Wellness Education Program Proposal Written Paper

WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 1

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Wellness Education Program Proposal

Learner’s Name

Capella University

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Vulnerable and Diverse Populations

Wellness Education Program Proposal

May, 2017

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Wellness Education Program Proposal

I. Introduction

In the United States, vulnerable populations such as Hispanics are more likely to face

difficulties while accessing health care than less vulnerable populations. Many factors such as

low income, lack of insurance, lack of education, and lack of English and Spanish language

proficiency contribute to this disparity in accessing health care. This language barrier can prevent

Hispanics from accessing important health education material and prevent health care workers

from providing regular medical care. This proposal focuses on the importance of developing a

wellness education program for health promotion and disease prevention among Hispanics.

II. Problems and Needs

To address the health care disparities, a holistic wellness education plan needs to be

developed for Hispanics taking into consideration their affinity to complementary and

alternative medicine (CAM) and spiritual care. It is also necessary to be aware of the positive

and negative aspects of the ethical, legal, and economic principles of health promotion and

disease prevention while developing the wellness education plan.

III. Proposed Solution

An ideal wellness education plan for Hispanics would integrate the elements of

culture, language, CAM, and spiritual care for addressing the health care disparities faced by

them. Integrating these elements would help them receive a more holistic health care as their

physical and mental states are taken into consideration while devising the plan.

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Cultural Considerations in the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics

Delivering culturally competent health care with knowledge about the cultural beliefs of

patients from diverse populations assures good health service delivery. In keeping with this

belief, Dr. Marilyn A. Ray, a renowned nursing educator and researcher, developed a program

called the Transcultural Caring Dynamics in Nursing and Health Care Model. This model helps

nurses clarify queries pertaining to patients from diverse cultural backgrounds and helps them

understand the processes that affect nursing from a transcultural perspective, which will enable

better health care.

This model has four major concepts: (a) the essence of caring, which includes various

concepts of love, empathy, attention, availability, and communication; (b) the transcultural

caring ethics dynamic, which includes respect, trust, commitment, autonomy, impartiality,

human rights, and cultural rights; (c) the transcultural context component, which takes into

consideration the personal beliefs, attitudes, and cultural values of people; and (d) universal or

spiritual resources, which include spiritual traditions and prevailing religious ceremonies that

impact transcultural caring experiences centered around spirituality and religion (Bailey, 2015).

Elements of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Holistic

Health, and Spirituality in the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics

Hispanics are avid users of CAM because of their lack of accessibility to conventional

forms of health care and their belief in spirituality. “CAM is defined by the National Center for

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) as the medical and health care practices

and systems that are not included in conventional, Western medicine” (Pérez & Luquis, 2013, p.

90). Integration has led to the emergence of TM and CAM therapies. TM and CAM therapies are

considered prescription based if minerals, herbal medicines, or homeopathic remedies are used

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for treatment. These procedures can include acupuncture; manual therapies such as exercises,

massages, and chiropractic; and yoga, qigong, tai chi, spiritual, or meditation practices. Some of

the features that attract people to TM and CAM therapies include flexibility, diversity, greater

acceptance in developing countries, and lesser need for modern technology. TM and CAM

therapies have led to a lot of positive outcomes. Some of them are as follows:

 Accessibility and affordability: TM and CAM therapies have led to greater accessibility

to health care among low-income populations primarily because they are affordable and

easily available than conventional therapies.

 Perceived safety: A major positive outcome from TM and CAM therapies is that they are

considered to have a lower rate of adverse effects than normal pharmaceutical therapies.

Integration of Linguistic Considerations into the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics

Language is a reflection of the culture of a population and has specific meaning to that

population. In case of Hispanics, it is necessary to develop a Spanish-speaking wellness health

program as it will reduce health disparities in the community and minimize miscommunications

between health care workers and patients (Pérez & Luquis, 2013).

