Health concerns have become the focus of public attention over the past few months since the threat of COVID-19 has gained a massive scale. The epidemic and its rapid pace have revealed a host of economic, financial, cultural, technological, and especially healthcare-related problems in modern society. However, of all the disadvantages listed above, the concern regarding the education of the masses has turned out to have the greatest impact and significance.
Due to a combination of the lack of proper health competence and the unwillingness to learn about the basic methods of self-preservation in the face of an epidemic, the global community is currently facing health prognoses that are beyond unfavorable, especially for vulnerable age groups (Mahdavi et al. 2). In order to address the problem of education, one will need to change people’s attitudes toward the issue and the idea of following the prescribed standards for self-care, which will require addressing misinformation in social media and using powerful tools for disseminating critical health-related instructions.
The use of social media as the main method of advancing health education and instructing people about the management of health issues during the pandemics seems to be the most legitimate solution to the problem of the lack of health literacy. Since target audiences will not be able to access physical resources due to the quarantine and the advice to stay at home, the efficacy of digital media tools has to be increased.
Specifically, health educators and providers will have to offer interactive media tools that will provide target audiences with the necessary information and help them to train the skills needed to identify a threat. Specifically, the ability to isolate the symptoms that are particularly characteristic of COVID-19 will have to be trained. Thus, patients will be able to spot a problem at the stage at which it can be addressed most efficiently without having it grow to a larger scale.
In addition, it is crucial to establish reciprocity between nurses and patients in the course of the dialogue. Typically, it is the inability to receive answers to specific questions, as well as the absence of reciprocal communication, in general, that reduces people’s enthusiasm in following the provided guidelines (Holtzman et al. 1031). Therefore, it is the absolute responsibility of nurses and healthcare experts to address communities in a manner as personal as possible. The specified step can be accomplished by creating a program aimed at ass education in local communities. Thus, health experts will be able to address people directly, appealing to the specifics of their culture and taking their backgrounds into account when shaping their communication strategies. As a result, people will receive more accurate and detailed instructions about managing the epidemic.
Finally, the first topic that has to be handled when introducing target audiences to the problem of managing health during the pandemic coronavirus is the issue of health management myths and the detrimental impact that they leave. Namely, the idea that masks do not help and are, in essence, useless needs to be refuted in every message sent to the target audiences. Thus, the significance of shielding oneself and others from the threat of COVID-19 will be increased. Moreover, the importance of quarantine and social distancing has to be emphasized to an extra degree. While the role of distancing seems to have been mentioned in most reports on COVID-19, the actual reasons for the specified step must be unclear to general audiences.
Thus, the mechanism of the virus spread has to be explained to people all over the globe so that they could take the specified management measures seriously. Specifically, the fact that people should not leave their homes without the absolute necessity to do so has to be reinforced as one of the crucial measures (Rothstein and Coughlin 1181.). By attacking the myths in question and providing patients with trustworthy resources about COVID-19 instead, health experts will be able to manage the pandemics.
It is also important to remember that the undertaken measures must not lead to fearmongering and mass panic. While the current careless attitude toward the threat that COVID-19 poses to the well-being of the entire population is highly undesirable, the rise in panicking ad the general fear of the consequences will not cause an improvement, either. Instead, it is important to emphasize the necessity to remain reasonable and objective when assessing the levels of threat.
By changing the attitudes among general audiences toward the threat that the COVID-19 virus represents and educating them about the methods of reducing the contagion rates, one will be able to address one of the major problems associated with the pandemic. Currently, the lack of compliance with the proposed instructions, including the unwillingness to avoid public places, the breach of quarantine, and the failure to keep personal distance when outdoors, cause the greatest number of problems. Therefore, teaching people to accept the importance of the specified rules and promoting the behaviors that will lead to the improvement of the present situation are critical steps.
Works Cited
Holtzman, Adam L., et al. “Improving patient-Reported Pain during Radiotherapy through Nurse Involvement and Patient Education.” American Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 41, no. 10, 2018, pp. 1028-1030.
Mahdavi, Arash, et al. “Radiologic Management of COVID-19: Preliminary Experience of the Iranian Society of Radiology COVID-19 Consultant Group (ISRCC).” Iranian Journal of Radiology. In Press (2020).
Rothstein, Mark A., and Christine N. Coughlin. “Ensuring Compliance With Quarantine by Undocumented Immigrants and Other Vulnerable Groups: Public Health Versus Politics.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 109, no. 9, 2019, pp. 1179-1183.