Assignment:Revision Project Milestone Two: Selected Existing Program: Description and Analysis
You provided some solid information in this assignment regarding your topic of diabetes. For this milestone you needed to talk specifically about current programs and strategies that are in place to address diabetes. You also needed to go over their effectiveness. Great job covering the history. In order to substantiate its legitimacy as a problem you needed to include statistics regarding those that are impacted. Include information such as prevalence, incidence, mortality, etc. You also needed to provide statistics in the last section when discussing the target population that's impacted. Also you need to include in-text citations whenever you are using information from additional sources. Your history section should have at least once citation. Please make corrections prior to your final project. If you have any questions please let me know.
Additional corrections :Does not identify the current policies, programs, or strategies in place to address the issue and does not provide specific examples
Additional corrections:Does not assess the efficacy of identified policies, programs, or strategies in terms of promoting health or reducing disparities, and does not support reasoning
1. All the model and theories can be applied on different occasions depending on what the issue is, and we can apply more than one theory or model to change behavior. I prefer to use the Health Belief Model which consists of four constructs. I chose this model because it focuses on the beliefs and attitudes of people, and you have to be willing to accept change to improve health behavior. It is also a step by step model that enable you to interact with individual to see their view point on the issue,and ways to improve their health.The first construct is to perceived susceptibility is an excellent way to change health behavior, when people realize they are at risk for a disease they are likely to adopt healthy behavior to decrease risk. Perceived susceptibility in a particular group of race and ethnic women for breast and cervical cancer encourages them to get screening services. The perceived severity is another way to understand health behavior among the population. Some women will recognize the seriousness of breast and cervical cancer due to their belief or t he effect it will have on them.
Others will perceive the severity if they get medical information and knowledge from physicians. The third construct is perceived benefits when women decide to get mammograms and pap smears to decrease their risk of breast and cervical. Women will adapt to healthy behavior choice
if they believe it will reduce their risk of developing a disease. The Health Belief Model last construct is perceived barrier which is important in determining behavior change. Women often find it embarrassing to do breast cancer self-examination and others refuses to do a pap smear and mammograms testing because they feel uncomfortable, while others cannot afford the services. Self-efficacy is also part of Health Belief Model, "is the individual confidence that he or she can do something." ( Perrin, pg 58). If women perceive the benefit of mammograms and pap-smear but have barriers, they will not even try to do it. Others who understand the benefits of mammograms and pap- smear and can overcome obstacles will improve their health behavior.
Reference:Perrin, K. (2016) Essential of planning and evaluating for public health. Theories and Models. MA Jones & Bartlett Learning
2. This readings covered a variety of models and theories. I found all of them to be interesting and very useful. In my opinion, when it comes to selecting one, the best choice depends on our goals and/or purpose. For example, are we looking to change individual behaviors or the behavior of a community? Are we looking to determine the impact of a current program? Or, are we looking to explain how individuals adopt new ideas, products, social practices, etc.?
For my public health issue (diabetes), the model I would prefer to use is the ecological model also known as the socio-ecological model. This model focuses on the interaction between behavioral patterns and social environmental factors (Perrin, 2016). Additionally, this model includes five main constructs: 1) intrapersonal factors, 2) interpersonal relationships, 3) organizational factors, 3) community factors, and 5) public policy (Perrin, 2016). The reason I chose this particular model is because it is thorough and has the potential to propose solutions for any gaps in existing programs. For example, it can assess the following:
• Intrapersonal factors: What attitudes, knowledge, and skills does the individual have regarding diabetes? Is the individual willing to change any of these?
• Interpersonal relationships: Are the people in the individual's social network a positive or negative influence? For example, is the individual surrounded by friends and family who eat foods the individual should be avoiding?
• Organizational factors: Does the individual have any support in the workplace or programs to assist him or her?
• Community factors: Does the individual have access to community programs that are affordable and of high-quality for treatment and/or prevention of diabetes?
• Public Policy: What policies are in place that aim to improve and protect an individual from developing diabetes?
Lastly, as we learned in previous chapters, the social determinants of health play an important role in the health outcomes of an individual. This is another reason why I really like the social-ecological model because it focuses on how social factors affect and influence individual behaviors (Perrin, 2016).
References: Perrin, K. M. (2016). Essentials of planning and evaluation for public health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
3. The United States has lead efforts in international democratization. Democracy is successful, attractive, and adaptable (Holestine, APUS, 2017). The US has been leading the movement in the spreading of a democratic state and political liberalism. The US's military strength in recent decades has proved to lay a solid foundation for the overall global order. Recent military involvement has been injected into Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and many others. There are US military bases throughout the entire world, that assists in the monitoring of every ocean that preserves the international order. It is important that the US does not use this strength recklessly to dive into more wars or more conflict.
The best hope for the United States participation in the international order will be to use military and nonmilitary tools to exercise the US's influence. The US must continue to be be present throughout the world. Military bases are vital to not only the US but to the region in which bases are located. US military bases work closely with regional countries to develop and grow their military so that they can protect themselves and to also give the citizens of that country hope, reliance on their government, and a sense of nationalism that many countries in the Middle East lack due to displacement and war. Military advise and assist roles are essential to countries in MENA. Countries like Afghanistan benefit from the US's advise, assist, and train missions. Not only does Afghanistan benefit from being trained and educated on building a sustainable security capacity but the larger role of NATO benefits in these counter terrorism missions. US Public Affairs Officers that are located on each base abroad should also have a driven mission to unite the people of that country. Public Affairs Officers communicate to the public what the military is focusing on, training on, and their capabilities. This key role in US military should be trained to other militaries or security forces as well. Communication with the public is vital for a positive view on the government. Not only communication but feedback from the public is also essential. When citizens believe that they are being heard and feel that their government is stable, they are less likely to commit crimes and retreat to terrorist organizations for stability.
The US must maintain peace, prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and combat the spread of terrorism through means other than military capabilities as well. NGO's that focus on providing education or rebuilding the current educational systems in crisis countries. Mr. Jorge Sequeira, UNESCO Representative to the Counter-Terrorism Initiative Task Force stated that extremism gains ground and flourishes when young people lack choices and meaning in their lives (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2016). The US should use NGO's to also help governments ensure a balanced view of the world in their youth's educational programs. Political factors should not influence how future generations see the world.
The combination of both military and nonmilitary tools should be used by the US for the overall good of the international order. Focusing on education, military presence and aid in training, will give the citizens of states that are surrounded by terrorist recruitment a better outlook of the world, a more positive view of their government and military and will ultimately prevent the growth of terrorism. By focusing on these factors the US will continue to lead the way in the global international order.