Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan

Preparation
Your organization is undertaking a population health improvement initiative focused on one of the pervasive and chronic health concerns in the local community. Examples of health improvement initiatives include nationwide concerns, such as type 2 diabetes, HIV, obesity, and Zika. However, your organization has asked you to determine which widespread health concern should be addressed in a population health improvement plan for the community in which you practice and has entrusted you with gathering and evaluating the relevant data.

Requirements
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point. In addition, you may want to review the performance level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

Data Evaluation
Evaluate community demographic, epidemiological, and environmental data.

Identify the relevant data.
Describe the major community health concerns suggested by the data.
Explain how environmental factors affect the health of community residents.
Health Improvement Plan
Develop an ethical health improvement plan that effectively addresses the population health concern that you identified in your evaluation of the relevant data.

Base your plan on the best available evidence from a minimum of 3–5 current scholarly or professional sources.
Apply correct APA formatting to all in-text citations and references.
Attach a reference list to your plan.
Ensure that your plan meets the cultural and environmental needs of your community and will likely lead to some improvement in the community’s health related to this concern.
Consider the environmental realities and challenges that exist in the community.
Address potential barriers or misunderstandings related to the various cultures prevalent in the community.
Justify the value and relevance of the evidence you used as the basis of your plan.
Explain why the evidence is valuable and relevant to the community health concern you are addressing.
Explain why each piece of evidence is appropriate and informs the goal of improving the health of the community.
Propose relevant and measurable criteria for evaluating the outcomes of your plan.
Explain why your proposed criteria are appropriate and useful measures of success.
Explain how you will communicate with colleagues and members of the community, in an ethical, culturally sensitive, and inclusive way, with regard to the development and implementation of your plan.
Develop a clear communications strategy mindful of the cultural and ethical expectations of colleagues and community members regarding data privacy.
Ensure that your strategy enables you to make complex medical terms and concepts understandable to members of the community, regardless of language, disabilities, or level of education.
Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.

ANSWER

Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan

Introduction

Chronic diseases like HIV/Aids, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke were among the highest causes of disability and death in the United States (Vos et al., 2015). Risky patient behaviors like tobacco use, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and excessive substance consumption are the leading causes of health issues. Many healthcare organizations are currently directing their resources on the prevention of chronic diseases in communities via population health management strategies. I will be looking at the health disparities of the Hispanic population in Atlanta, Georgia. Also, I will be formulating a plan to help decrease the health disparities of this population. The formulated plan will facilitate the use of available evidence in Atlanta, Georgia, Hispanic communities that will be achieved through epidemiological, environmental, and demographic data. The plan will also help apply various strategies vital for health care improvement goals for Hispanic communities and health care professionals sensitively and inclusively.

Community Demographics, Epidemiological, and Environmental Data

The United States is affected by obesity, and they have a 39.6% obesity rate in adults and 18.5% in children between ages 2 to 19. According to the new CDC report on obesity, the rate of obesity in Georgia adults keep increasing and getting higher as time goes. As of 2018, the obesity rate in Georgia adults was 32.5%, compared to the previous year, with 31.6%. Despite the whole country being affected by obesity, the obesity rate is even higher in the Hispanic population than the national average. Obesity is when a person has a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 (Blow, 2019). In the U.S, 41.2% of Hispanic males and 48.4% of Hispanic females over the age of 20 are obese (Health of Hispanic or Latino Population, 2020). In Georgia, 30% to 35% of the Hispanic population is obese (Petersen, MD, MPH, Pan, MD, MPH, & Blanck, Ph.D., n.d.). It is well documented that obesity is associated with chronic health diseases like diabetes and heart disease. In case it is not prevented and controlled earlier, it increases mortality rates in these individuals. In most if not all cases, environmental conditions are the main forces that affect a community’s ability to access medical treatment (Zimmerman, Woolf & Haley, 2015). As a result, it may lead the communities to suffer from obesity. High obesity rates among Hispanic communities have led to increased mortality rates from type 2 diabetes. Behavioral habits like alcoholism, poor diets, and sedentary lifestyles are among the environmental factors that have led to obesity in Hispanic populations. The Hispanic community has unregulated weight gain, which increases their chances of experiencing obesity compared to other community groups. As a result, they are at a higher risk of suffering from chronic health conditions.

Hispanics represent an important yet understudied population at risk for multiple health risk behaviors related to chronic disease morbidity and mortality (Strong, 2016). There have been multiple studies on factors that affect physical activity and healthy eating habits in Hispanics. Physical activity is affected by social support, attitudes towards physical activity, time constraints, motivation, and health concerns. At the same time, things that influence dietary behavior include nutrition knowledge and cooking skills, and access to affordable healthy foods. However, these same studies show that these factors vary by overweight status (Strong, 2016).

There is no accurate data and information on how much the Hispanic population suffers from obesity and how it affects their family members. In addition to this, there should be additional information on how environmental factors are a risk to the Hispanic population and increase obesity chances of the individual. There should also be additional information on why most Hispanic individuals opt not to seek medical health apart from non-documentation problems.

Ethical health improvement plan to address a population health issue within a community

To truly address the obesity issue in Hispanics, you must evaluate how it starts. One could say that Hispanics have a greater obese population because most of the population is in low-income families. The rate of obesity is higher in lower-income individuals, especially among women in this population (Pe’rez, Sa’nchez, & Ortiz, 2013). It is known that individuals in low-income areas do not always have access to healthy food options. In addition to this, their little income may make it impossible for them to afford health training facilities.

