Introduction
Chlamydia in Women
Chlamydia trachomatis, which is typically referred to as chlamydia, is a sexually transmitted disease that causes serious complications by permeating the reproductive system and damaging it, therefore, causing infertility. Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted diseases among the American population, as recent findings show (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Moreover, research proves that the issue has gained substantive gravity among female patients (see Fig. 1 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014)).
In the event of contracting the disease, a woman develops rather mild symptoms and at a comparatively slow pace, which makes identifying chlamydia rather difficult; as a result, patients often visit the doctor when the problem has evolved into a significant one. The typical chlamydia symptoms include a change in the vaginal discharge (the latter acquires a distinct color ranging from milky white to yellowish), pain during sexual intercourse, bleeding, nausea, etc. The complications following the disease include, though are not restricted to, “pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), tubal factor infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and chronic pelvic pain” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015a). Therefore, determining the methods of precluding the disease from development and raising spurring awareness rise among the target denizens of the population is essential at present.
Health Promotion
As a recent study (Lorch et al., 2013) has shown, when being asked about protection against STD, in general, and chlamydia, in particular, people give rather homogenous responses that do not embrace the entirety of measures needed to be taken. Therefore, studies point graphically to the lack of awareness about the subject matter. Therefore, to address the issue of reproductive sequela among the American women, one will have to elaborate on the tools for precluding the disease development along with the ones for treating it.
Particularly, healthcare facilities’ members will have to reinforce the significance of chlamydia screening (US Department of Health and Human Services, n. d.). Specifically, the latter should be carried out at least once a year among the target audience, i.e., sexually active female patients aged 25–40. It is expected that the enhancement of the role of testing in women’s lives should be carried out comparatively easily as the procedure itself does not imply the use of sophisticated equipment (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016) and, therefore, can be carried out comparatively
Disease Prevention
Since chlamydia triggers crucial health complications in women, there is a strong need to safeguard the target patients’ health by introducing efficient disease prevention strategies. First and most obvious, the necessity to incorporate the tools that allow for spreading awareness regarding the subject matter needs to be brought up. In this respect, the use of advanced technology including the information technology-related tools should be referred to.
The gravity of taking tests regularly needs to be conveyed to the target audience. In addition, the upstream intervention aimed at altering the behavioral patterns of the specified members of the American population and, therefore, reducing the threat considerably, should be viewed as an option (Chlamydia among young women: A resource for population-specific prevention, 2015).
In women, how can the chlamydia detection and screening be improved so that the health threat could be identified and addressed at the earliest stages of its development?
How can behavioral patterns among the target audience be improved to reduce the risk of contracting chlamydia?
Literature Review
Current Issues
The lack of awareness regarding the significance of consistent testing among the target denizens of the American population is unsettling; however, studies show that there is an alternative to the traditional screening procedure (Sharma et al., 2015). Developed with the help of the latest information technology innovations, the online screening test should be promoted as the tool for screening among the women who cannot undergo the traditional procedure for specific reasons. According to the outcomes of a recent study, the specified tool will help not only increase awareness but also introduce screening as a habitual action, therefore, precluding the issues related to delayed disease management (Sharma et al., 2015). Furthermore, an online screening will set the baseline for age stages that every woman aged 20–40 should address when considering the schedule for her chlamydia testing.
According to the hypothesis represented in the article, the factors that affect the development of chlamydia in women are not restricted to low awareness rates, yet the item in question plays a vital role in reducing the current rate of chlamydia contraction. As Sharma et al. (2015) conceive, “low socio-economic conditions, early marriage, use of contraceptives, multiple child birth, unhygienic conditions and lack of awareness about routine health check up programs” (Sharma et al., 2015, p. 368). Sharma’s statement shows that there is the necessity to introduce the tools that will help raise awareness among the target denizens of the American population.
