The ten leading health indicators in Healthy People
Assessment: The ten leading health indicators in Healthy People 2020 identify racial health disparities as one of its national health objectives. The Office of Minority Health 2019 shows that African Americans adults approximately sixty percent more likely to suffer from diabetes and be diagnosed by a physician than white adults and links this to racial health. African Americans’ poor lifestyles, coupled with unequal health care access, resource availability, low socioeconomic status, and lack of health literacy predisposes them to diabetes, which quickly exacerbates leading to comorbidities.
The most appropriate nursing diagnosis of African American community is deficient knowledge of diabetes (its risk factors, pharmacological and non-pharmacological management, prevention, signs and symptoms, impacts and complications) related to unfamiliarity with diabetes and its management as evidenced by a show of concern and development of some avoidable complications. Diabetes may lead to neuropathy resulting in ulcer and amputation, retinopathy, which may lead to blindness, nephropathy exposing individuals to renal diseases, which are often fatal, and obesity, among others (Khan & Misra, 2020).
According to the Office of Minority Health 2019, the majority of African Americans are less likely to receive timely, safe, and quality diabetes care, which exacerbates diabetes and increases risks of complications. The likelihood of death from diabetes of African Americans in 2017 was twice that of non-Hispanic whites. Also, African Americans are 2.3 times more likely than whites to be hospitalized due to diabetes. These are attributed to high health illiteracy, low socioeconomic status, and limited care access among this minority population. Thus, proactive strategies to promote diabetes knowledge and how to exploit available resources while bridging health inequalities and inequities are necessary to curb the prevalence of diabetes and promote the health of African Americans.
Background: The history of harsh times during slavery and racial discrimination led to the immeasurable impacts and continued suffering among African Americans and its link to diabetes prevalence in the United States of America (Matsushita, Tang & Selvin, 2019). Continued low health literacy, unequal health care, and financing have resulted in inequitable health care access and service availability within the African American community leading to a constant increase in diabetes cases. According to Khan & Misra (2020), diabetes affects all ages and more prevalent in women than men in the African American community. Most of the diabetes and mortality-related cases are evidenced among the elderly populations. Diabetes cases are more prevalent where African Americans communities reside, such as Virginia and California. Though some African Americans are educated and wealthy, some still are unfamiliar with the American health care system and diabetes illiterate. Most low socioeconomic African Americans families report worse health, low diabetes diagnostic tests, adherence, poor diabetes management outcomes, and suffer from numerous comorbidities (Matsushita, Tang & Selvin, 2019).
Teaching Plan: The first goal is to equip the community with adequate knowledge of diabetes, its signs and symptoms, pathophysiology, risk factors, and possible complications. Sufficient and comprehensive knowledge of diabetes will help them realize its impacts and be responsible for their health hence promoting individual and community health (Khan & Misra, 2020). The second goal is to teach the community how to prevent, control, and live healthily with diabetes. Teaching African Americans preventive measures such as a healthy diet and physical activity, as well as adherence to medications and self-management of diabetes, will increase their life expectancy and quality while promoting their health. The third goal will be to empower the community and help them identify the community resources that may help prevent and control diabetes to prevent, live healthily, and do simple things to live happily and healthily with diabetes (Matsushita, Tang & Selvin, 2019). The last goal is to encourage the community members to be one’s keeper and help one another seek health care to create a caring community. A caring community will motivate one another, facilitate the referral of struggling persons for comprehensive care, and encourage others to live a healthy lifestyle to avoid diabetes.
The community members will be given some questionnaires about diabetes to fill before and after every session. Their responses will be evaluated by comparing the initial responses and those after diabetes education to determine the effectiveness of the teaching. The community will be made to understand that though they must survive, their safety comes first. They need to analyze the situation, the work, and their behaviors to ensure that they are safe enough before engaging in them. The diabetes teaching team will collaborate with the public health officers and allied health professionals to ensure that various community resources are available, and any needed resources are provided to promote wellness (Matsushita, Tang & Selvin, 2019). Nurses and physicians at both family and community levels will work closely with the community leaders, champions, and community health volunteers to promote diagnoses, referral, provide first responses to community health concerns, ensure timely health care to individuals.
Conclusion: Constant health disparities and high health illiteracy among the African American community significantly impact their health, leads to risky behaviors and unhealthy lifestyles, exposing them to diabetes. Limited access to health care and resources exacerbates diabetes cases since it hinders timely diagnoses and initiation of care. Strategies aimed at improving diabetes knowledge while balancing health disparities are necessary to curb the increasing prevalence of diabetes among African Americans.