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Community Nursing: Final Exam Essay

Adam Rusnak

Department of Nursing: Youngstown State University

NURS 4844: 41988

Randi Heasly, Danielle Class

December 13, 2023

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List the key demographic characteristics of women and men throughout the adult lifespan.

List and describe the unique factors that affect the health of adult women and those that

affect the health of adult men. With consideration to health promotion, what are the three

learning domains, the three stages of change, and the three major change strategies to

consider when planning an adult education program?

Throughout the human adult lifespan, both men and women go through a variety of

certain demographic characteristics. As one might expect, men and women each have their own

kinds of key demographic characteristics that they go through as they age. For men, some of

these characteristics include: honesty/morality, financial success, leadership, strength/toughness,

hard work, physical attractiveness, empathy, loyalty, kindness, intelligence, being family-

oriented and politeness/respectfulness. For women, demographic characteristics consist of

physical attractiveness, empathy/kindness, intelligence, honesty/morality, leadership, hard work,

financial success, loyalty, independence and strength. The differences in demographic

characteristics between men and women also play into the factors that affect the health of both

men and women. Some factors that affect health in adult men include: chronic diseases such as

coronary heart disease, cancer, cerebral vascular disease, emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver,

kidney disease and atherosclerosis. Some factors that explain why men are more likely to

develop these diseases are the fact that men are more likely to be smokers, more likely to drink

alcohol, and are more likely to partake in risky activities. Furthermore, some factors that can

affect the health in adult women include: chronic disorders, such as anemia, thyroid and

gallbladder conditions, migraine headaches, arthritis, colitis, and eczema. Even though health

disadvantages are present among men and women, each gender has their own types of health
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advantages. For men, these advantages include: lower levels of role stress, role conflict, and

lower societal demands. Whereas women’s advantages stem from their ability to bear children

and the physiological systems that permit pregnancy and child bearing. Knowing that men and

women have advantages and disadvantages related to their health, it is important to educate each

gender related to their health concerns. Some educational points among each gender include

learning domain, stages of change and major change strategies. For learning domains, it is

important to educate about the three kinds of learning. The first one is cognitive learning, which

involves understanding and applying information learned. The next form of learning is affective

learning, which involves our emotions and how we feel towards learning. Finally, the last stage

is psychomotor learning, this involves using motor skills to teach a subject. The stages of change

involve unfreezing, changing and refreezing. Unfreezing is when you disregard ideas and habits

that you have developed from the past. Changing is when you begin to accept the new ideas that

are being implemented. Finally, refreezing is when the new behaviors become reinforced and

become a part of your daily life. Finally, the last form of educational points involves major

change strategies. These include the prepare approach phase, the manage change phase and the

sustain outcomes phase. The prepare approach phase involves developing a detailed change

profile and defining what success looks like to you. The manage change phase involves

developing specific plans to move impacted individuals and the organization through their

transitions. Finally, the last stage is sustain outcomes which involves the patient achieving the

project's benefits and focuses on sustaining the outcomes.

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Discuss the global and national health status and concerns of older adults, homeless, and

disabled persons. Include misconceptions and characteristics of healthy older adults and

discuss chronic conditions commonly found in the older adult population. Discuss examples

of levels of prevention in the older adult population.

Among the various types of groups throughout the world, older adults, the homeless and

people with disabilities have the highest levels of health concerns. For older adults, health

concerns consist of dementia/cognitive decline, heart disease, arthritis, pain, various kinds of

cancer, type 2 diabetes and respiratory distress. Despite these health concerns for the older adult

population, there are a number of misconceptions related to this age group. These

misconceptions include older people not liking to go out and socialize, not needing or wanting

close relationships, contributing little to society, staying set in their ways, mental and physical

decline being inevitable as you age, not being interested in sexual activity, not being able to

make good decisions on important issues, and losing a desire to keep on living. Another major

misconception among the older adult population is that all of them have a chronic condition or

illness. A lot of older adults are healthy and thriving. Characteristics of a healthy older adult

consist of being able to independently complete all activities of daily living, not having any

mental illness issues or memory problems, not having to deal with chronic pain, having good

relationships with friends and families to prevent loneliness and depression and having a proper

perception of happiness and physical health. To keep older adults healthy and thriving, it is vital

to prevent them from developing any life threatening diseases. There are three levels of

prevention to stop older adults from developing these conditions and keep them healthy. The

three levels consist of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention is when
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you intervene and make changes in a person's life before a disease occurs. Examples of primary

prevention include: making changes to a diet, getting vaccinated, altering risky behaviors and

increasing physical activity. Secondary prevention involves screening a patient to identify

diseases in the earliest stage possible before signs and symptoms of a disease occur. Examples of

secondary prevention include taking blood pressure, mammography and pap smears. Finally,

