeking behaviors compared to women (AIHW, 2011). The poor health seeking behaviors are characterized by failure or seeking health assistance at late stages of an illness, non-disclosure of significant health issues and shorter consultations. The poor health seeking behaviors leads to unattended health problems, poor patient-health worker relationship, and poor general health of men. This paper seeks to develop a health education/promotion program in a quest of helping men to adopt appropriate health seeking behaviors. The strategy will be a valuable source of information for nurses, policy makers and other health workers concerning how to approach men health issues. The paper is composed of the context and environment, aims and objectives, background information and rationale, the proposed initiatives, methods of evaluating the initiatives, and strengths and limitations of the program. Context and environment The identification of the study group is based on the health promotion model, which is composed of the concept of person, environment, nursing, health, and illness (Pender, Murdaugh & Parsons, 2011). The study target population (the concept of person) is men in Australia. Men in Australia have a lower utilization of health care programs and services compared to women (Ricciardelli, Mellor & McCabe, 2012). In addition to lower utilization, when men are sick, they have a tendency of accessing health care a later stage of the illness (Ricciardelli, Mellor & McCabe, 2012). The concept of environment is referred to as the physical, cultural, and social context in which the health concern unfolds (Pender, Murdaugh & parsons, 2011). In this context, the paper will consider on social-economic status, age, ethnicity, and sexuality when formulating the strategy. Research has shown that poor health seeking behavior is more prominent among aboriginal men, men aged between 15-40 years, lower socioeconomic status, men living in rural areas, men with disabilities, and men who are gays, transgender, or bisexual (Robertson & White, 2011). According to Pender and colleagues (2011), nursing refer to the collaboration of individuals, their families, and the community to foster optimal health and quality life through the creation of favorable conditions. In this context, this paper will focus on empowering a healthier workforce, men, policymakers, and the community create a conducive environment for nursing services. The health concept is the appropriate health seeking behavior among men while the illness concept refers to the poor health seeking behavior among men. Appropriate health seeking behavior refers to seeking professional health information or services concerning health problems or concerns (Golden & Earp, 2012). Appropriate health care seeking behavior results into good prognosis and good quality of life while poor health seeking behavior is associated with poor prognosis, reduced life expectancy, increased mortality rates of preventable illnesses, and reduced quality of life (Jeffries & Grogan, 2012). Aims and Objectives The proposed strategy seeks to ensure that the health system planning and delivery are tuned to man’s needs through policy formulation. The proposal also seeks to increase health literacy levels among Australian men by empowering health workers with gender-based health information. The proposal will also seek to change cultural and social health perspective through health promotion/education with a view of empowering men to adopt appropriate health seeking behaviors. Background and Rationale Various studies have tried to explore the reason men have poor health seeking behaviors compared to women. The main cause of the disparity in health seeking behaviors is the failure of the health system to attune to men’s need (Evans, Frank, Oliffe & Gregory, 2011). Most of the medical services offered in Australian healthcare services are gender neutral (Runciman et al., 2012). However, most of the health promoters and education programs focus on women and children (Evans, Frank, Oliffe & Gregory, 2011). The focus on women-related health promotion and education makes men perceive that the primary healthcare is for children and women (Evans, Frank, Oliffe & Gregory, 2011). In this context, there is a need to refocus the policies to accommodate more men. Poor health literacy is also a primary cause of the disparity of health-seeking behaviors (Peerson & Saunders, 2009). Health literacy is referred to as the degree at which individuals obtain and internalize health information to make informed health decision (Peerson & Saunders, 2009). Men are known to have anxiety secondary to the fear of being diagnosed with a serious illness or poor health literacy (Adams et al., 2013b). Research has also shown that men with a lower level of education, lower economic class and those from rural areas have reduced health literacy (Adams et al., 2013b). The health workers have a significant role in improving the health literacy among the target population (Cashin et al., 2015). In this context, there is a need to focus on empowering the health workers, especially nurses on methods of improving health literacy among men. Another cause of the disparity on health seeking behaviors is the social and cultural health perspective. Men are naturally masculine, and the society expects them to be superior, hard working, and ‘busy' (Thompson, Chenhall & Brimblecombe, 2013). Research has also shown that anxiety of losing value or control (superiority) is a primary cause of poor health-seeking behaviors (Thompson, Chenhall & Brimblecombe, 2013). Other researchers attribute the poor behavior to the notion of not wanting to show weakness (Adams et al. 2013). Poor health seeking behaviors can also result from dislike of long waiting times, lack of hours for health appointment due to work commitment and feeling uncomfortable in hospital settings (Bradley& De Souza, 2012. In this context, any strategy seeking to change the men’s health must target the cultural and social aspects that contribute to poor health seeking behaviors. Methodology and the Intended Impact of the Initiative The first initiative seeks to make sure that the health system is men friendly through the appropriate planning of service delivery. Research has shown that health care and hospital policies are the key fundamental to the provision of quality and safe health care (Kitson, Marshall, Bassett & Zeitz, 2013). To ensure appropriate planning, this paper recommends that the healthcare workers should advocate for analysis of healthcare needs of men, women, and children. The policies should also consider various groups of men such as the bisexual, immigrants, aboriginal and risk groups such as smokers. The second initiative