What are significant social needs in your community and how can you help? Through your professional role as a nurse and personal interactions as a community member, you likely have insight into issues that impact certain populations. Chances are you also see from your daily interaction with patients how lack of information or information that is not easily accessible or understandable prevents patients from making changes or getting resources and support that would improve their lives.
Using your knowledge of the social determinants of health and the needs of particular groups, you can be a significant advocate for a healthier community. Think of yourself as a bridge that connects those who need resources with those who can provide them. Every organization can use another voice to spread the word on what they do and offer. And vulnerable populations will benefit from an advocate who is aware of potential barriers, such as language or literacy levels, in recommending community resources.
For this Assignment, you will identify a particular population in your community and research to understand their specific characteristics and needs, and then match them to organizations and services in your community. You will organize your research using a PowerPoint presentation. Think of your presentation as a place to start in determining how best to reach and inform your focus population and in filling your role as a social change agent with the information you gather.
To complete the Assignment:
Using the PPT template provided, create the plans for educational resources to inform your focus population. Your completed PowerPoint presentation of 8–10 slides should include the following:
Title Slide
Focus Population for Advocacy: Identify the specific population for whom you are advocating as a social change agent in your community and describe key characteristics of this population (e.g., age, language, culture). Be specific with examples.
Focus Population’s Needs: Identify the focus population’s specific needs based on the social determinants of health (SDoH). Include examples to explain these needs.
Community Resources: Present resources (i.e., organizations and services) in your community you would recommend to your focus population to address specific needs and improve health and well-being as defined by the SDoH. Include:
at least three community resources or three slides of resources;
all information your focus population would need (e.g., location, hours, special services, free services/materials, online links) to access and benefit from each resource;
strategies that you demonstrate or describe to make the information easy to understand, use, and encourage action by the focus population.
Reaching the Focus Population: Describe strategies for reaching your focus population with the community resource information you have identified and that align with characteristics of this population. Be specific with examples.
Reference Slide: Include a reference slide with resources in APA format that support your research in creating the presentation.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Gerber, L. (2018). Understanding the nurse’s role as a patient advocateLinks to an external site.. Nursing, 48(4), 55–58. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000531007.02224.65
Note: Review from Week 2.
Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). Social determinants of healthLinks to an external site.. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health
National Wellness Institute. (n.d.). NWI’s six dimensions of wellnessLinks to an external site.. https://nationalwellness.org/resources/six-dimensions-of-wellness/
Note: Review from Module 1.
Walden University Center for Social Change. (n.d.). Connecting people, resources, and opportunities for positive social changeLinks to an external site.. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/social-change
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Social determinants of healthLinks to an external site.. https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1
Foundations for Social Change. (n.d.). Take bold action to advance social changeLinks to an external site.. https://forsocialchange.org/ Links to an external site.
Note: Review this resource for an example of innovation in addressing a social need.