Ajani Kerr Step 1: Project Briefing Health Disparities amongst African American Adolescent Boys in the U.S Selected Public Health Issue Health disparities involve the differences existing among particular population groups in the achievement of whole health potential. It can be measured by the variations in the following factors: burden of disease, prevalence, mortality, incidence, and other adverse healthcare conditions (Xin, 2017). In addition to ethnicity and race, these factors often shape one’s capacity to attain optimal health. Therefore, with health disparities, there are persistent and stark racial differences in health coverage, and mental, leading to chronic health conditions and associated death. These disparities are not erupting from the group or individual behavior; instead, they are the systematic inequality within the American healthcare, housing, and economic systems (Xin, 2017). Thus, this assignment addresses health disparities amongst African American adolescent boys in the U.S. Priority Population: Health Disparities amongst African American adolescent boys in the U.S As mentioned above, health disparities occur due to systematic inequality in housing, healthcare, and economic systems, leading to various chronic health conditions taking a greater toll in a given population over the other. For example, concerning the 2018 CDC report, around 42% of 37, 968 HIV diagnoses in the U.S were adolescent African Americans with 31% accounting for African American Adolescent boys (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). In the same year, African American adolescent boys with HIV accounted for 39% of cases among adolescent men in the U.S. Meaning, African American adolescent boys are less likely to get diagnosed with HIV compared to their white counterparts. Furthermore, due to health disparities, African American adolescent boys falling between 15-18 years have the highest risk for sexually transmitted diseases, particularly chlamydia than their white counterparts. Based on 2018 statistics, this population was 9.1 times higher in chlamydia than white adolescent boys; that is, 2,668.6 black boys cases to 293.0 white boys cases per 100,000 people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC. (2020). Health Disparities in HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB. African Americans/Blacks. https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/healthdisparities/africanamericans.html Xin, H. (2017). Health disparities—an important public health policy concern. Frontiers in public health, 5, 99. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5413494/ 1 Choose a Program Planning Model Program Planning Model for Design Strategy The preferred model that to be used leveraged to lessen the prevalent healthcare disparities among the African American adolescent boys in the U.S. is the Evidence-Based Planning Framework for public health. The rationale for its selection is based on the detailed sequential framework that it advocates for initiating and facilitating the essential systemic change appropriate for ensuring health equality in the identified society. The implementation of the framework also has a high chance of improving the population's health conditions in the community mentioned above. Hence, it is vital in transitioning the existing status quo that results in inequality in access to quality and accessible healthcare services among the affected population. The phases in addressing the health problem as outlined by the framework include undertaking a community assessment, which is integral in enabling planners to understand the prevalent community context comprehensively. The framework also provides an opportunity to quantify the issue by the relevant parties, including the U.S. Department of health and associated stakeholders, through descriptive epidemiology. Notably, descriptive epidemiology allows the organization and summarization of data, primarily derived from the prevalent surveillance systems and secondary data sources, such as surveys, governmental publications, and scientific research journals (Naito, 2014). The third step of the model concerns developing a concise statement of issue by summarizing the obtained analysis of the root causes of the prevalent health disparities, which include inequalities in housing, healthcare, and economic systems. The next step involves determining the known aspects of the prevalent racial health disparity using scientific literature and helps in the identification of evidence-based solutions that could help PROGRAM PLANNING MODEL 2 eliminate the problem. Notably, strategies to help eliminate health disparities include raising awareness of existing disparities in care and involving policy frameworks to expand health insurance coverage. The framework also advocates prioritization of the specific interventions determined to help mitigate against the disparities and the development of action plans that could help implement the identified interventions. The phase necessitates the development of specific goals and objectives, and strategies that will facilitate the implementation of the identified interventions. Importantly, the framework advocates for evaluating the program or policy following its implementation to confer the opportunity for improving identified loopholes that could prevent effectiveness. The last step provides policymakers and other stakeholders with the opportunity to