The adoption of the test in question is likely to make the process of introducing young American women to the necessity for regular screening less complicated as it will promote a gradual yet radical change in the patients’ behavior. The specified effect is expected to be achieved through enhancing the gravity of refusals from taking the tests through social media. Once perceived through the prism of online PSAs and motivators in networks, the subject matter is likely to gain significant weight among the patients, which has also been proven by other studies regarding the subject matter (Looker et al., 2015). Needless to say, the online test suggested by Sharma et al. (2012) has its problems, the lack of accuracy and the follow-up consultations being the key ones. While the test can be viewed as a litmus paper for identifying the problem at the earliest stage of its development and, therefore, nipping it in the bud, the fact that the final test part is sent separately on request makes the process of diagnosing the issue somewhat difficult. However, studies warn that over-screening for the subject matter may also serve as a prerequisite to health complications such as the diminished production of the antigens, haptens, and epitopes required for enhancing immunity on a humoral level.
Promoting Awareness
Another study that sheds light on the importance of promoting awareness among women that are subjected to the contraction of the disease, the study by Jackson, McNair, and Coleman (2015) contemplates the dangers of over-screening that may occur due to poor understanding of the concept of preventing chlamydia. Indeed, while consistent screening of the target patients is a crucial step to providing the further protection against the malady in question. In their study, Jackson et al. (2015) state that the women who are under the risk of sexually transmitted diseases contraction and over 25 years are likely to have developed chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) and gonorrhea (Jackson et al., 2015)). Moreover, the study seeks to prove that the over-screening issue should be a concern that needs to be addressed to prevent health complications in women that have contracted chlamydia. Particularly, Jackson et al. (2015) attempted at proving that over-screening is a tangible threat to women of the designated age in the event of a failure to detect a positive CT/NG test (Jackson et al., 2015). According to the outcomes of the study, younger women were exposed to the threat of contracting the disease to a larger degree than those who were older (1.7% and 0.3% respectively (Jackson et al., 2015)). Therefore, the research points to the fact that there is an urgent need to provide the target audience with an opportunity to become aware of the subject matter, the tools for its detection, and the means of managing the problem. In addition, the outcomes of the research stated clearly that there is a tangible link between a woman’s reproductive ability and the development of sexually transmitted diseases, in general, and chlamydia, in particular. The article specifies that the complicacies are especially drastic for the women that have reached an advanced maternal age (Jackson et al., 2015).
The findings of the articles, thus, are in concordance with each other; the current article and the previous one state directly that the issue of chlamydia has escalated recently to the point at which it cannot be ignored. Furthermore, the studies demonstrate that there is a great need for further development of tools for increasing awareness among the target denizens of the population that will help take the cultural and ethnic makeup thereof into account.
Synthesis of Literature and Proposal
Research Question
How can media and modern information technology tools be used to enhance awareness of chlamydia among women aged 20–40 and convince them to undergo regular screenings to prevent the instances thereof?
Clinical Relevance
Seeing that chlamydia retains its position among the most topical issues in healthcare, tackling the subject of its management and addressing the needs of the people in the hazard-pone area is essential. Herein the clinical significance of the study lies; it will shed more light on the issues such as the reasons for patients to lack the required knowledge, the risk factors that they are exposed to, etc. Moreover, the research will permit determining the tools that will help bring the ignorance rates down to a considerable degree. Seeing that there currently is a tangible gap in the knowledge regarding the use of information technology as the means of managing the issue of chlamydia contraction, it is desirable that the identified problem should be explored in depth. The discovery of the methods that may reduce the number of instances of chlamydia development in women aged 20–40 will supposedly serve as the prerequisite for a larger and more detailed study that will provide the necessary information technology tools.
Research Design (Possible)
The choice of the research design hinges on whether a qualitative or a quantitative aspect should be addressed when considering the issue of concern. In the specified case, there seems to be an apparent need to quantify the results of the study so that the effects of the information technology tools introduction could be located and that the expected outcomes could be measured correspondingly. However, there is also the necessity to address the descriptive aspects of the study, i.e., single out the characteristics of the tools that will serve as the devices for boosting the process of women acquainting with the topic. Therefore, certain elements of qualitative research should be introduced as well.
