Conceptual Approaches to the Study of Health Disparities, Essay Example

Introduction

Community and faith based nursing has been gaining popularity in recent years throughout the professional nursing setting. Community and faith based nursing has been defined as:

“A specialty practice that combines professional nursing and health ministry. Parish nursing emphasizes health and healing within a faith community. The philosophy of parish nursing embraces four major concepts: spiritual formation; professionalism; shalom as health and wholeness; and community, incorporating culture and diversity” (Kegler, Hall, & Kiser, 2010). 

Community and faith nursing practitioners focus on holistic care for patients, do not take in account demographic factors that could render a client disadvantaged, seek to provide health care to those who are members of economically disadvantaged, and try to ensure that illnesses are minimized by taking care of each person’s body, mind, and spirit (Rowland & Chappel-Aiken, 2012). The overall goal is to reduce the health disparities that exist within certain communities and populations. The advancements in technology have made the efforts of faith based nursing communities much easier. These advances are allowing millions of people to live longer, healthier, productive lives. Recent advances of technology in the healthcare field have given people the opportunity to live longer, healthier, more productive lives. Community and faith based nursing is exceptional because it focuses on several aspects and factors of the individual person. Although this practice has grown in popularity, there is limited research that focuses on the subject.

Components of Community & Faith Nursing

There are five assumptions about community faith nursing that have been identified by Barnes & Curtis (2010):

1. To experience health and illness is human
2. The integration of spiritual, psychological, social, and physical factors all promote harmony with self, others, and spirituality.
3. Health can be present even in the present of disease.
4. Health and illness are not synonymous of each other.
5. Healing is a process that integrates the whole person and is now dependent upon cure of illness.

Role of PN

The Parish Nurse has many roles, but the primary emphasis is on preventing disease through the promotion of health and spirituality. Parish Nurses encourages individuals to become actively involved in his/her own health (Van Dover & Pfeiffer, 2010). They seek to convey that health is not just the absence of illness or disease. They integrate faith and health through educational programs and health screenings. They also provide health counseling services in the client’s home, care facility, or church. PN’s help client’s understand and navigate through the healthcare systems by finding resources, making referrals, and assisting with paper work. Each PN will evaluate the needs of the members within that congregation they serve in order to more appropriately address the individual needs. PN’s do not replace primary care physicians and are intended to be a supplement to services. Diez Roux adds,

“While they are registered nurses, trained in spiritual matters, parish nurses do not give hands-on care. Nurses will customize their ministries, combining a degree of spiritual guidance with medical expertise. They may focus on serving as health counselors, educators or health advocates, providing resources as needed and leading support groups and volunteers. Parish nurses create safe and sacred places for healing and advocate with compassion, mercy and dignity” (2012).

Legal & Ethical

Nurses who have been professionally trained have been taught to operate under specific policies and procedures. They understand how to document and protect the privacy of all the clients they served. These policies and procedures are mandated by state and federal laws. According to, “the nurse has a duty to maintain confidentiality of all patient information. The patient’s well-being could be jeopardized and the fundamental trust between patient and nurse destroyed by unnecessary access to data or by the inappropriate disclosure of identifiable patient information” (Barnes & Curtis, 2010   ) Client information is to remain under lock and key at all times. All information must be tracked and detailed data must be presented to the Parish Council. Weekly, monthly, and yearly reports must be produced. Maintaining this type of information can prove helpful if the Parish decides to seek grants or other funding to operate its program.

Budget

Most Parish nurses do not have a budget or the budget is very small. Often times, a salary is not included in that budget. About 78 percent of Parish Nurses operate on a volunteer basis. Of that 78 percent of Parish Nurses, another 52 percent are retired from their full time jobs. Nevertheless, in larger parishes, the budget for the nurse can be very extensive. Some parishes pay for an office space for the nurse to work from, all materials needed, and a sizable salary. One study found that when the PN is budgeted into the congregational expenses, it establishes the PN as a recognizable necessity. When the PN has a monthly budget, she is able to purchase necessary equipment and supplies as needed to better serve the congregational members (Barnes & Curtis, 2010).

Benefits

Faith based organizations and healthcare organizations forming a collaborative union can provide various benefits for communities. First, the health of the citizens will improve because the number of people suffering from chronic conditions will be addressed, prevented, and treated. Next, the community will have a healthier workforce, which improves the overall economy. Finally, the community’s safety net will be strengthened because an array of stakeholders will actively participate and plan. Rowland & Chappel-Aiken said:

“Faith-based organizations are a tremendous example of the social determinant’s approach at work. Where people worship and pray is often a place where people also have strongest social networks, and often receive information that can be of value to the health of their families and their neighborhoods…. So we have viewed that partnership as a very valuable one (2012).

When the community works together it will become stronger. By aligning with faith based organizations, healthcare professions have an opportunity to reach citizens they otherwise may have never been able to. For example, “As many as 57% to 78% of congregations are involved in health activities. By increasing collaboration between health professionals and faith-based groups, it may be possible to introduce evaluation strategies into programs and to disseminate the results to a wider audience” (Diez Roux, 2012). Healthy People 2020 can be easily implemented through a faith based program. The purpose of Healthy People 2020 is to provide people with guidelines or a lesson plan for living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. By implementing these goals and objective in conjunction with spiritual health, faith based organizations ensure the whole person is addressed.

References

Barnes, P. A., & Curtis, A. B. (2010). A national examination of partnerships among local health departments and faith communities in the United States. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 15, 253–263.

Diez Roux, A. V. (2012). Conceptual approaches to the study of health disparities. Annual Review of Public Health, 33, 41–58.

Kegler, M. C., Hall, S. M., & Kiser, M. (2010). Facilitators, challenges, and collaborative activities in faith and health partnerships to address health disparities. Health Education & Behavior, 37, 665–679

Rowland, M. L., & Chappel-Aiken, L. (2012). Faith-based partnerships promoting health. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 133, 23–33.

Van Dover, L., & Pfeiffer, J. B. (2010). Spiritual care in Christian parish nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 57(2), 213-221.