WEEK 3 DISCUSSION
Reply to at least TWO of your classmates; choosing two peers that picked the other two topics (replies must be on two separate days).
For your response, compare and contrast your vulnerable population to theirs. What do you see as their population’s most resilient characteristics? Replies must use at least two scholarly references per peer post.
ARTICLE ## 1 LS
The population I chose in Week to focus on health promotion and disease prevention is homeless adolescents to young adults (ages 12-24 years old). It is estimated that between 4% and 8% of young adults in the United States have been homeless at one point in the adolescence and (Grattan et al., 2021). The experiences of homeless young adults can negatively impact an individual’s social and emotional well-being resulting in poor mental health outcomes. (Grattan et al., 2021). To address the mental health of homeless adolescents APRNs need an understanding of both the risk factors that lead to being unhoused as well as how to motivate this specific population. This population should be targeted with interventions developed with their age in mind.
Homeless youths face several barriers when it comes to receiving traditional mental healthcare such as transportation. I would motivate this population with interventions aimed at addressing mental health with technology. Technology-based interventions and resources can improve access to mental health care. It is important for the APRN to advocate for evidenced-based practices appropriate for the patients’ setting and population such as mobile phones to access telehealth services. Homeless youth reported frequent use of mobile technology for socialization and media use, and indicated an acceptance of using technology to access mental healthcare and community supports (Schueller et al., 2019).
I would utilize Finfgeld-Connett’s conceptual model of social support to encourage this population to make behavior changes. The four characteristics of this model that would support the use of technology to address the mental health of homeless youth include: emotional support to alleviate anxiety or hopelessness, instrumental support (such as tangible goods or services), structural support (involvement of a network such as family, friends, or community), and functional support by providing education and information (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2020). It is essential for the APRN to advocate for vulnerable populations, including identifying appropriate community resources, support systems and networks for the patient. To do this effectively APRNs should be aware of which groups or communities are supportive and which are not (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2020).
ARTILCE ##2
Nursing literature and the nursing profession have been criticized for lacking a coherent and deep conception of social justice. De Chesnay (2020) argues that nurses may be limited in their ability to solve problems and take direct action against unjust social conditions without a proper understanding of the different views of justice in healthcare. Therefore, this discussion post will examine the three types of justice, social, distributive, and market, and will describe how these three factors affect Muslim women’s health. In addition, this post will offer suggestions to enhance social justice in advanced practice nursing.
There is a patchwork of religious and cultural beliefs among the growing Muslim population in America (Attum et al., 2022). Muslim women’s backgrounds and beliefs impact health, illness, and healthcare provision. As a result, many Muslim women face structural inequalities in health and social systems. Furthermore, class, immigration status, and race exacerbate inequities among Muslim women (Attum et al., 2022). Understanding the three viewpoints of justice is needed to assess how APRNs can contribute to forming a just healthcare system for Muslim women.
Within the three views of justice, social justice involves establishing equitable policies, procedures, and practices in social and health institutions (De Chesnay, 2020). Social justice prioritizes health equity, which addresses an imbalanced social system and provides resources to make it equitable (De Chesnay, 2020). In contrast, distributive justice aims to ensure equality in access to health services without considering inequities due to the social determinants of health (De Chesnay, 2020). Lastly, market justice honors the rights of those entitled to privileges. Market justice is permissible if inequalities arise from a fair market system (De Chesnay, 2020). In the United States, it could be argued that all three forms of justice coexist in some form.
From a social justice lens, healthcare would be a right for every citizen in the United States. Although health is a human right of U.S. citizens, the United States does not have a single-payer health system that provides universal healthcare (Galvani et al., 2020). Instead, health insurance is sold on the private market or provided to selected groups by the government (Galvani et al., 2020). Social justice is further complicated for lawfully present immigrant Muslim women who face additional barriers to accessing affordable healthcare. These women are not entitled to government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid until after a five-year waiting period (“Health coverage for,” n.d.). This is problematic because of 3.45 million Muslims in the U.S., 18% of whom are not U.S. citizens (“Demographic portrait,” 2022). Muslim women who are U.S. citizens would have distributed justice through minimal health coverage provided through Medicaid and Medicare. However, this benefit would apply to those who are low-income. Lastly, market justice depends on income and would enable privileged Muslim women to purchase and receive health services for faster treatment if they can pay the additional price. Although the three forms of justice are contradictory, they coexist in the American healthcare system.
According to De Chesnay (2020), fair patient treatment is considered justice in nursing practice. From this distributive justice perspective, health services and access should be equally allocated to all people. However, this viewpoint disregards the social determinants of health that place inequities among vulnerable populations that lead to health disparities. Therefore, APRNs must understand the social determinants of health and their effects to develop reduction strategies to reduce health inequities (Woolsey & Narruhn, 2018). Therefore, some suggestions to enhance social justice in advanced practice nursing include increased nursing education and training focusing on understanding the social and structural mechanisms that exacerbate the social determinants of health (Woolsey & Narruhn, 2018). This education would better equip APRNs to advocate for their vulnerable patients by understanding the structural gaps in health and social systems. Additionally, APRNs should assess their social justice awareness by reflecting critically on how systems foster vulnerability and privilege (De Chesnay, 2020). Assessing one’s social justice awareness can be achieved by implementing a self and client interview with a vulnerable patient (De Chesnay, 2020).