Based on the characteristics of the present study described above, it is suggested that a mixed approach should be used as the tool for identifying, retrieving, and analyzing the data. The quantitative research implying a test of the hypothesis veracity will presuppose that a statistical tool, particularly, the use of the Pearson correlation test, should be viewed as an option. The data required for quantitative analysis will be acquired with the help of a questionnaire distributed among the research participants (30 women aged 20–40 who are exposed to the threat of chlamydia contraction). The questionnaire will contain ten questions and will address the sources that the participants receive information concerning sexually transmitted diseases, in general, and chlamydia, in particular, from; the symptoms of chlamydia that they are aware of; the measures that they think have to be taken in the event of discovering chlamydia, etc. The choice of the Pearson correlation test can be explained by the fact that the Pearson correlation test permits the evaluation of the manner in which two variables are related to each other as seen in the study conducted by Alfarraj et al. (2015). Particularly, the test under analysis will help identify the correlation between the introduction of information technology tools for increasing awareness among the participants of the study and the instances of chlamydia prevention and successful recovery.
In regard to the qualitative part of the study, a general research aimed at evaluating the current strategies concerning chlamydia prevention, their efficacy, and the incorporation of advanced tests based on the information technology innovations should be conducted. Thus, the question about the behavioral patterns and their change can be explored in depth and answered accurately.
Originality
As an overview of the studies on the topic of concern has shown, there are few to none studies on the issue regarding awareness of women of the target age as far as the development of chlamydia and the further complications that it triggers are concerned. The observation above indicates an urgent need for introducing the study that will fill in the current knowledge gaps and suggests the tools that will help deliver the information about chlamydia to women in their 20s–40s. Based on the lack of data concerning the use of information technology devices as the means of promoting knowledge about chlamydia, it can be deduced that the research is going to be original.
It could be argued that certain conclusions can be made based on the existing data mentioned above. However, the pieces of information gathered lack system and, thus, need to be organized in an elaborate manner that will allow for their careful analysis and the further identification of the routes that can be taken with the current healthcare strategies as far as the issue of chlamydia is concerned. Consequently, the originality of the study will lie in the promotion of social networks and the current information technology tools as the means of helping the target audience learn the foundation for preventing, identifying, and addressing chlamydia. It is assumed that the outcomes of the study will prompt the development of the program aimed at reducing the current ignorance rates as far as chlamydia contraction and treatment options are concerned.
Reference List
Alfarraj, D. A., Somily, A. M., Alssum, R. M., Abotalib, Z. M., El-Sayed, A. M., & Al-Mandeel, H. H. (2015). The prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection among Saudi women attending the infertility clinic in Central Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Jourbal, 36(1), 61–66. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Chlamydia statistics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Chronic disease prevention and health promotion. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015a). Chlamydia – CDC fact sheet (detailed).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). STD & HIV screening recommendations. Web.
Chlamydia among young women: A resource for population-specific prevention. (2015).
Jackson, J. A., McNair, T. S., & Coleman, J. S. (2015). Over-screening for chlamydia and gonorrhea among urban women age ≥25 years. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 137(3): 385-391. Web.
Looker, K. J., Wallace, L. A., & Turner, K. M. E. (2015). Impact and cost-effectiveness of chlamydia testing in Scotland: a mathematical modelling study. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, 12(1), 2-19. Web.
Lorch, R., Hocking, J., Temple-Smith, M., Law, M., Yeung, A., Wood, A.,…, & Guy, R. (2013). The chlamydia knowledge, awareness and testing practices of Australian general practitioners and practice nurses: survey findings from the Australian Chlamydia Control Effectiveness Pilot (ACCEPt). BMC Family Practice, 14(1), 169-187. Web.
Sharma, V., Sonkar, S. C., Hussain, S., Singhal, P., Kumar, A., Sharma, S.,… & Khan, M. A. (2015). Impact of oral contraceptives and smoking on the susceptibility of reproductive tract infections (RTIS) in immunosuppressed women: A hospital based study. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 4(12): 363-374.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Read the law. Web.