Community health nursing is a nursing discipline encompassing disease prevention, health promotion, rehabilitative, and cure-oriented services to community members based on their needs. Teaching plans are part of this nursing field where nurse educators impart their skills and knowledge to community members to inform behavior change and improved health (Nies & McEwen, 2019). The community teaching plan was an exercise carried out in week three and helped address a healthcare concern affecting a particular. A comprehensive reflection on the learning exercise encompassing the summary of the teaching program, the epidemiological rationale of the chosen disease, teaching experience analysis, community response, and the facilitators or barriers encountered will shed light on the importance of community health nursing.
Summary of Teaching Plan
The community teaching plan occurred at Arizona Memorial in Phoenix, Arizona, and involved adults aged 18 years and above residing around the hospital. The location was central and easy to access for all the stakeholders involved. The topic I selected for this program was ‘primary prevention or health promotion .’The primary objective of this community teaching plan was to enlighten this population on type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM), its risk factors, etiology, health burden, symptomatology, available screening services, treatment options, and healthy practices to alleviate disease risk. This health information will sensitize this population to the illness and reinforce healthy living.
The learning objectives, according to Bloom’s taxonomy guiding this community teaching plan included:
- The population audience will describe T2DM (cognitive domain)
- Learners will explain T2DM risk factors and causes (cognitive domain)
- The learners will incorporate the risk factors and causes’ insights into T2DM prevention (psychomotor domain)
- The audience will display a changed attitude toward T2DM prevention (affective domain) (Doyle et al., 2018).
The teaching session took place for around 45 minutes after extensive planning and coordination with the nurses working in the healthcare institution. The required resources facilitating the seamless implementation of the learning session included a projector, laptop, brochures on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), PowerPoint presentation on T2DM, pens and notebooks for the audience, handouts on the session’s itinerary and health promotion importance, refreshments, whiteboard, whiteboard markers, and erasers. The educational session accounted for around 300 dollars to execute. I planned the community teaching plan with the relevant stakeholders to ensure the targeted audience gained tremendously from the session.
DM is an increasingly rampant chronic metabolic disorder characterized by high serum glucose levels (hyperglycemia). DM manifests in two primary forms, including type one and T2DM, which is more prevalent. The latter often occurs secondary to impaired insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells or insulin resistance by associated body organs impeding optimal metabolism (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). T2DM is responsible for around 90% of all DM cases reported in the United States and globally (Goyal & Jialal, 2022). In this metabolic state, reduced bodily response to insulin makes it ineffective, prompting the body to increase insulin generation to restore glucose homeostatic activity. However, the pancreatic beta cells become overwhelmed over time, minimizing insulin production and instigating T2DM (Goyal & Jialal, 2022). T2DM is highly prevalent among individuals over 45 years. However, with the rising rates of physical inactivity, obesity, and energy-dense foods, children and youths may be victims of this metabolic illness. Therefore, T2DM is a significant healthcare concern with a rising prevalence secondary to changing lifestyle trends and requires utmost health promotion attention to empower at-risk populations to mitigate its incidence.
The behavioral learning theory was a practical guide to this community teaching program. The model uses environmental stimuli to influence information acquisition and retention (Mukhalalati & Taylor, 2019). The rationale for choosing this learning framework was the need to impart relevant psychomotor skills relevant for self-management and lifestyle modification associated with T2DM prevention. For instance, an educator can use roleplaying and simulation to teach the learners how to measure their blood glucose levels at home. Thus, selecting the behavioral learning theory was effective in delivering the desired content to the audience and enhancing their health outcomes.
Epidemiological Rationale for Topic
The world health organization (WHO) postulates that DM is a long-term metabolic condition characterized by elevated blood sugar levels instigating gradual damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, blood vessels, and the cardiac system (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). Surprisingly, of all reported DM incidents in the United States, T2DM accounts for over 90% of morbidity cases. Epidemiological statistics by the international diabetes federation (IDF) in 2019 depicted that DM orchestrated around 4.2 million deaths. Moreover, 463 million people between 20 and 79 years are living with DM, with a high likelihood of this figure rising to 700 million in 2045 (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). However, the population experiencing tremendous health burdens related to this metabolic disease are people between 40 and 59 years. Thus, T2DM is a highly prevalent metabolic condition affecting various populations and requiring comprehensive clinical attention.
Statistical data depicts high DM treatment costs, associated mortalities, and comorbidity occurrence. DM management was also responsible for high healthcare expenditures, accounting for approximately 720 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). Furthermore, 1 in 3 people have T2DM, but this appears to be a misrepresentation as about 232 million battle this chronic condition. 80% of individuals diagnosed with T2DM originate from low-income populations increasing the disparities associated with effective treatment (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). T2DM patients have a 15% high probability of all-cause mortality with cardiovascular disease (CVD), instigating considerable morbidity and mortality for this client group. Therefore, reviewing T2DM statistics reinforces the need for evidence-based interventions to mitigate the health burden associated with this chronic ailment.