seeks to improve the health literacy among men. Health workers are the key drivers of health literacy (Cashin et al., 2015). This paper recommends that the nursing education (curriculum) should focus more on gender-based health to ensure that the nurses are conversant with issues affecting men’s health. Evidence-based studies have shown that the body of knowledge can be enhanced through continuous health education (Cashin et al., 2015). In this context, this paper recommends that continuous health education programs should be conducted in all health care institutions to improve the body of knowledge for nurses. The health education (continuous medical education and curriculum) should include the nature and causes of health seeking disparity, and methods of tackling or reducing the variation. The third initiative focuses on changing the social and cultural health perspective among men in Australia. The paper proposes the use of basic health education and promotion strategies to empower the community and individuals towards adopting appropriate health seeking behaviors. The basic promotion strategies utilized will include awareness campaigns, social education and political lobbying and advocacy while the health education will involve one on one conversation (Sharma & Romas, 2011). In this context, the paper recommends that the health workers in conjunction with the local authorities should conduct awareness campaigns with an aim of educating the community on the importance of health seeking behaviors. The awareness should focus on men and men’s issues with an aim of allaying fears and cultural perspectives. The health workers should also target individual men who are at risk of poor health seeking behaviors. Evaluation Methods The evaluation of the initiative will include the process, impact and outcome evaluation. The process evaluation will include getting an oral response from the stakeholder who includes policy makers, healthcare workers, and local administrators. The impact evaluation will include following up the implementation of the recommendation in terms of policy formulation. The impact will also be evaluated by assessing inclusion of the topic in the nursing education curriculum and continuous medical education. Finally, the inclusion of men’s issues in community-based health education and promotion programs will form a part of impact evaluation. The outcome evaluation is a long-term goal of the initiatives seeking to measure the effects of the program at the intervals of six months, one year and one and half year. The outcome evaluation will involve comparing men seeking behaviors with similar periods prior to implementation of the program based on health care documents/registers. Strengths and Limitations The program does not interfere with any professional, legal or ethical standards and thus easier to implement. The program is also based on evidence-based practice and studies thus maintaining professionalism. The initiatives proposed to have measurable variables, thus providing an easy way of evaluation. The program focus on health worker, policy makers, local authority and the society, thus covering most of the factors leading to poor health seeking behaviors among men. The major limitation of the program is that it is comprehensive and may require a lot of time to implement. In conclusion, Australian men have poor seeking behaviors compared to women leading to unattended health issues, poor patient-health worker relationship, and poor general health of men. The main causes of the disparity are unfriendly health structure, poor health literacy, and cultural and social behavior. The difference can be addressed by the reformulation of health care policies, empowering health workers to promote health literacy, and changing social and cultural health perspectives through health education and promotion. References Adams, M. J., Collins, V. R., Dunne, M. P., de Kretser, D. M., & Holden, C. A. (2013). Male reproductive health disorders among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men: a hidden problem?. Medical Journal of Australia, 198(1), 33-38. DOI: 10.5694/mja12.10490 Adams, R. J., Piantadosi, C., Ettridge, K., Miller, C., Wilson, C., Tucker, G., & Hill, C. L. (2013b). Functional health literacy mediates the relationship between socio-economic status, perceptions and lifestyle behaviors related to cancer risk in an Australian population. Patient education and counseling, 91(2), 206-212. DOI:10.1016/j.pec.2012.12.001 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2011). The health of Australia’s males. Cat. no. PHE 141. Retrieved 29 September 2015, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10737419201 Bradley, P., & De Souza, R. (2012). Mental health and illness in Australia and New Zealand. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (chapter 6). Elsevier Australia. ISBN: 0729541142, 9780729541145 Cashin, A., Heartfield, M., Cox, D., Dunn, S., & Stasa, H. (2015). Knowledge and motivation: two elements of health literacy that remain low with regard to nurse practitioners in Australia. Australian Health Review, 39(4) 470-475. 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Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(1), 4-15. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06064.x Peerson, A., & Saunders, M. (2009). Health literacy revisited: what do we mean and why does it matter?. Health promotion international, 24(3), 285-296. DOI: 10.1093/heapro/dap014 Pender, N.J., Murdaugh, C. L., & Parsons, M.A. (2011). Health Promotion in Nursing Practice (6th Ed). Boston, MA: Pearson. Ricciardelli, l., Mellor, D. & McCabe, M. (2012). The quiet crisis: Challenges for men’s health in Australia. Retrieved 28 September 2015, from http://www.psychology.org.au/inpsych/2012/august/ricciardelli/ Robertson, S., & White, A. (2011). Tackling men’s health: A research, policy and practice perspective. Public health, 125(7), 399-400. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2011.04.016 Runciman, W. B., Hunt, T. D., Hannaford, N. A., Hibbert, P. D., Westbrook, J. I., Coiera, E. W., ... & Braithwaite, J. (2012). CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 197(10), 549. DOI: 10.5694/mja12.10510 Sharma, M., & Romas, J. A. (2011). Theoretical foundations of health education and health promotion. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN: 0763796123, 9780763796129 Thompson, S. L., Chenhall, R. D., & Brimblecombe, J. K. (2013). Indigenous perspectives on active living in remote Australia: a qualitative exploration of the socio-cultural link between health, the environment and economics. BMC public health, 13(1), 473. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-473 Read More