Health disparities affecting sexual minorities within the healthcare system require institutional solutions rather than patient-centered intervention. In that case, the Capstone project aims to develop work-based changes attained through an educational program that will improve the quality and access to care by the LGBTQ group addressing the health disparity challenges identified. As we achieve institutional changes, the sexual minority population must learn of the resources, policies, and personnel put in place to reduce and eliminate the identified health disparities targeting them. In that case, the Health Action Program intervention aims to improve the healthcare structural capability and address population-based needs among the sexual minority population to attain measurable outcomes.
The Health Action Program (HAP) prioritized the sexual minorities’ needs in making the requisite structural changes within the healthcare system to address the population’s health disparities. The HAP intervention is informed by Garzon-Orjuela et al.’s (2020) study, which revealed that implementing health solutions, programs, or policies aimed to improve a population’s quality of health should prioritize their needs intended to be resolved short-, medium-, or long-term basis. A patient identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or other sexual minority should be actively involved to ensure that all their healthcare needs are included in the intervention. Factors that underlie health disparities are multifaceted and encompass psychological, individual, community, and interpersonal issues (Garzon-Orjuela et al., 2020). In the case of the sexual minority group, most prejudiced attitudes and behaviors encountered within the healthcare context are informed by majority societal sexual beliefs and practices. As a result, the HAP intervention includes the community as part of a program designed to improve care quality and access by sexual minority groups. The HAP intervention identifies the healthcare system, the sexual minority group, and the community as crucial population facets to be included in addressing the health disparities affecting LGBTQ patients.
Intervention Analysis
The LGBTQ population experiences systematic health disparities influenced by misleading beliefs and attitudes about their sexual orientation. In recent years, we have seen various governmental and non-governmental organizations advocating for change in mainstream cultural belief concerning the minority population’s sexual orientation as a structural and systematic approach to addressing discrimination targeting individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual. In my field practice, I interacted with a patient who identified as gay and learned how the group still encounters direct and indirect discrimination from healthcare providers. Also, the patient pointed out how various healthcare facilities have put care processes and procedures in place to make them invincible. To avoid trauma, the patient hides his sexual identity making it challenging for the caregiver to deliver patient- or population-specific care.
Sexual minorities are core to the Capstone project because the group is part of the underrepresented population in healthcare. Unlike other minorities and underserved populations, LGBTQ patients face multifaceted discrimination within and outside the healthcare system. For instance, a sexual minority patient is cared for by a nurse conflicted between their duties to offer inclusive and non-discriminatory care with their religious beliefs that quantify LGBTQ as immoral or sinful. As much as such a nurse may try to be neutral in their interaction with the patient, their attitude can betray them committing acts of health disparities in the process. In that case, I choose the LGBTQ population because patients who identify with the group are likely to delay or avoid seeking medical care due to stigmas from the various health disparities experienced within the healthcare context. The project prioritizes educating healthcare workers concerning the various needs and healthcare challenges encountered by sexual minorities within the healthcare context. Attaining the proposed structural changes, subjecting nurses and other healthcare workers can learn of the established health disparities and use the information to change discriminatory attitudes and practices crucial for creating a friendly and inclusive environment for the LGBTQ population. Also, the HAP intervention aims to address these health disparities by educating the sexual minorities population on the significance of healthcare utilization crucial for improving their visibility among caregivers.
When one belongs to a minority group, the fear of being misdiagnosed, discriminated against, or misunderstood is common. Sometimes, the healthcare provider is not at fault because the patient withholds vital information for their treatment. An LGBTQ patient is likely to hide their sexual identity from a caregiver to overcome discrimination and, in the process, negatively affect their clinical diagnosis and treatment. The HAP intervention aims to eliminate misunderstandings and other health disparities affecting the sexual minority. The problem is relevant to nursing in eliminating various health disparities that inform sexual minorities’ decisions to delay or avoid seeking treatment when they become ill. Also, the problem is relevant to the LGBTQ population in informing their decisions in seeking quality care by outlining an inclusive healthcare system poised to address their various healthcare needs, irrespective of one’s sexual orientation.
Role of Leadership and Change Management
Leadership plays a central role in the implementation of the HAP intervention. According to (Figueroa et al., 2019), Healthcare systems evolve to adapt to epidemiological, demographic, and societal shifts. The population’s change in sexual orientation is one of the shifts within the healthcare system that requires leadership intervention to be integrated into affiliate facilities. Leadership is responsible for the approval of HAP intervention before implementation. Without the leadership approval, the intervention will remain theoretical, making it impossible to address the identified health disparities affecting sexual minorities. The leadership is responsible for approving the resources and personnel needed to implement the HAP intervention into practice.