Evaluation of Teaching Experience
The community teaching plan was a successful experience altogether. I collaborated adequately with the nurses at the Arizona memorial hospital, and the outcomes were fascinating. I prepared a comprehensive PowerPoint on T2DM covering symptomatology, risks, treatment options, and prevention. I also emphasized the need for primary prevention to alleviate the ailment from ever occurring in this population (Nies & McEwen, 2019). I started the lesson with a real-life scenario or a captivating story about patients battling DM and the challenges they face to catch my students’ full attention. Moreover, I utilized relevant verbal and nonverbal skills to deliver the prepared content to the learners. From my assessment, my strengths were my voice project, ability to maintain eye contact, and overall interaction with the audience. I also incorporated gestures, facial expressions, or body language to help the learners be comfortable in the setting and streamline content delivery. Combining verbal and non-verbal skills ensured seamless comprehension of the designated knowledge on the students’ side (Doyle et al., 2018). Another strength was my creativity in engaging the audience in the session through brainstorming, question and answers, and roleplaying. I ended my presentation by asking questions or offering recommendations for T2DM prevention.
The specific outcomes to evaluate the community teaching plan’s effectiveness included:
- The educator will examine the audience’s ability to describe T2DM by asking them specific questions to test their understanding with proper paraphrasing of the concept.
- The community educator will assess the group’s ability to list T2DM’s risk factors by posing questions to everyone present and facilitating a brainstorming session to reflect on the class.
- The educator will evaluate the learners’ expertise in identifying preventive measures related to the risk factors by asking questions to the audience using real-life scenarios and experiences.
- The project instructor will assess the audience’s attitude toward T2DM prevention by asking questions through a rating survey regarding the effectiveness of the learning activity.
However, various barriers occurred during teaching. These limitations included language barriers and uncooperative learners. I addressed these concerns by using a translator and establishing special rules at the beginning of the class, warning against disruption and lack of cooperation to ensure compliance (Doyle et al., 2018). Overall, the community teaching initiative was successful for the educators and the learners.
Community Response to Teaching
The community’s response to the teaching activity was very successful. The students were responsive to the learning content and expressed willingness to embrace lifestyle modifications to prevent T2DM in their population. The audience was attentive and asked questions when necessary despite the few distractions that occurred. Moreover, the students loved the technology used during the presentation, and they were conscientious when I displayed some mobile applications useful in tracking blood sugars, weight, and physical activity rates. The observed outcomes in the students included increased verbalization of T2DM and its health impacts, risk factors, associated preventative measures, and a changed attitude toward lifestyle practices. The community teaching plan achieved all the desired objectives and could prevent T2DM incidence in at-risk populations.
Areas of Strengths and Areas of Improvement
The community teaching initiative held at Arizona memorial hospital involving adults over 18 at risk of developing T2DM had various strengths and limitations impeding its optimal strengths. Some strengths included skilled instructors with adequate expertise and comprehension of T2DM and its holistic effects on health, technological assistance allowing optimal retention, a cooperative class, and the use of evidence-based teaching strategies such as brainstorming, question-answer, and roleplaying fostering active listening. These strengths helped quality content delivery, knowledge comprehension, and retention, facilitating potential behavior change to mitigate T2DM incidence. On the other hand, some areas of improvement included language barriers, inadequate classroom space, and uncooperative students. In the future, more translators and cultural competence training will be necessary (Doyle et al., 2018). A large teaching room will also facilitate seamless content delivery. Before commencing the session, the instructor should also set ground rules to prevent disruptions such as noise or phone calls. Reinforcing the strengths and addressing the barriers will help future classes be more effective.
Summary and Conclusion
Overall, the community teaching plan on the primary prevention or health promotion of T2DM was successful and highly insightful. The audience obtained considerable information on the pathophysiology, risk factors, treatment, and prevention approaches. They also displayed an attitude change supporting behavior change for improved health. However, some challenges encountered were language barriers and intermittent lack of student cooperation. Therefore, identifying limitations and boosting strengths experienced while emphasizing evidence-based practice in health education are the appropriate interventions to instigate population wellness through learning.
References
Doyle, E. I., Ward, S. E., & Early, J. (2018). The process of community health education and promotion (3rd ed.). Waveland Press.
Galicia-Garcia, U., Benito-Vicente, A., Jebari, S., Larrea-Sebal, A., Siddiqi, H., Uribe, K. B., Ostolaza, H., & Martín, C. (2020). Pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(17), 6275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21176275
Goyal, R., & Jialal, I. (2022). Diabetes mellitus type 2. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://europepmc.org/article/nbk/nbk513253
Mukhalalati, B. A., & Taylor, A. (2019). Adult learning theories in context: A quick guide for healthcare professional educators. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 6, 2382120519840332. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120519840332
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (7th ed.). Saunders/Elsevier.
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