One of the most prominent Spanish-speaking wellness programs is the Tomando Control

de su Salud [Spanish Chronic Disease Self-Management Program]. This is a community-based

program that is conducted once a week, for six weeks, for various Spanish-speaking people with

different chronic health issues.

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Strategies for Implementing Wellness Education Plans for Health Care Among Hispanics

To ensure the effective implementation of health care plans in the Hispanic population,

health care workers need to implement certain strategies that will educate and market their

wellness education plans to the Hispanic population. A few such strategies are as follows:

 Media and advertisement: Information about education plans and health promotion

can be communicated and marketed through television and radio advertisements.

 Language sensitivity: Another strategy that health care professionals can implement is

being sensitive to the language of the Hispanic community. Spanish is an important

marker of social, personal, and political identity among Hispanics—even for those

who can speak fluent English.

 Community outreach activities: By coordinating community outreach activities

through trusted organizations such as Promotoras, health care professionals can share

information about health promotion and disease prevention with Hispanics and also

market the wellness education plan. Wellness Education Program Proposal Written Paper

Being aware of the habits and preferences of the Hispanic population can help tailor

messages for this audience and can also create a wellness plan that benefits Hispanics over a long

and short time period. (CDC, n.d.).

Benefits of the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics

The health and wellness plan comes with many short-term and long-term benefits. Some

of the short-term benefits are that it ensures a healthier lifestyle by providing easy and immediate

access to preventive measures, regular doctors, and early interventions. Short-term benefits of

Comment [A1]: Good number of strategies!

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conducting the health and wellness program for health care organizations include the ability to

provide more culturally sensitive care (Pereyra & Meth, 2012)

Some of the long-term benefits of participating in the health and wellness program will

be greater access to health care organizations and improvement in behavior when coping with an

illness. It also saves costs by minimizing visits to the emergency room. In the long run, health

care organizations can customize their wellness plans for diverse populations based on their

interaction with these populations and provide quality care (Pereyra & Meth, 2012).

Impacts of Ethical Principles on Preventative Care and Health Promotion

Before implementing a health care plan, health care professionals must consider the

ethical principles that can affect preventative care and health promotion. Some of these

principles are as follows:

 Autonomy: This principle requires patients to make their own health care decisions

without coercion. It has a positive impact on Hispanics as they value autonomy and see it

as a way to maintain control (Kreling, n.d.).

 Beneficence and non-maleficence: This principle requires that all procedures be

conducted only for the good of a patient. Patients should not be harmed in any way while

they are undergoing treatment procedures. This principle has a positive impact on

patients as they feel protected from harm. It has a negative impact only on health care

organizations. Patients may autonomously choose a treatment that a practitioner believes

would not be beneficial to them.

Ethical transparency is an extremely relevant aspect in health promotion. It will have a

positive impact on health care organizations as it will help foster a greater sense of accountability

Comment [A2]: Good

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to the communities these organizations serve and can also increase the effectiveness of

communicating the different risks involved in a treatment (Coleman, Bouёsseau, & Reis, n.d).

However, an ethical issue that has arisen in health promotion is the question of the extent to

which public health authorities should interfere with personal choice on health—particularly if

they are caused by behaviors such as smoking. This has led to the need for certain health-related

laws to be developed (Carter et al., 2011).

Impacts of Local and Federal Laws and the Affordable Care Act

Besides ethical principles, various local and federal laws will also impact health care

plans in many ways. One of the key health care laws implemented by the U.S. government has

been the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a comprehensive health care act that aims to make

affordable health insurance available to more people. Wellness Education Program Proposal Written Paper

Some of these positive impacts are as follows: (a) the ACA enables Hispanics to save

millions on preventative health care services that are now available free of cost; (b) on 2014,

more than 2.3 million Hispanics who were small business owners or self-employed became

eligible to buy affordable health care coverage through an insurance exchange. This gave

employers the chance to select more affordable health care; (c) over a third of the 2.5 million

Hispanic youth are insured under the Act’s new dependent coverage provision, which allows

them to remain under their parents’ insurance policy until the age of 26 (Pereyra & Meth, 2012).