Regarding change, leadership provides strategic support to guide multiple actors within the healthcare system to improve standards or solve a problem. Effective leadership is required to facilitate change and attain results by mobilizing and utilizing healthy employees and other resources (Figueroa et al., 2019). In that case, the leadership strategies and standards will guide each activity and change listed in the HAP intervention. The nursing ethics will ensure that all the health actors participating in the program do not engage in unethical practices like acting in a manner that promotes the identified health disparities. Also, nursing ethics ensure that the rights of all people participating in the project are respected. The aim is to integrate care practices, policies, and professional standards that improve sexual minorities’ access to quality care.
Communication Strategies
Effective communication is a two-way process between a nurse and the patient. However, for desired clinical outcomes, patient-centered communication guarantees desired outcomes. For nursing practices and procedures, patient-centered communication is central to ensuring optimal health outcomes by enhancing collaboration between the caregiver and the patient (Kwame & Petrucka, 2021). In this case, conducting patient-centered communication where the sexual minorities’ needs are prioritized over other caregivers’ interests fosters the relationship between health practitioners and the target population. Besides, integrating therapeutic communication skills and practices improves the relationship between nurses and patients. Kwame and Petrucka (2021) research established that patients feel happy and satisfied when nurses communicate efficiently with warmth, empathy, and respect. However, disrespectful communication, where patients are allowed to ask questions, results in distancing themselves from the healthcare system. Therefore, therapeutic communication skills are crucial to enforcing the collaboration needed to make the HAP intervention program a success.
State Board Nursing Practice Standard
The HAP intervention adhered to the existing state nursing practice standards to ensure participants’ rights were respected. The intervention primarily relied on educational tools of enlightenment and proved instrumental in developing and implementing this project. In that case, the state nursing standard enhances collaboration between healthcare institutions, nursing schools, and the community to enhance patient safety and quality of care informed by the intervention (Huynh & Haddad, 2022). Research shows how clinical learning experiences are integral in improving the overall health outcomes of a patient or population, especially in the sexual minorities group.
Health Action Program (HAP) Intervention
The Health Action Program (HAP) aims to eliminate health disparities affecting sexual minority groups. Garzon-Orjuela et al. (2020) stressed that implementing health policies, interventions, and practices prioritizing the target populations’ needs improves health outcomes. The HAP intervention prioritizes the sexual minorities’ healthcare needs, including discriminatory beliefs and practices, structural and communication barriers, existing decisions to forego or delay treatment, and other issues affecting the population. By improving equity and equality within the clinical setting, the intervention enhances patients’ safety and improves the quality of care sort by the sexual minority group. Also, creating an inclusive care environment avails cost-effective channels like population-specific health insurance coverage for sexual minority patients. The project relies on healthcare data to measure the efficiency of the project to eliminate health disparities affecting the population. After three months, the number of sexual minorities treated in the healthcare facility will indicate the success of the HAP intervention.
Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources
HAP intervention relies on technology, care coordination, and community resources to address health disparities and problems affecting the sexual minority groups’ access to quality care. Patients who identify as LGBTQ are described as invisible to the care necessitating the need to design and improve a population-based healthcare system to address the identified needs (Roe & Galvin, 2021). Technology plays a central role in improving the visibility of sexual minorities within the healthcare context. For instance, mobile health apps eliminate the existing physical barriers of fear that makes the population delay or avoid health care when they get ill. Care coordination creates an inclusive and caring-friendly environment for sexual minorities to seek medical help. Community resources enhance sex-inclusive beliefs and attitudes to integrate and accept the sexual minority group into the mainstream culture, reducing discrimination based on sexual orientation.
References
Figueroa, C, A., Harrison, R., Chauhan, A., & Meyer, L. (2019). Priorities and challenges for health leadership and workforce management globally: A rapid review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(239), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4080-7
Garzon-Orjuela, N., Samaca-Samaca, D, F., Angulo, S, C, L., Abdala, C, V, M., Reveiz, L., & Eslava-Schmalbach, J. (2020). An overview of reviews on health inequalities. International Journal for Equity in Health, 19(192), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01299-w
Huynh, A, P., & Haddad, L, M. (2022). Nursing Practice Act. StatPearls Publishing.
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P, M. (2021). A literature-based study of patient-centered care and communication in nurse-patient interactions: Barriers, facilitators, and the way forward. BMC Nursing, 20(1), 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00684-2
Roe, L., & Galvin, M. (2021). Providing inclusive, person-centered care for LGBT+ older adults: A discussion on health and social care design and delivery. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(1), 104-108, https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13178
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