Injury and Violence Free Living - Research Paper Example

? Injury and Violence Free Living al Affiliation Injury and Violence Free Living Background and Significance of the Problem/Priority Area The National Prevention Strategy Plan which identified Injury and Violence Free Living as one of the priority areas has specifically noted that “reducing injury and violence improves physical and emotional health” (National Prevention Council, 2010, p. 1). The priority area is therefore significant in terms of determining predominant causes of unintentional injuries (motor-related injuries, poisoning, or falls); as well as violence-related concerns (maltreatment of children, domestic violence, bullying, or abuse of the elders). The rate of unintentional injury deaths were noted to be 40.0 deaths per 100,000 population with 2007 as the baseline year and as much as 60.6% of children have been exposed and affected by violence, either directly or indirectly (National Prevention Strategy Indicators, n.d.). In this regard, the current discourse aims to investigate and explore this priority area in terms of providing details on evidence-based approaches to address injuries and violence in identified populations and communities. Evidence-Based Approaches to Addressing the Priority Area o Healthy and Safe Community Environments In a study written by Merzel & D'Affliti (2003), the authors have delved into evaluating 20 years of community-based programs to determine effectiveness in promoting healthy and safe community environments. According to their findings, “the evidence from the past 20 years indicates, however, that many community-based programs have had only modest impact, with the notable exception of a number of HIV prevention programs” (Merzel & D'Affliti, 2003, p. 557). In another study, Komro, Flay, Biglan, & the Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium (2011) has explored the impact of poverty as a dominant risk factor in the development of children; as well as in the promotion of health and overall wellbeing of community members. With support from other related studies, the authors have revealed that “cognitive, social-emotional, psychological, behavioral, and health outcomes are interrelated and have an interacting set of key influences within the family, school, peer, and neighborhood environments. Negative health and developmental outcomes are concentrated among children living within high-poverty and disadvantaged neighborhoods” (Komro, Flay, Biglan, & Consortium: Summary, 2011, par. 1). It was therefore aptly recommended that collaborative efforts among community members are needed to design integrated strategies which would address physical and social factors that influence the well-being and development of children. These efforts are therefore consistent with the thrust of addresssing the priority area of injury and violence free living, as prescribed. o Clinical and Community Preventive Services The research study written by McElwaine, et al., (2013) identified behavioral risk factors that allegedly contribute to increased preponderance for mortality and morbidity. These factors included poor nutrition, smoking, physical inactivity and risky alcohol use. The findings revealed that despite efforts instituted in community settings, “preventive care was not provided opportunistically to all, and was preferentially provided to select groups. This suggests a need for practice change strategies to enhance preventive care provision to achieve adherence to clinical guidelines” (McElwaine, et al., 2013, p. 1). The information disclosed herein could be used by policymakers to focus on improving strategies to effectively provide preventive services that would ultimately address injuries and violence in the various communities. o Empowering People The facet of empowering people was specifically explored in the study conducted by Samoocha, Bruinvels, Elbers, Anema, & van der Beek (2010). Due to technological advancements in contemporary times, the authors explored patient empowerment through the provision of accessible information through the electronic medium. As such, the authors compared the effectiveness of using Web-based interventions in empowering people, as compared to the traditional face-to-face interventions. The study likewise explored empowering patients through enabling them to address disease management, as well as encouraging establishment of relationships with health care providers. The findings revealed that inasmuch as the study measured empowering patients through an Internet-based telemecine system that allegedly aimed to provide information for managing diabetes to underprivileged women, the same approach could be used in providing similar information to prevent injuries and violence in communities and at-risk populations. The findings revealed that “Web-based interventions can be effective in increasing empowerment among patients who are, for example, suffering from diabetes, depression, infertility, or arthritis” (Samoocha, Bruinvels, Elbers, Anema, & van der Beek: Conclusions, 2010, par. 1). The study could likewise be extended to addressing injuries and violence, as prescribed. o