Individuals develop their food preferences in childhood and are linked to food consumption habits in adulthood (Salvo, 2015). Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that if these individuals grow up in a low-income family, they will continue with the food preferences that they developed in childhood into adulthood no matter what income level they belong in. A study done in urban Atlanta on preschool-aged children’s dietary habits showed that Hispanic children have a higher intake of sweet drinks. Most of these drinks are known to have high fructose levels that, in return, can lead to a higher rate of fat production (Salvo, 2015). Most of the dietary caloric intake for this population came from sweet drinks, fruit, and high-fat dairy products. There was little or no intake of meat and legumes (Salvo, 2015).

This shows that there is a need for more education on healthy eating habits for the Hispanic population. This type of education can be given at the good visits of the children. The education should not be limited to the child but should include the whole family. The education should also include appropriate portions, decrease the amount of sweet drink intake, and emphasize appropriate preparations to provide high quality yet low-fat meals (Salvo, 2015).

We need to examine what is available to help control the obesity rates within the Hispanic population. It is well documented that the obesity rates are disproportional in the Hispanic population, but there is little known about lifestyle interventions available to this population (Corona, 2016). There have been researched works to identify effective diet and physical activity intervention, but very little has been targeting the Hispanic population (Corona, 2016). There are cultural aspects that need to be addressed when looking at how to decrease the obesity rates in Hispanics. The interventions need to be tailored to their cultural views, practices, language, environment, dietary preferences, and physical preferences (Corona, 2016). If these aspects are incorporated, there could be higher engagement in the Hispanic population, resulting in better outcomes.

Positive Assumptions                                                                                    

With the development of this plan, it will be possible to create awareness of how the population can prevent and control obesity within them. It will also educate people on how they can limit and monitor their diet to control and reduce the chances of obesity.

There are obstacles in getting the right information to the Hispanic population about obesity and health issues that being obese can lead to. In the metro Atlanta area, much of the Hispanic population is undocumented. Because of this, most of the adult Hispanic population will not visit a doctor regularly. Mostly this population will not seek medical attention until they become extremely ill or in a medical emergency. In the state of Georgia, if a woman in a low-income family becomes pregnant, they qualify for a program called WIC (Women, Infant, Children). Once they qualify for this program, they are enrolled until the child is five years of age. This could be the first point of contact in reaching out to the Hispanic population. Information can be given to women on the importance of a healthy diet and physical activity. Because the Hispanic population will take their children to a doctor regularly, at least until they are school-aged, this will be the best time to give this population education. This education does not have to pertain to obesity in children but throughout each family generation. When giving out information, it will need to be in the language that they are most familiar with. Therefore, the information will need to be in Spanish.

Reaching the Hispanic population on the rate of obesity and the issues of being obese can be difficult. New and innovative ways will be needed to get the right information to this population. This will be ongoing and would need to be followed to see if the information given out is having any effect on the rates of obesity. This is a population that needs further study to see what the most effective way will be to decrease the rate of obesity. There may be conflicting data from other participants who might have tried the method but gave up before getting the final results.

Propose criteria for evaluating population health improvement plan outcomes

The criterion most suitable and one we can rely on to see to it that the improvement plant brings positive outcomes to the community may include the community having to work together to ensure they succeed in overcoming obesity in the Hispanic community. This approach will ensure that the community is aware and understands the current situation and the positive results that come from it. After the plan development, it will be vital to ensure it gets to the community. The most common method that will help is social media and posters in colleges and schools around. Doing this will be possible for the health communicator to get to many people, hence spreading the message. In addition to these, gathering the community and educating them will ensure that the parties involved communicate effectively and learn the existing issues and the critical approaches to overcome the problem. With proper collaboration between the community and the medical providers, the community will successfully overcome associated issues and obesity management.

References

Berwick, D. M. (2008). The triple aim: Care, health, and cost. Health Affairs, 27(3), 759-769. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1377/hlthaff.27.3.750.

Blow, J. T. (2019). Correlates of overweight and obesity in a Hispanic sample. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(2), 256-264. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-9963-

Corona, E. F. (2016). Trends in Evidence-Based Lifestyle Interventions Directed at Obese and Overweight Adult Latinos in the US: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of Community Health, 41(3), 667-673. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0119-9

Health of Hispanic or Latino Population. (2020). Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/hispanic-health.htm

Pe´rez, C. M., Sa´nchez, H., & Ortiz, A. P. (2013). Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity and Their Cardiometabolic. Community Health, 38, 1140-1146. doi:DOI 10.1007/s10900-013-9726-5

Petersen, MD, MPH, R., Pan, MD, MPH, L., & Blanck, PhD, H. M. (n.d.). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Adult Obesity in the United States: CDC’s Tracking to Inform State and Local Action. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2019/18_0579.htm

Salvo, D. F. (2015). Food group intake patterns and nutrient intake vary across low-income Hispanic and African American preschool children in Atlanta: a cross sectional study. Nutrition Journal, 11, 62. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-11-62

Strong, L. L.-F. (2016). Perspectives of Mexican-origin smokers on healthy eating and physical activity. Health Education Research, 31(4), 465-477. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyw026

Vos, T., Barber, R. M., Bell, B., Bertozzi-Villa, A., Biryukov, S., Bolliger, I., … & Duan, L. (2015). Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The Lancet, 386(9995), 743-800.

Zimmerman, E. B., Woolf, S. H., & Haley, A. (2015). Understanding the relationship between education and health: a review of the evidence and an examination of community perspectives. Population health: behavioral and social science insights. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health-care Research and Quality, 347-84.

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