enhance the developed system to ensure comprehensive elimination of the health problem among African American adolescent boys. PROGRAM PLANNING MODEL 3 Reference Naito, M. (2014). Utilization and Application of Public Health Data in Descriptive Epidemiology. Journal Of Epidemiology, 24(6), 435-436. https://doi.org/10.2188/jea.je20140182 Running head: MISSION GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Mission • To reduce health disparities amongst African American adolescent boys in the U.S. Goals • To ensure that adolescents of all races achieve and maintain reproductive health Through this goal, the number of youths who get infected with HIV each year will reduce. This will help n through ensuring that adolescent boys get sex education to take care of their reproductive health. • All African American boys in us who have been infected have access to suitable medication. To reduce the viral load in their bodies, they have to get access to very affordable medication (Cunningham & White,2019). Some of them fear going to public hospitals, so setting up private hospitals that deal with only sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents will help them. • To ensure that safe and affordable health care is offered, African American adolescents. Most of the youth between the age of 15 to 18 do not have stable sources of income. Providing them with affordable health care or even some free medical services will motivate them to have frequent checkups for their reproductive health. Objectives • To ensure that all African American adolescents practice safe sexual behaviors. MISSION GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Through this program, virtual and face-to-face seminars to teach adolescents how to have safe sexual practices will be held every two months. • To reduce the number of youths who get infected with sexually transmitted infections each year. • To increase knowledge of healthy parenting skills among caregivers of adolescents. Through this initiative, they will understand how to take care of their adolescents to reduce the chances of contracting STIs. 2 MISSION GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 3 MISSION GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 4 Reference Cunningham, M., & White, A. (2019). Young adulthood and health disparities in African American males. Men's Health Equity, 57-71. Reference Cunningham, M., & White, A. (2019). Young adulthood and health disparities in African American males. Men’s Health Equity, 57-71. Definitions – 1 Theory • “A set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions that presents a systematic view of events or situations by specifying relations among variables in order to explain and predict the events of the situations” (Glanz, Lewis, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 26). • For health education specialists, theories “provide a framework for generating testable hypotheses and integrating empirical evidence and, over time, a road map for the design and implementation of intervention strategies” (Rothman, 2009, p. 150S). Definitions – 2 Model • “A composite, a mixture of ideas or concepts taken from any number of theories and used together” (Hayden, 2009, p. 1) • Do not have to explain, only represent process • Can have several theories within a model Concept • Primary elements of theories or building blocks of theory (Glanz et al., 2008b) Construct • A concept developed, created, or adopted for use with a specific theory (Kerlinger, 1986) Variable • The operational (practical use) form of a construct (Rimer & Glanz, 2005); how a construct will be measured (Glanz et al., 2008b) • Can be measured Examples of the Definitions • Concept – Personal belief • Construct – Perceived barrier • Variable – On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being least important and 10 being most important, how important is wearing a safety belt to you? • Model – Health Belief Model • Theory – Social Cognitive Theory Theories – 1 • Theories serve as the backbone of processes used to plan, implement, and evaluate health promotion interventions. • There is no perfect theory, and no one theory dominates research or practice. • Approximately 10 theories and models are used regularly to plan programs. Theories – 2 Theories can help by: 1. Identifying why people are not behaving in healthy ways 2. Identifying information needed before developing an intervention 3. Providing a framework for selecting constructs to develop the intervention 4. Providing direction and justification for program activities 5. Providing insights into how best to deliver the intervention 6. Identifying what needs to be measured to evaluate the impact of the intervention 7. Helping to guide research identifying the determinants of health behavior Types of Theories & Models Planning models (or theories/models of implementation): theories and models used for planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs Behavior change theories (or change process theory) • “Specify the relationships among casual processes operating both within and across levels of analysis” (McLeroy et al., 1992, p. 3) • Help explain how change takes place Behavior Change Theories – 1 The underlying concept of the socio-ecological approach (sometimes referred to as the ecological perspective) is that behavior has multiple levels of influences. Social context • “Defined as the sociocultural forces that shape people’s