National Health Promotion Programs
Master’s prepared nurses bear the obligation of identifying niches in the healthcare sector and proposing feasible solutions for the same. One of the many ways in which the practitioners can improve the well-being of communities is by initiating national health promotion programs. By involving stakeholders in program evaluation, nurses can easily raise funds for the initiatives and contribute significantly to the elimination of health disparities in areas that have poor health outcomes.
Nurses can utilize societal involvement in program evaluation to achieve stakeholder buy-in, and generate finances for their initiatives. Owusu-Addo, Edusah, and Sarfo-Mensah (2015) describe assessment as the means of providing evidence to inform health promotion decision-making and practice. Often, community members may be reluctant to fund initiatives that are unfamiliar to them. Studies show that lay people lament over imposition of programs that fail to match the uniqueness of their populations (Owusu-Addo et al., 2015). Involving the target group in program evaluation can enhance their understanding of the underlying health issues and its impact on their lives, thus compelling them to fund the initiative.
Successful implementation of health promotion programs can help eliminate health disparities. Previous community-based initiatives have shown promising results of reducing this aspect among different populations. An example is the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Community Asthma program that was implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which helped to reduce asthma complications among Black and Hispanic children (“Reaching for Health Equity,” n.d). However, some factors, such as socioeconomic status, can hinder the improvement of health outcomes among regions that experience health disparities (Thornton et al., 2016). Therefore, nurses should adopt a multidisciplinary approach to developing health promotion programs.
Overall, an alternative means of raising funds for health promotion programs is through stakeholders’ involvement. Nurses should involve the target community in the evaluation of health initiatives to source for the required funds. National health programs can help eliminate health disparities. However, such initiatives should be addressed in a multidisciplinary way to attain the desired outcomes.
