Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue Order Instructions:

For this assignment, you are to select a target population with a specific health issue and research how social, cultural, and behavior factors of the target population contribute to health outcomes associated with the health issue. The 1,200-1,500 word Research Paper must include the following:

Introduction: Provide a concise synopsis of the purpose of the paper and a general introduction to the target population and the health issue.
Target Population: Provide a description of the target population that you have selected; provide demographic information about the population; and discuss relevant social, cultural, and behavioral factors that affect this population.
Health Issue: Provide information discussing the health issue that you have selected; include a history of knowledge and public health understanding regarding the health issue; how it has evolved; biological and epidemiological information related to the disease; and major social, cultural, and behavioral factors that affect or relate to the health issue.
Relationship Between Health Issue and Target Population: Analyze how social, cultural, and behavioral factors in the target population contribute to the health issue; and identify what factors/characteristics are positive or negative and which behaviors/practices/beliefs serve as risk factors or protective factors.
Current Strategies/Interventions: Discuss existing programming to prevent or reduce the health issue within the target population and challenges to interventions and programming.
Recommendations/Conclusion: Make recommendations to resolve the health issue within the target population based on your review of current literature and what you have learned throughout the course.
Minimum of Five References: Use the GCU Library to locate at least five resources, including at least two peer-reviewed articles.

Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue Sample Answer

Introduction

This research paper intends to investigate health problems which have for so long been affecting the Alaska people. Alaska is among the places where native people stay in the United States. The paper explores diabetes as a health issue facing the population in Alaska. It’s going to be a detailed analysis of factors from social, cultural to behaviors interfering the prevention and cure of diabetes among the Alaskans. The paper will furthermore note measures that can be practiced to get rid of this phenomena.

Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue Target Population

Alaskans are a native group in the United States of America. They migrated in the past millennium and settled in the northern and southern regions of America. Their realizable language defines them. The population of these people was estimated to be 663,000 in a census done in 2010 and the majority of them was the youth. A large portion of the population was noted to be female in comparison with the male. The community is entrenched with a cultural way of life such as dancing and their way of dressing. The community is not well of because a majority of them are unemployed and poor. The Alaskans value their self-esteem just like the Indian communities.

Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that extends for the entire duration of life and brings about high levels of sugar in a person’s blood. There are three types of this disease namely type 1, type2, and Gestation diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is developed because of lack of insulin in the early stage. Type 2 occurs as a result of cells not responding to insulin in the body and Gestational diabetes may affect women during pregnancy. Over the past decades, diabetes has been an epidemic in the United States since it has led to the death of many citizens in the country. Zimmet, (2014) affirmed that more than 28 million of the United States population suffer from diabetes. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention gave an estimation that by 2048 one in every four adults would have contracted the disease.

Alaska has been the most affected region. This region is most exposed to diabetes due to their cultural, social and behavioral traits. Diabetes has been uncontrollable due to these factors.

Relationships between Health Issue and the Target Population

The social way of the people mainly contributes to the high rate of diabetes cases in the community according to (Hill et al., 2013). This is also because they are marginalized and are socially deficient. Many of the people in the community do not have a source of everyday income as they are unemployed. The tribal members, therefore, do not afford medical insurance to cover their medical expenses. They also do not have enough cash to buy the prescribed drugs. They eventually end up being unable to access appropriate healthcare. The community is not able to ensure good diet in their daily meals due to low per capita income thus increasing the risks of getting diabetes.

The community’s geographical and topographic aspects frustrate their accessibility to hospitals. Hospitals are located far away, and the region has very poor infrastructure (Hill et al., 2013). Therefore, reaching to these health institutions is a big problem to the population. Besides, the healthcare trainees are not able to get to remote areas to provide those with diabetes health services. The high rate of diabetes in Alaska is also greatly due to the low educational attainment of its residents. Low education results in the lack of awareness of the causes, symptoms, and measures to prevent the disease.

Other cultural views of Alaska that leads to a high rate of diabetes include their cultural relationship with other ethnic groups. Alaskan’s culture holds suspicion to other people of different communities. They clearly have no trust with other ethnic personnel. For this reason, they do not trust healthcare staff and the good services they provide to them. They thus end up refusing diabetic and other illnesses treatment. Linguistic differences with other people make the administration of treatment and education to the natives of Alaska quite challenging since interpreters would probably have to be employed to enhance effective communication. The cultural food taken currently in the region is another ethnic aspect. The community has adopted ethnic inexpensive foods due to the high costs of living. This eventually makes them consume more calories than the recommended for a healthy body.

Finally, the people of Alaska have a behavior of consulting the professionals only when in critical conditions. This hinders early treatment of diabetes. Most people consult experts when they are almost dying instead of seeking medical attention early. An increased rate of contracting a diabetic disease is also caused by the self-management habit of the young people in Alaska. A large number of the population ignore the directions by health professionals and prefer self-management. As a result of self-management, they end up worsening their diabetic conditions.

Current Interventions on Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue

A thorough education on diabetes has been started by the federal government with the aim of reaching the interior populations in the United States. A good example is the National Diabetes Prevention Program launched to curb this epidemic. Such programs are meant to educate citizens on the harm, causes and preventive measures to get rid of diabetes. Other adopted strategies include the SAMHSA program. The coexistence and interaction among individuals of different ethnicity are achieved through such initiatives. SAMHSA aims at promoting working together and reliance among the Alaska and Indian natives. The state government has begun the Affordable Care Act so as to bring health care to the low-income earners.

It is very difficult and challenging for the state and federal governments to enhance the workability of these techniques and initiatives because of the huge amount of capital required. Different languages spoken among the native communities hinders efficient communication between professionals and ethnic communities (Tenzer, et al., 2014). The accessibility of interior regions is also another challenge that makes it hard for the government to reach people with drugs, devices and healthcare staff to these marginalized regions.

Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue Recommendations

Infrastructure in the remote regions where the native communities stay should be improved by the federal and state government. The infrastructure includes good roads, pharmacies, and hospitals to improve the accessibility of healthcare services to all citizens. Secondly, free communal facilities and education should be provided by the government so as to rice the literacy level of the communities and create awareness on diabetes.

The government should also enlist qualified healthcare professionals with the ability to understand and interpret different ethnic languages. They would, therefore, ensure effective communication with local patients and healthcare colleagues.

Introduction to the Target Population and Health Issue References

Hill, J., Nielsen, M., & Fox, M. H. (2013). Understanding the social factors that contribute to diabetes: a means to inform health care and social policies for the chronically ill. The Permanente Journal, 17(2), 67.

Tenzer, H., Pudelko, M., & Harzing, A. W. (2014). The impact of language barriers on trust formation in multinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5), 508-535.

Zimmet, P. Z., Magliano, D. J., Herman, W. H., & Shaw, J. E. (2014). Diabetes: a 21st-century challenge. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2(1), 56-64.