day-to-day experiences and that directly and indirectly affect health and behavior” (Burke, Joseph, Pasick, & Barker, 2009, p. 56S). Because of the underlying concepts that are captured in the constructs of individual theories, certain theories are more useful in developing programs aimed at specific levels of influence. An Ecological Perspective: Levels of Prevention Behavior Change Theories – 2 Theories can be categorized by approach: Continuum Theories • Use an approach that identifies variables that influence action and combines them into a prediction equation (e.g., HBM, TPB) Stage Theories • Are composed of an ordered set of categories into which people can be classified and that identify factors that could induce movement from one category to the next (e.g., TTM, PAPM, HAPA) Behavior Change Theories – Intrapersonal Level This group of theories focuses on factors within the individual such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, feelings, past experiences, motivation, skills, and behaviors (Rimer & Glanz, 2005). Examples • • • • • • • • Stimulus Response (SR) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) Health Belief Model (HBM) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion Information-Motivation-Behavioral (IBM) Skills Model Transtheoretical Model (TTM) Precaution Adoption Process Model Stimulus Response (SR) Theory • The mere temporal association between a behavior and an immediately following reward is sufficient to increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated. • If the consequence is reinforcement then there is an increase in behavior. • If the consequence is punishment then there is a decrease in behavior. • Reinforcement should be frequent and occur soon after the desired behavior. • Complex behavior should be shaped in small steps. • Reinforcement and punishment can be either positive or negative. 2 × 2 Table of the Stimulus Response Theory Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) – 1 Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) – 2 • An extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA); it addresses the problem of incomplete volitional control • Adds the concept of perceived behavioral control • Perceived behavioral control – perceptions of a person's ability to perform a given behavior • The more favorable the attitude and subjective norm with respect to a behavior, and the greater the perceived behavioral control, the stronger should be the individual's intentions to perform the behavior under consideration (Ajzen, 1988). • Successful performance of the behavior depends not only on a favorable intention but also on a sufficient level of behavioral control. Health Belief Model (HBM) – 1 History • Developed in 1950s by Hockbaum/Kegeles/Leventhal/Rosenstock to help explain the use of health services • Based on K. Lewin’s decision-making model (goal oriented/directed) Hypothesizes that health-related action depends on the simultaneous occurrence of three classes of factors: 1. The existence of sufficient motivation to make issues salient or relevant 2. The belief one is susceptible (or perceived threat) 3. The belief that the benefits are worth the cost (or perceived barriers) Health Belief Model Health Belief Model (HBM) – 2 People must also feel themselves competent (self-efficacious) to overcome perceived barriers to taking action (Champion & Skinner, 2008, p. 50). Constructs: • Cues to action • Perceived susceptibility • Perceived seriousness/severity • Perceived barriers • Perceived benefits • Likelihood of taking recommended preventive health action Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) – 1 A value-expectancy theory Theory of persuasive communication that includes reward and self-efficacy components • The PMT has some similarities to the HBM. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) – 2 Inputs come from environmental sources of information and from intrapersonal sources. • Based on these inputs, people make a cognitive assessment of whether there is a threat to their health. • Arouses two cognitive mediating processes: threat appraisal and coping appraisal Examples of program interventions that use PMT include breast selfexamination, living wills, sun protection behavior, and weight loss. The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) – 1 • Designed to help explain how persuasion messages (aimed at changing attitudes) were received and processed by people • Has been used to help interpret and predict the impact of health messages • Useful in message tailoring The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) – 2 The ELM does four things: • Proposes that modifying attitudes or other judgments can be formed as a result of a high degree of thought (i.e., central process route) or a low degree of thought (i.e., peripheral and processing route); postulates that there are numerous specific processes of change that operate along the elaboration continuum • When comparing the consequences of the two routes, there are times when the results are similar. However, the two routes usually lead to attitudes with different consequences (Petty et al., 2009, p. 197). • “Organizes the many specific processes by which variables can affect attitudes into a finite set that operate at different points along the elaboration continuum” (Petty & Briñol, 2012, p. 226) The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) – 3 
Purchase answer to see full attachment