Classroom Development of Diabetes and Prevention among Nursing Students - Research Paper Example

Classroom Development of Diabetes and Prevention among Nursing Students Abstract Diabetes has not only become a public health priority, but a global concern. This is as a result of the escalating incidence and prevalence of diabetes in the global community. To curb this menace, strategies need to be put in place aimed at destroying the primary cause of diabetes. It is in this highlight that the involvement of nursing students in development of diabetes prevention and awareness programs comes into play. This is of relevance to the nursing students since they are involved in the decision making activities as pertains to diabetes prevention and awareness programs. Subsequently, majority of diabetes programs are implemented in the form of policies, the involvement of nursing students enable them to acquire the relevant policy making skills and expertise. Also, it enhances their involvement in community action and involvement of the community in designing programs. Strategies which the students can use in the development design and implementation of a program of study is a prototype of the Cherokee action. Consequently, a physical activity strategy can be implemented. All these strategies aimed at diabetes prevention and awareness to nursing students. Introduction It is estimated that approximately 600 million American citizens suffer from diabetes and its related complications. Consequently, a significant proportion of the population is at risk of developing diabetes and adverse health effects associated with obesity and cardiovascular diseases. This entails that the proportion of the population predisposed to developing diabetes will continue to rocket. It is in this insight that the need to identify strategies to prevent diabetes and raise its awareness has become a public health priority. Nursing students as team players in public health need to be involved in aiding in the development of diabetes prevention and awareness programs (Ackermann, et al. 2008). Impact and Relevance of Classroom Development of Diabetes Prevention and Awareness to Nursing Students Classroom development strategies of preventing diabetes and as a means of creating awareness of diabetes among nursing students will impact decision making traits in the nursing students. This is since they will be involved in making of pertinent decisions that will serve as implementing strategies to curb the menace of diabetes. This is of relevance to the students since it trains them in the acquisition of skills that will be relevant in their leadership positions in the future. This is attributed to the fact that the escalating trends of risk factors to diabetes call for need to develop new strategies and program. This entails that by the nursing students developing classroom programs of diabetes prevention and awareness, they are contributing to the policies that are required to aid in reducing the prevalence of diabetes (Deshpande, et al., 2008). Policy making process is a dire necessity in diabetes prevention programs. Consequently, it is a core requirement for any nursing student who aspires to hold a managerial position in his or her career prospects. Classroom development of diabetes prevention and awareness to nursing student is a form of policy making that the nursing students get exposed to and have the opportunity of practicing. By the nursing students developing classroom development programs, they are able to learn of the components of a policy and the relevant stakeholders in policy formation. This is of relevance to them since in their managerial posts in the nursing profession; they will be required to formulate policies and this beginner is dire for them. Policy making in diabetes prevention and awareness programs is relevant since it teaches the nursing students of their responsibility in stimulating community action and making the community aware of the role they need to play to bring about change. Policies belong to the people upon whom they are implemented and hence theses people need to be involved in every process of the policy making. This will enable the nursing students to make efficient and effective diabetes prevention and awareness development policies (Ackermann, et al., 2008). Classroom development of diabetes prevention and awareness is relevant to nursing students since it impacts monitoring and evaluation attributes to the students. Nursing students by being involved in the classroom development of diabetes prevention and awareness programs; they own the programs and hence become responsible for the successful implementation and success of the program. A program cannot succeed without being continuously monitored; this entails that monitoring is continuous and is aimed at making adjustment to a program during its course of operation. It aids in making adjustments, corrections and modifications as the programs continue to be in operation. Also, it impacts the students with evaluation skills which are aimed at assessing if the diabetes prevention and awareness program adopted by the students met the objectives it was designed to meet. It is through evaluation that loophole for possible further research are adopted, constraints addressed and a comprehensive report adopted for the relevant stakeholders. Nursing students can only acquire monitoring and evaluation skills through practice hence classroom development of diabetes prevention and awareness is a viable venture to nursing students (Rosecrans, et al. 2008). Strategies to Developing a Design and Implementing a Program of Study A strategy that the nursing students can propose to design and implement a program of study on diabetes prevention and awareness is the Cherokee choices/ REACH 2010 program. In this study, the program designed was aimed at assessing the socio cultural beliefs of a community and hoe those beliefs influence the prevalence and incident of diabetes among the population. This entailed assessing the community members’ perceived health using the health belief model of disease prevention hence assessing how their beliefs predisposed them to acquiring diabetes. Through the implementation of the REACH 2010 program, the nursing students would include three aspects in their study program: church based health program, wellness work site for adults, and a school mentoring program. This study program is broad based and cuts across all age groups hence the nursing students will be in a position to communicate prevention and awareness strategies hence curb the escalating prevalence of diabetes (Bachar, et al., 2006). Physical activity initiative is another strategy that the nursing students can design and implement as their program of study in diabetes prevention and awareness. There has been documented evidence as pertains to the close association between physical inactivity predisposing to obesity and culminating to diabetes. The benefit of a physical activity program is that it aims at eradicating the cause and not on treating the symptom as most diabetes programs. The nursing students can design pamphlets and workshops that educate people the role played by exercise in preventing diabetes and carry out routine check up as an evaluation tool on the effectiveness of the physical activity program. This program entails liaising with the policy makers so as to make the exercise equipments and places accessible to the public and at a fee that they can afford for the design and implementation of the program to be effective (Deshpande, et al. 2008). Conclusion Nursing students are included in the public health fraternity and hence their involvement in public health issues is of paramount importance for them. Their involvement in classroom development of diabetes prevention and awareness not only sharpens their decision making skills, it also enables them to be good policy makers. Consequently, it impacts them with monitoring and evaluation skills which are a perquisite for the success of any program. Cherokee choices and Physical activity program are some of the strategies that this research paper has proposed that the nursing students can use in the design and implementation of a program of study. Diabetes is currently a global concern and the involvement of students in the development of diabetes prevention and awareness programs is a great milestone in reducing prevalence of diabetes and its associated complications. References Ackermann, R., Finch, E., Brizendine, E., and Marreno, D. (2008). Translating the Diabetes Prevention Program into the Community the DEPLOY Pilot Study. Am J Prev Med 35 (4), 357- 363. Bachar, J., Lefter, L., Reed, L., and Bell, R. (2006). Cherokee choices: A diabetes Prevention Program for American Indians. Prev Chronic Dis 3 (3), A103. Deshpande, A., Dodson, E., Gorman, I., Brownson, R. (2008). “Physical Activity and Diabetes: Opportunities for Prevention through Policy” Physical Therapy Journal 88 (11): 1425-1435. Rosecrans, A., Gittelson, J., Ho, L., Harris, S., Naqshbandi, M., Sharma, S. (2008). Process evaluation of a multi-institutional community- based program for diabetes prevention among First Nations. Health Education Research 23 (2): 272-286. Read More