Introduction
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) is part of a larger public health campaign to address healthcare imbalances for persons of color in the US. Race and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health improve health outcomes for diverse communities. Due to growing awareness of health disparities, particularly among black and brown populations, the CDC launched the initiative. The REACH program’s goal is to improve public health, and one of its main concerns is minority populations’ under and over-diagnosis of common diseases.
REACH’s logic model shows CDC money, staff time, and volunteer work. Community health assessment, culturally appropriate program design, and implementation are just a few possibilities. Outputs include community health evaluations and novel treatment trials (Coronado, 2020). The initiative also improves access to care, health literacy, and health inequities.
REACH is community-driven and based on where people must participate in the assessment. Therefore, the REACH program evaluation should involve community people. Local leaders that might join REACH include Communities: These organizations are REACH’s main partners and help implement its programs. Health departments: These agencies collaborate with REACH and may contribute to community health outcomes and illness prevalence statistics. Healthcare providers: People seeking medical treatment often contact local doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. Community participants: the success of the REACH program will depend on the amount of engagement shown by the communities it serves.
Overview of the Public Issue
Regarding health, numerous minority groups in the United States bear a disproportionate share of the sickness burden, especially the Black and Latino populations. Both of these difficulties are ones that the REACH program hopes to tackle. Poverty, lack of access to healthcare, racism, and other types of Discrimination all play a role in perpetuating these health disparities (Seelam et al., 2022). The effort aims to close the gap in diagnosing and treating chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.
African-Americans and Latinos in the United States have a higher rate of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension than non-Hispanic Whites. Example: compared to non-Hispanic White individuals, the risk of being diagnosed with diabetes is approximately two times higher among adults of African heritage. There is also a more significant mortality and complication rate among persons of African descent who have diabetes.
To lessen these gaps, the REACH program leverages community-based efforts to expand access to healthcare, encourage healthy behaviors, and tackle the social and economic factors that affect people’s health (Allen et al., 2022). One of the initiative’s main objectives is to increase people’s access to medical care and encourage them to take advantage of preventive treatments, such as screenings for high blood pressure and diabetes.
Accomplish
The REACH program’s efficiency and efficacy in accomplishing its aims may be determined by thoroughly examining the initiative. To name only a few of REACH’s aims: preventing chemical hazards that threaten human and environmental health, increasing the use of non-invasive testing techniques for chemicals, and boosting Europe’s Chemical Industry’s Competitiveness. Therefore, the REACH program might be evaluated to see whether its objectives are being reached and what changes could be made (Akhtar & Ramkumar, 2023). Costs and advantages, as well as effects on corporations, customers, and the natural world, might all be included in the review.
Goals
Several goals may be set to evaluate the REACH program’s efforts to address the public health issue of missed or incorrect diagnosis of common diseases. Objectives in this category include: Finding out how effective the REACH program was in boosting the health of the neighborhood’s residents. Given its importance in judging the program’s overall effectiveness, this should be a top priority throughout the evaluation (Puffer & Ayuku, 2022). Rates of chronic disease diagnosis and treatment, blood pressure, glucose control, and overall health are all possible indicators. However, trying to fathom the program’s pros and cons is one of the goals. The evaluation also aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of REACH in terms of its planning, implementation, and outcomes (Madani, 2019). Evaluate the program’s success in eradicating health inequalities. The REACH program has one of its main focuses on reducing the health inequities that disproportionately impact communities of color. Analyzing the gaps in health outcomes between the target population and the overall population, as well as between various subgroups within the target population, may help the assessment determine the program’s effectiveness in decreasing these disparities. In addition, Chong et al. (2019) determine the program’s long-term effectiveness by evaluating its potential for continued operation. Successful public health promotion initiatives are a must.
Social Theories
The REACH program is an effort to address the problem of health disparities in minority groups by implementing a variety of community-based interventions and reforms to the healthcare system. The REACH program’s conception and implementation may be aided by looking at several social theories and models of health behavior. The following chapters detail such models and theories. According to the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) theory, which the REACH program adopts, socioeconomic issues, including poverty, racism, and inadequate access to healthcare, are significant contributors to the disproportionate health outcomes experienced by people of color.
The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a popular health behavior model that suggests people’s decisions to engage in healthy behaviors are affected by their beliefs about their vulnerability to health risks, the severity of those risks, and the benefits and costs of taking preventative or ameliorative measures. According to this theory, an individual’s likelihood of engaging in a healthy activity depends on their estimation of their vulnerability to the hazard and the perceived severity of that threat.
Health Disparities
The pervasive problem of healthcare inequality will impact the REACH program evaluation. When people from different backgrounds have different health outcomes, we call this a “health disparity,” It is typically tied to broader socioeconomic factors like poverty, racism, and inadequate access to healthcare. When applied to the REACH initiative, health inequities may manifest themselves in various ways, each of which has the potential to affect the evaluation: Expanding access to medical care in underprivileged communities of the United States is a significant focus of the REACH initiative. However, many people in these communities may have trouble getting the medical treatment they need because of barriers such as a lack of insurance, poor public transportation, and language barriers. Due to this, it may be challenging to evaluate the program’s impact on health outcomes since people with the highest need for healthcare services may be excluded from the study.in addition, inequalities in health care are often linked to people’s lack of health literacy.
Factors rooted in societal and cultural Discrimination, social stigma, and distrust of medical professionals are social and cultural factors that may contribute to the emergence of health disparities (Akhtar & Ramkumar, 2023). These factors may affect an individual’s propensity to participate in an examination or disclose private information about their health status or lifestyle choices.
Social Determinants
Social determinants of health include, but are not limited to, an individual’s birth, upbringing, residence, occupation, and retirement settings. Because of the disproportionate impact of socioeconomic determinants of health on black and brown communities, the REACH program evaluation may need to consider these factors more closely than initially planned. Poverty in any community of color, especially communities of color (i.e., black and brown communities), faces more significant levels of poverty than other groups, and poverty is one of the most critical socioeconomic variables determining a person’s health. Because it limits access to healthcare, healthy food, safe housing, and other resources, poverty may impact health outcomes (Islam et al., 2021). Thus, this might make it hard to evaluate the REACH program since low-income individuals may need help accessing healthcare, transportation, or other necessities for participating in the study.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the health outcomes of the target population should be monitored as part of REACH. Such outcomes include improved rates of sickness diagnosis and decreased health disparities. As a result, this might be useful in gauging the program’s overall performance. Demographic data collection is essential for the REACH program to ascertain whether or not it is reaching the target population and whether or not there are inequalities in participation or success that can be attributed to demographic factors such as race, ethnicity, or any other such factor.
References
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