Comparing Health Promotion Approaches For Homeless And Conflict-Affected Populations In An Essay.

Choose 2 or 6 readings

1. Czaja, SJ , 2015, 'Can Technology Empower Older Adults to Manage Their Health?', Generations, 39, 1, 46-51
2. Footer, KHA, 2005, 'A human rights approach to health care in conflict ', International review of the Red Cross, 95, 889, 167-187
3. Hale, LA, Trip, HT, Whitehead, L, & Conder, J , 2011, 'Self-Management Abilities of Diabetes in People With an Intellectual Disability Living in New Zealand', Journal of policy and practice in intellectual disabilities, 8, 4, 223-230
4. Hurley, C., Baum, F., Johns, J., Labonte, R., 2010, 'Comprehensive primary health care in Australia : findings from a narrative review of the literature', The Australasian medical journal, 3, 2, 147-152
5. Hwang SW ; Burns T, 2014, 'Health interventions for people who are homeless', The lancet , 384, 9953,     1541-1547
6. Northridge, ME et al., 2015, 'A Community-Based Oral Public Health Approach to Promote Health Equity', American journal of public health, 105, Suppl. 3, S459-65

Think about the following questions:

What are the health care and support principles found in each reading?

Compare the two readings are the similar or different? How are they different?

Consider how each approach effects the delivery of health and wellbeing.

How do the health care approaches used in the articles compare to your own approaches to health care delivery?

Examine your own values and your professional values.

Health promotion refers to the process that enables individuals to increase their control over their health and enhance their overall well-being and quality of life. Health promotion usually moves beyond the importance on individual behaviour towards a plethora of environmental and social interventions (Eldredge et al. 2016). The report will draw a comparison of two articles by identifying their differences and similarities, in relation to the health promotion principles that have been discussed. This will be followed by a reflection on the approaches. The six articles that were enlisted in the readings focused on different principles of technological advances, human rights, self-care management, primary healthcare, empowerment, and community based approaches.

The major similarity between the two articles can be attributed to the fact that both of them have addressed regions of major conflict and concern, in relation to health promotion practice.  The article by Hwang and Burns (2014) has identified homelessness as a major problem that creates significant negative impacts on the health and well-being of the target population. Conversely, the article by Footer and Rubenstein (2013) has accurately identified the major issue of political conflict, where armed combat encompasses armed forces of more than one state that results in killing and injury to more than thousand people, throughout the course. Homelessness includes certain circumstances where people do not have a permanent dwelling and are unable to acquire optimal health, and get affected by chronic diseases such as, mental health problem, diabetes, asthma, and/or hypertension (Lebrun?Harris et al. 2013). On the other hand, the different wars between countries directly affect the health system that is prevalent in fragile states (Dworsky, Napolitano and Courtney 2013). Armed conflict invariably results in a loss of life, widespread mental disease, physical injury, outbreak of contagious diseases, and the worsening of the malnutrition scenario (Leaning and Guha-Sapir 2013). Another similarity is that the authors tried to unravel the applicability of their health promotion policies to interfere with the health concerns in both the scenarios in order to improve the overall state of the affected population.

One article has focused on the implementation of coordinated services, medical respite programs, and mental health care, and primary care services, for addressing the issues faced by the homeless people (Hwang and Burns 2014). The second article has made an emphasis on implementation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) for protecting the healthcare services that are needed by people residing in regions of civil disturbance or armed conflict (Footer and Rubenstein 2013). The focus on medical respite care can be attributed to the fact that it takes in delivery of post-acute and acute medical care to the homeless, who are too frail to recuperate from an injury or physical illness (Doran et al. 2013).

Dissimilarities

However, the authors did not take into account the wide range of violations of human rights that are experienced by them. Access to a secure and safe housing is one of the most fundamental human rights. Moreover, homeless people also face violation of their rights, in relation to right to education, security and liberty of person, social security, privacy, vote, and freedom from discrimination (Howard-Hassmann 2018). These issues were adequately addressed by the other article, since one of the most disturbing impacts of warfare conflict is the deleterious effect it creates on non-combatant. Assaults that are faced during armed conflict infringe the human right norms that are usually designated to protect all civilians from any discrimination (Hassan et al. 2016).