tertiary prevention is when you aim to reduce the severity of a disease as well as any

consequences that occurred. Examples of tertiary prevention consist of controlling blood sugar in

patients with diabetes, providing support and rehabilitation for patients who have went through a

major surgery, taking blood thinners such as aspirin for patients who have had a stroke to prevent

another one from occurring and preventing complications such as bed sores for patients with

disabilities who are immobile. For the homeless, health concerns consist of mental illnesses such

as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases

such as AIDs and HIV, chronic illnesses, degenerative disorders, hepatitis and malnutrition. This

is due to being constantly exposed to the elements/other people, sharing needles and not being

able to seek proper medical screenings and treatments. Finally, some health concerns that we

have for people with disabilities include: depression, asthma, diabetes, risk for suicide, obesity,

poor oral health and hygiene and feelings of loneliness due to being socially excluded.
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Discuss the risk factors and special complications of childbearing families. What are some

important considerations in developing a health promotion program for this population?

Describe the effects of poverty, as a significant social determinant of health, on the health of

the school-age child. What major health problems exist for the school-age child? Briefly

describe how health status influences academic achievement.

There are numerous risk factors and complications that can affect the lives of

childbearing families. Some of these risks and complications include birthing a stillborn baby,

labor that does not progress, miscarriages/loss of pregnancy (baby dies before the 20th week of

pregnancy), preterm births (baby is born before the 37th week of pregnancy), low birth weight

and ectopic pregnancies (the embryo implants outside of the uterus, usually in the fallopian

tubes). We can prevent these complications from occurring and reduce the risk factors by

developing a health promotion program. Health promotion programs aim to engage and

empower individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviors and make changes that

reduce the risk of developing a chronic disease and other health morbidities. Health promotion

programs, related to the complications of childbearing families, can include scheduling

preventive health care visits, undergoing developmental screenings every month, fostering

healthy relationships with your doctor and other care providers, protecting yourself and your

baby from health risks, learning healthy habits and eating a healthy diet. Another risk factor that

can lead to complications involving pregnancy is poverty. Poverty affects everybody of all races,

ethnicities, genders and ages and can play a major factor in a family's life. Poverty can prevent a

family from seeking proper medical care, can lead to unmet social needs, puts families at risk of

living in a dangerous environment, can lead to crime and violence, limits educational and

employment opportunities, decreases availability of healthy food options and lowers an

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individual's life expectancy. Poverty affects all levels of the family structure from the parents to

the kids. For the children especially, poverty can affect them in two major ways: it increases their

chance of developing an illness and it can inhibit their educational learning. Children who

experience poverty are at greater risk of developing illnesses such as heart disease, high blood

pressure, strokes, obesity, high blood sugar, certain forms of cancers, poor diets and a shorter life

expectancy on average. They are at higher risks of developing these diseases because they have

limited access to healthcare, cannot afford insurance, cannot afford medications or necessary

medical procedures, tend to live in areas of high crime and violence which increases their

chances of getting hurt and they tend to live in areas with inadequate healthcare infrastructure.

Poverty can also affect the educational process and the way a child learns. Being from a low

income family can affect a child's academic experience by not having the proper supplies

(calculators, books, technological devices etc) that a child would need to thrive, parents tend to

work long hours so nobody is at home to help the child with their school assignments, schools in

impoverished areas tend to lack the proper supplies (qualified educators, educational resources,

preparing kids for life after school, unsafe infrastructure and more) that kids need in order to

achieve their maximum potential and from external factors such as illnesses, lack of food, poor

diet etc. All of these factors are how poverty can affect a child's academic experience.
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References

“Healthy Aging: Study Identifies Attributes Linked to Longevity.” Medical News Today,

MediLexicon International, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/study-identifies-

attributes-linked-to-healthy-optimal-aging\. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

Parker, Kim. “2. Americans See Different Expectations for Men and Women.” Pew

Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 5

Dec. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/12/05/americans-see-

different-expectations-for-men-and-women/.

“Poverty.” Poverty - Healthy People 2030, health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-

determinants-health/literature-summaries/poverty. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

“Promoting Health for Older Adults.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 8 Sept. 2022,

www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/promoting-health-

for-older-adults.htm#:~:text=Aging%20increases%20the%20risk%20of,death%2C

%20and%20health%20care%20costs.

Vlassoff, Carol. “Gender Differences in Determinants and Consequences of Health and

Illness.” Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, U.S. National Library of

Medicine, Mar. 2007,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013263/#:~:text=Generally%2C

%20men%20are%20more%20vulnerable,%2C%20kidney%20disease%2C%20and

%20atherosclerosis.
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“What Are Some Common Complications of Pregnancy?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services,

www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/pregnancy/conditioninfo/complications#:~:text=P

regnancy%20loss%2Fmiscarriage%20(before%2020,Low%20birth%20weight.

Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

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