Introduction
Being a health literate is one of the essential characteristics any individual should have. Nevertheless, people, and especially minors living in low-income urban areas are not aware enough of the need to be self-sufficient in terms of their health (Marks, 2012). Thus, community nurses must take an important role of an educator who could raise the understanding of individuals of their health needs and the essential practices to take and promote their self-learning. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the aspects of the health literacy program at the Yvonne Learning Center.
Importance
The information on health literacy is indeed essential for this group since children need to be self-sufficient regarding their health and should be knowledgeable of how to comply with the recommendations to support their wellbeing (Raingruber, 2013). Moreover, they need to be able to make better health-related choices. In particular, as children grow older, they must advance in their skills and follow the basic recommendations related to their health. Nevertheless, the information furnished to varied age groups should be different.
Initial Step
Before designing the program, it is important to review the existing informational and methodological base. It would be useful to analyze the social and cultural settings to adapt the educational program according to the peculiarities of the age groups. Moreover, it is necessary to find out what type of environment is typical for the majority of children and what their actual health literacy needs are. In particular, it would be advisable to check whether, at present, children have the essential basic skills according to their age requirements (Marks, 2012). After the initial evaluation of the setting, it is necessary to determine the main characteristics of each group (for instance, ethnicity, behavioral patterns, particular background, and so on) to modify the plan to tailor the needs of children in the most functional way. Importantly, the main health literacy messages should be determined in advance since it will determine the efficiency of the program.
Nurse’s Function
At the beginning of the assessment, the role of the nurse is to create a shame-free environment so that children of different ages feel comfortable discussing any of their health-related problems or questions. Moreover, the nurse should evaluate how well they can navigate the information already available to them (Raingruber, 2013). Also, it is the liability of the health care specialist to exclude the barriers to the program realization by explaining explicitly the fundamental practices and skills the children should have, which will evidence for them that having a thoughtful and positive attitude towards health will result in a happier life.
At the end of the program, the nurse should encourage kids to assess whether their awareness of health has improved and in what way. Besides, the nurse should evaluate if their understanding of the basic practices and requirements has improved. After that, it is necessary to provide further guidelines on health literacy and to stimulate self-learning (Raingruber, 2013).
Resources
As the main audience of the program is children, it is crucial to use a variety of additional supporting materials according to their age and levels of awareness. It will be helpful to utilize various audio and video materials to support their comprehension and to make use of visuals to aid their understanding of the advanced information (Townsend, 2013). All kinds of handouts including questionnaires would allow the nurse to gather feedback from children and to understand how they proceed.
Conclusion
The success of the health literacy program depends on the way the nurse would approach different-aged children. Also, it is important to support their understanding of the information with plenty of additional resources so that they can comprehend the core principles of health literacy and the importance of a positive attitude towards health. It is essential to raise their awareness not only to boost their health-related skills but also to ensure their actual concerns are addressed effectively, and they are knowledgeable of the resources and information available to them to maintain a high standard of life.
References
Marks, R. (2012). Health literacy and school-based health education. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Raingruber, B. (2013). Contemporary health promotion in nursing practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Townsend, M. C. (2013). Essentials of psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.