Community Health Simulation Experience

The healthcare sector is rapidly evolving to meet the increasing demands of populations by utilizing available technology. Through community health assessment,
various population health needs can be identified and action taken for early prevention of diseases. Today, primary prevention is the main idea surrounding the effective management of diseases especially chronic diseases that have now become a burden in society. While focusing on primary prevention, there is a need to use social platforms to reach out to many people as other evidence-based practices are being deployed to manage population health concerns. Sentinel Town is among the
communities that can greatly benefit from community health assessment and the use of planned social media campaign to address numerous health problems in the town.

The focus of this discussion is to identify a community health problem in Sentinel town, its causes, and how a social media campaign together with stakeholder
involvement can help to address the health problem in the town.
Community Health Nursing Diagnosis Statement

During my experience in Sentinel Town, I realized that the community faced
different health challenges with obesity being the most common across all age groups.
Further analysis revealed that children and adolescents were more affected by obesity
leading to the following community diagnosis: Increased risk of obesity among children and adolescents related to decreased physical activity and poor nutrition evidenced by high demographic obesity data in the town.
Health Inequity or Disparity

Healthy people 2020 defines health disparity as a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with the social, economic, or environmental disadvantage in a community (Braveman, 2014). The burden of obesity in Sentinel

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Town is linked with several health inequities including access to proper nutrition, healthcare services, and physical activity. First, the town is poorly supplied with
proper foods that can provide variety for the population served. As I walk around I could notice impassable roads that hinder the transportation of food to the town.
Secondly, the town is squeezed and lack of space hinders the availability of parks and recreational centers for the children and youths to exercise. The poorly developed
roads with minimal sidewalks make it difficult for residents to walk as a form of exercise that can reduce obesity. Demographic data indicate that persons without
health insurance cover account for 18% of the population and about 12% leave below the poverty line (Healthcare Learning Innovations, 2020). These differences are
observed to increase the obesity rate not only among children and adolescents but across the entire population.

Primary community and Prevention Resources

The available resources to provide interventions for the identified health problem
of obesity include the health clinic and Sentinel K-12 Schoolhouse. The health clinic
in the town is available Monday to Friday to provide treatment and other health
services to the population served. The clinic has only one doctor that covers treatment
and provision of services such as screening for obesity and other health problems. The
residents of Sentinel town can benefit from screening activities and health education
practices to manage obesity. Sentinel K-12 Schoolhouse serves as a primary
community resource offering monthly health education classes (Healthcare Learning
Innovations, 2020). The focus is to educate parents on how to ensure their children
take healthy foods and healthy cooking behaviors that can reduce obesity.
Additionally, children and adolescents are always invited to health education
programs to understand food selection and the effects of obesity on their health.

Community Health Simulation Experience, Underlying Causes

The burden of obesity among children and adolescents in Sentinel Town is
attributed to a lack of resources, poor nutrition, and lifestyle choices. There is only
one available health clinic in the town that operates Monday to Friday. It is difficult
for healthcare providers in the clinic to conduct comprehensive health assessments for
the population. Health education services only reach a few people that manage to seek
healthcare services. The condition of the town also contributes a lot to the obesity
problem. The poor roads make it difficult for the transportation of food to the area
meaning the residents have to store food for long. Failure to include fresh vegetables
and fruits in their diet can be a likely cause of obesity. Additionally, Sentinel town is
squeezed with no space for expansion and creation of parks. Lack of recreational
centers and the poor sidewalks available hinders running and other exercises that can
help in managing weight. Reports from the local authorities suggest that the town
lacks sufficient funding to expand and add more resources to benefit the residents.

Community Health Simulation Experience, Evidence-Based Practice

Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents have developed into a global
health issue with several interventions proposed to solve the problem. Programs to
prevent childhood and adolescent obesity have mainly remained school-based and
behavior-oriented prevention alongside community-based practices demonstrate
improvement (Weihrauch-Blüher et al., 2018). The prevention strategies have mainly
focused on addressing parents and caregivers in nurseries and kindergartens including
nutritional education and physical activity. Studies demonstrate that these
interventions have helped in shaping the BMI of children leading to more positive
effects on the weight status of children. For school-aged children and adolescents, it is
highly recommended that behavior-oriented interventions such as physical activity

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and nutritional education be used to address weight issues (Elinder et al., 2018).
Strategies such as increasing hours for physical education, improving the quality of
catering services, and the involvement of parents in nutritional care have greatly
helped in weight management.

Community Health Simulation Experience, Identification of Data
As I walk around Sentinel town, I could see that majority of the people especially
women are overweight. According to Dr. Evans from the town health clinic, almost
half of the adults seeking healthcare services in the facility are overweight or obese. It
is also observed that there is an increasing rate of heart and cardiovascular diseases
secondary to overweight and obesity. From the hospital charts, I could see that the
crude death rate for heart disease was 24 and it was the leading cause of death in the
area (Healthcare learning Innovations, 2020). These statistics correspond to the state
and national obesity rates in the US. For instance, children and adolescent obesity rate
in California is 23.3% while adult obesity is 25.8%. There is no significant difference
in the obesity rates among men and women in the state in which 26.0% and 25.6%
represent the ratios respectively (CDC, 2019a). Nationally, 39.6% of adults and
18.5% of children aged 2 to 19 years have obesity. These statistics indicate the need
for interventions to prevent future complications.

Social media Campaign Objective

The objective of my social medial campaign is to reach more than half of the
population in Sentinel Town to provide health education on the importance of
physical activity and nutritional interventions in managing obesity within six months.