Regardless of some minor negative impacts, new health care laws at the local and federal

level have a positive impact on everyone. The Supreme Court upholds tax credits for small

businesses that want to provide health insurance for their families. This mandate ensures

insurance coverage for everyone in the United States and makes insurance coverage much easier

to finance for small business owners (Kruse, 2015). However, the growing need for staff and

Comment [A3]: Good job on ethics!

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infrastructure has had a relatively negative economic impact on clinical prevention of various

diseases and health promotion.

Economic Impact on Clinical Preventive Services and Health Promotion

Clinical prevention and health promotion play a key role in improving the United States’

health and keeping rising health costs under control. However, organizations face a negative

impact because of the need for more staff and resources, which leads to an increase in health care

costs. Prevention policies and programs of various illnesses such as diabetes are often cost-

effective. They improve productivity and reduce health care costs. The following benefits

explain why prevention is a good economic solution in health care: (a) in case of Hispanics,

prevention lowers health care costs. HIV is prevalent among Hispanics. For every HIV infection

prevented, an estimated $355,000 is saved by avoiding the cost incurred on lifetime HIV

treatment; (b) in case of organizations, prevention increases productivity..

IV. Conclusion

Health care disparities still persist in the United States among Hispanics. However, over

the past decade, there has been a focus on reducing disparities through the implementation of

various wellness programs, which take cultural and linguistic differences into account. There

have also been efforts to address clinical prevention and health promotion at the federal, local,

and organizational level as the ACA includes additions that attempt to reduce disparities between

Hispanics and the rest of the American population. The existing health disparities present among

Hispanics makes it necessary to address all facets of the social, economic, and legal principles of

health care. This will definitely lead to wider health care coverage for all (Artiga, 2016). Wellness Education Program Proposal Written Paper

Comment [A4]: Very good!

Comment [A5]: Good!

Comment [A6]: Very nice job on

this assessment 😊

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References

Artiga, S. (2016). Disparities in health and health care: Five key questions and answers.

Retrieved from http://kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-

health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/

Bailey, D. N. (2015). Mitigation of transcultural clinical barriers in a health and wellness

program: A transcultural caring approach for vulnerable migrant backstretch

workers. Clinical Nursing Studies, 3(3). https://doi.org/10.5430/cns.v3n3p34

Benjamin, R. M. (2011). Economic benefits of preventing disease. National Prevention

Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness (p. 51). DIANE Publishing.

Retrieved from https://surgeongeneral.gov/priorities/prevention/strategy/report.pdf

Carter, S. M., Rychetnik, L., Lloyd, B., Kerridge, I. H., Baur, L., Bauman, A., & Zask, A.

(2011). Evidence, ethics, and values: A framework for health promotion. American

Journal of Public Health, 101(3), 465–472. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2010.195545

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Cultural insights: Communicating with

Hispanics/Latinos. Retrieved from

https://cdc.gov/healthcommunication/pdf/audience/audienceinsight_culturalinsights.pdf

Coleman, C. H., Bouёsseau, M. C., & Reis, A. (n.d.). The contribution of ethics to public

health. World Health Organization, 86. Retrieved from

http://who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/8/08-055954/en/

Kreling, B. (n.d.). Latino families and hospice. Retrieved from

Latino Families and Hospice

Kruse, G. (2015). Healthcare laws and positive impact. CBS Small Business Pulse. Retrieved

from http://cbspulse.com/2015/11/17/healthcare-laws-positive-impact/

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Pereyra, L., & Meth, M. (2012). 7 ways the Affordable Care Act helps Latinos. Retrieved from

https://americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2012/03/27/11231/7-ways-the-

affordable-care-act-helps-latinos/

World Health Organization. (2012). Traditional and complementary medicine policy. Retrieved

from http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s19582en/s19582en.pdf