Health Promotion usually support social and personal development by providing education information on health, and enhancing the essential life skills. The key principles that were addressed by the article which focused on the homeless people were namely, implementation of community resources, establishment of effective interpersonal relationship with the homeless individual (Hwang and Burns 2014). Other principles are related to empowering them and building a mutual trust, adaptation to clinical care guidelines, for better meeting the mental and physical health needs of the affected population (Edelman, Mandle and Kudzma 2017). Conversely, the article on armed conflict suggested that the key principles that can help in resolving the issues of people residing in such conflict prone areas include presence of proportionality in use of armed forces, clear distinction between the military and civilian targets, and taking precautionary steps in association with the attacks (Footer and Rubenstein 2013). HRL principles comprise of establishment of the rights and obligations between the individuals and the state (Bethlehem 2013). Presence of military necessity will require the combat forces only to engage in acts that are considered essential for accomplishing a legitimate military objective.

The health promotion principles enlisted are in accordance with my values and principles on healthcare approaches. I sincerely believe that the presence of improper interpersonal communication has the capability of resulting in negative repercussion for the person, who is being provided care. Adequate social support and sufficient healthcare provisions should be created for both the indigenous people, in my practice, in order to allow them to maintain their health, while residing in the community. Presence of community care resources and primary healthcare services are essential, in order to initiate effective discharge planning and delivery of outreach services, which will help us to ensure that the physical and mental health needs of the target population are being adequately met.

Key principles

Upon conducting an analysis of the articles I also realised that these services should be delivered in a voluntary manner that is respectful of the individual dignity and privacy. Healthcare providers like us should also be given the opportunity to engage and effective training programs, in order to address issues related to patient communication and engagement (Salazar, Crosby and DiClemente 2015). I also hold the view that discriminating between the non-combatants and combatants will help in prohibiting all forms of indiscriminate attacks that are not directed at military objectives.

Conclusion

To conclude, that both homelessness and armed conflict are major public health problems that lead to death injury and poor health outcomes, on a global scale. The enjoyment of greatest attainable standards of health is considered as one of the chief civil liberties for human beings, without any distinction of religion, political beliefs, race, social, or economic condition. Hence, all health promotion strategies should include principles that underlie the economic and social determinants, the mental social and physical dimensions of health, and protect the overall health status of all the citizens.

References

Bethlehem, D., 2013. The relationship between international humanitarian law and international human rights law in situations of armed conflict. Cambridge J. Int'l & Comp. L., 2, p.180.

Doran, K.M., Ragins, K.T., Gross, C.P. and Zerger, S., 2013. Medical respite programs for homeless patients: a systematic review. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 24(2), pp.499-524.

Dworsky, A., Napolitano, L. and Courtney, M., 2013. Homelessness during the transition from foster care to adulthood. American Journal of Public Health, 103(S2), pp.S318-S323.

Edelman, C.L., Mandle, C.L. and Kudzma, E.C., 2017. Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Eldredge, L.K.B., Markham, C.M., Ruiter, R.A., Kok, G. and Parcel, G.S., 2016. Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Footer, K.H. and Rubenstein, L.S., 2013. A human rights approach to health care in conflict. International Review of the Red Cross, 95(889), pp.167-187.

Hassan, G., Ventevogel, P., Jefee-Bahloul, H., Barkil-Oteo, A. and Kirmayer, L.J., 2016. Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Syrians affected by armed conflict. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 25(2), pp.129-141.

Howard-Hassmann, R.E., 2018. Human rights and the search for community. Routledge.

Hwang, S.W. and Burns, T., 2014. Health interventions for people who are homeless. The Lancet, 384(9953), pp.1541-1547.

Leaning, J. and Guha-Sapir, D., 2013. Natural disasters, armed conflict, and public health. New England journal of medicine, 369(19), pp.1836-1842.

Lebrun?Harris, L.A., Baggett, T.P., Jenkins, D.M., Sripipatana, A., Sharma, R., Hayashi, A.S., Daly, C.A. and Ngo?Metzger, Q., 2013. Health status and health care experiences among homeless patients in federally supported health centers: findings from the 2009 patient survey. Health services research, 48(3), pp.992-1017.

Salazar, L.F., Crosby, R.A. and DiClemente, R.J., 2015. Research methods in health promotion. John Wiley & Sons.