Janyll Perez

Community Health Paper

College of New Rochelle
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
Fall 2015

Running Head: Community Health Paper

Community health nursing is a very important aspect of nursing
as a whole. It is a way to reach out to the community and spread a
wealth of knowledge that pertains to an issue that directly effects a
certain group or population. In order to run a community based
teaching program one of the first things that have to be done is a
populations needs to be identified (kulbok, 2012). Then we must look
and see what are the issues that surround that population and what
puts these individuals at risk. A perfect example of a community based
outreach program is Project Rewind. It is one of many community
outreach programs created for adolescents and young adults. This
program is designed to spread awareness on the results of alcohol
consumption as well as ways they are able to save lives in alcohol
related emergencies. There are no specific communities that were
chosen for this particular project because in reality this issue is
something that effects adolescents and young adults in all
communities. The directors or nurse moderators will recruit locations
that they would be able to run the program, but mostly these are run
in schools or community centers.
The community program described above can be seen as
primary prevention. This is because the nurse identifies stressful life
events that precipitate crises and targeting the relevant populations at
high risk and it intervenes with these individuals to prevent or
minimize harmful consequences (Townsend, 2015). As the registered
nurse running the group you have a tremendous responsibility to the
population you are teaching. They need to be well equipped with the
competencies and knowledge that will promote and protect the health
of communities (Kublok, 2012). In order for the nurse to begin the
project it is important that she assess the knowledge that the
population knows on the subject and in order to know whether
information was retained she would need to evaluate it days after
having presented the project. Karen Cantrell which is the presenter
gave a pre-test before the presentation and we re expected to receive
a post-test in a couple of weeks to evaluate the retention of
knowledge. This evaluation is done in order to understand whether or
not this is an effective method of teaching. Overall it is the nurses
responsibility to ensure that her knowledge on the subject not only
gets through to the population but that it also stays with them.
It is important to keep in mind that when teaching about
Community health and its benefits we must first consider that the
community is viewed as a client and that we must treat all aspects of
the client not just the physical needs. So in this particular population
adolescents need to be given the facts and the information to guide
them to make better choices but we must also consider the
psychosocial and developmental issues that are going on within this
population. We must take into consideration the developmental tasks
that need to be achieved in this stage in the adolescents life

Running Head: Community Health Paper

(Townsend, 2015, pg.802). This is why the nurse when conducting the
community group tailors the presentation to the real life crises that the
adolescents may be experiencing at the time. They make sure to
incorporate peer pressure and societal norms within their age groups
that are deemed as negative. They make use of PowerPoint
presentations with graphic videos that show the consequences of real
life situations that other people their age experience. These are
effective ways to not only grasp their attention but also a way to show
them that they are not invincible and these things are very real and
they could happen to them.
To conclude it is my opinion that the location of where these
programs are run is a great choice. As an adolescent your peers and
friends become a vital part of your life and they are also the ones that
you make decisions with. So, by having this program in the school it
allows for entire groups of friends to learn about the issues and maybe
if it doesnt get through to all of them it may have at least reached out
to one of them. It only takes one person to make change or save a life
and this one person can definitely do that. As far as developmental
appropriateness, I found that this program is definitely customized for
this age group. One of the main things that I found were effective was
the real life stories and videos of people who have seen them in a
situation related to alcohol. At this age students feel that nothing can
harm them and they can do as they please with no consequences.
Well, the videos and stories show them that this is not the case and
that their actions may have very serious consequences. This program
besides being a great one is also very cost effective so it is easily
obtainable to all schools and community centers. The board members
are mostly responsible for the fundraising and with their help it could
be probable that this type of project could be incorporated into the
high school curriculum. The family isnt really involved in this type
intervention but it is important that the family is aware that this is
taking place and that they consider reinforcing the teaching in the
home. Families should also incorporate the fact that it is ok to come to
them for help in these situations and although the teenager may feel
they may get in trouble, it is better to get in trouble than to lose a life
over something that was very preventable.

Running Head: Community Health Paper

Bibliography
Kulbok, P.A., Thatcher, E., Park, E., Meszaros, P.S. (May 31, 2012)
"Evolving Public Health Nursing Roles: Focus on Community
Participatory Health Promotion and Prevention" OJIN: The Online
Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 17, No. 2, Manuscript 1.
Townsend, M., & Angelo, L. (2011). Personality Disorders. In Psychiatric
mental health
nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice
(Eighth ed., pp. 800-830). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: F. A. Davis
Company.