Elimination of Health Disparities The elimination of health disparities was subject of diverse studies totaling to as much as 722 results and published through the National Center for Biotechnology Information. One study delved into exploring gaps in access, quality, and affordability of medical care (Riley, 2012). The author explored racial and ethnic disparities; as well as disparities in cardiovascular care, cost and affordability. Health disparities was actually defined as “differences and/or gaps in the quality of health and healthcare across racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups. It can also be understood as population-specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to healthcare” (Riley: Health Disparities Defined, 2012, par. 1). The relevance of the study would be deemed instrumental in addressing injuries and violance, as the priority areas in the National Prevention Strategy Plan through asserting that there are health disparities continue to exist in the health care setting and policymakers should be able to address the gap to assist in achieving the goal of the promoting both physical and emotional health. It was clearly asserted that “the poor health status, poor outcomes, and constricted access to medical care for more than 300 years, anecdotally well known by many African Americans, and in some cases by a small cohort of academicians and public health officials, gained greater awareness with the “Heckler Report.” The report objectively detailed the wide disparity in the excess burden of death and illness experienced by blacks and other minority Americans as compared with the nation's population as a whole. It also put forth that such disparities had been in existence for as long as federal health statistics were routinely collected” (Riley: The Landmark Malone-Heckler Report, 2012, par. 1). This information confirms and validates that health disparities continue to exist despite federal and state legislators’ efforts to minimize or eliminate them. As such, the inability to lessen the gap in equal access to health care could signifcantly impact addressing the priority area of injury and violence free living. Summary The current discourse has effectively achieved its defined objective of exploring the priority area in the National Prevention Strategy Plan on injury and violence free living. Due to the importance of identifying that there is a crucial need to address injuries related situations and violence-related concerns to improve both physical and emotional wellbeing of the general population, various evidence-based studies have asserted that efforts focusing on healthy and safe community environments; provision of clinical and community preventive services; empowering people; and eliminating health disparities would ultimately work towards achieving the identified goal. However, the results from these various evidence based studies have revealed that there still exists vast challenges in the health care environments pertaining to poverty, disparities in racial and cultural access to health, in empowering patients to manage diseases, and in the design and implementation of strategies which should prevent injuries related or violence-related concerns. As such, through gaining a more in-depth understanding of the factors that allegedly contribute to the challenges or to the inability of policymakers and health care practitioners to smoothly implement more effective health strategies, as outlined in the National Prevention Strategies Plan, current and future health care professionals and policymakers could directly address the confounding factors and aim to eliminate gaps that preclude achievement of the defined goals. References Komro, K., Flay, B., Biglan, A., & Consortium, t. P. (2011). Creating Nurturing Environments: A Science-Based Framework for Promoting Child Health and Development within High-Poverty Neighborhoods. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, 111-134. McElwaine, K. F., Campbell, E., Knight, J., Bowman, J., Doherty, E. L., Wye, P., . . . Wiggers, J. (2013). The delivery of preventive care to clients of community health services. BMC Health Services Research, Vol. 13, No. 167, 1-11. Merzel, C., & D'Affliti, J. (2003, April). Reconsidering Community-Based Health Promotion: Promise, Performance, and Potential. Retrieved from Am J Public Health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447790/ National Prevention Council. (2010). Injury and Violence Free Living. Retrieved from surgeongeneral.gov: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/strategy/injury-violence-free.pdf National Prevention Strategy Indicators. (n.d.). Retrieved from surgeongeneral.gov: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/strategy/appendix2.pdf Riley, W. (2012). Health Disparities: Gaps in Access, Quality and Affordability of Medical Care. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 167–174. Samoocha, D., Bruinvels, D., Elbers, N., Anema, J., & van der Beek, A. (2010). Effectiveness of Web-based Interventions on Patient Empowerment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, Vol. 12, No. 2, e23. Read More