Social Marketing Interventions

The burden of obesity among children and adolescents can best be approached by
educating parents and guardians on how to manage the health of their children. The

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first marketing intervention will involve the use of the town hall every weekend to
engage the parents on how to reduce obesity among their children. This strategy will
be very effective especially for weight management for the children who have little
knowledge about their health. The reason for this strategy is because many parents
lack basic skills in regulating dietary intake for their children. They rely entirely on
school health programs that could be difficult to achieve considering the population
served at school. The second strategy will target adolescents and it will involve the
use of a created Facebook page to educate them on exercise and nutritional intake.
Because the majority of the people have access to the internet, the new page will be
used to provide recipes and guidelines for daily food intake. Additionally, the page
will be used to notify the residents when fresh fruits and vegetables are available at
the local store. These strategies will help reach more than half of the population in
Sentinel Town allowing for improved management of obesity.
Description of Social Media Platform

Various applications for the dissemination of health education including
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are approved by the CDC to address public health
concerns. Sentinel Town demonstrates advanced technology use where the majority
of the people have easy access to social media applications. According to the data I
collected, most people in the town use mobile phones with many others using tablets
and personal computers. The availability of these devices will make the use of
Facebook and Instagram the most appropriate platforms to implement the
interventions. A Facebook page on Sentinel Town obesity management will be
created where I will share content on physical exercises and nutritional plans for
healthy eating. This page will mostly target school-aged children because they are
computer literate. Secondly, I will air content on Instagram regarding exercise and

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healthy cooking to educate youths and parents on nutritional aspects of weight
management. The page will include the use of short videos on exercise and cooking to
make it more attractive to the target audience.

Benefits of Social Media Platform

In recent years, social media has become one of the most important platforms for
marketing, content sharing, and social networking (Alghizzawi, 2019). Facebook and
Instagram are among the topmost utilized social media platforms in the world
especially among adolescents and young adults. This makes it easy to reach many
people within a short period while spreading the message across all age groups. Both
Instagram and Facebook are advantageous because content can be shared in a single
click and there is no limit to the number of people that can see the content at a certain
period. Secondly, the creation of pages ensures that users get the right message
without distractions or without extra content that could divert their attention. Both
platforms allow for interactive communication and sharing of experiences and this
could greatly increase positive outcomes from the intervention (Alghizzawi, 2019).
Another benefit is that content can be shared using different formats ranging from
written texts, pictures, recorded videos, and live sessions. Including this variety will
ensure individuals are not bored increasing the amount of time spent to learn.

Benefits to Target Population

The target population for this intervention is the children and adolescents in
Sentinel Town. The main objective of this exercise is to increase awareness of obesity
to this population to ensure they can manage their health for the prevention of future
complications. The use of social media will benefit this population by ensuring they
are aware of the disease burden in their community and give them hope that with the
proper management the disease can be managed. Secondly, the platform will equip

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the target population with skills to perform exercise, especially at home now that
recreational facilities are unavailable in the town. Another benefit is that the
intervention will improve their basic knowledge of the disease and help prevent future
complications like heart disease and cancer that result from obesity. The social media
intervention is both a short and long term strategy to improve the health of the target
population.

Community Health Simulation Experience, Best Practices for Social Media

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide guidelines and
principles for using social media platforms during strategy marketing. These
principles address the creation of content, understanding of the content by the user,
engaging the users, and the language of communication. According to the
CDC(2019b), created social media content should be relevant, useful, and interesting.
Capturing the attention of many people will require creativity, analysis of the
audience, and selection of features that could attract the target population. The content
should also be interesting and relevant to the topic of discussion. Secondly, social
media content should be easy to understand and share (CDC, 2019b). The wording
should be correct, the message kept short and fewer characters used to enable
communication of the point at a glance. Another principle is that social media content
should be friendly, conversational, and engaging. The reader should be able to
identify the do’s and dont’s to avoid misinterpretation of the interventions. Lastly, it is
recommended that all social media tools should direct the reader to further action.
Interesting content should have links for further learning or contact information for
clarification.

Community Health Simulation Experience 2
Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities

The key stakeholders to ensure the success of my social campaign include the
Sentinel Town health clinic and the local IT department and Sentinel Town School.
The health clinic through the assistance of Dr. Evans and one nurse will ensure the
creation of different sets of exercises that could benefit the health of the target
population. These individuals will analyze the type of message to be communicated to
the public and its relevance to their health. The group will also have direct access to
Facebook and Instagram accounts so that they can update the people on their health
progress. The local IT department will help in the creation and sharing of content to
the public by enhancing the features of the pages and customizing the platforms for
easy navigation. Their knowledge and expertise will greatly help in attracting more
people to the platforms. Lastly, the school teacher will help during the creation of the
learning videos to ensure proper teaching methods and techniques are used. The
teacher will also aid in the creation of content addressed to children because they are
part of the target audience.

Potential Public and Private Partnerships

The potential private partnership will be with the Sentinel town Cafe and Sentinel
Connect company while the public partnership will involve the town health clinic.
Sentinel Connect is a private company that deals with internet service provision
within the town and its vicinity. Most of the residents use the Sentinel Connect Wi-fi
at home for internet access. The company can greatly help during the social media
campaign by allowing free access to the created pages especially on the weekends to
enable every individual to view the content. The town cafe offers free Wi-fi and this
spot could be useful to host some of the online events for those around to view. The
cafe could perhaps air organized live events on weekends. Lastly, the public

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partnership will involve seeking support from the town health clinic on content
creation and evaluation of the plan progress. Additionally, healthcare providers can
actively engage in providing live events using Instagram and Facebook to educate
families and individuals about their health.
Timeline

The social media campaign will be implemented and executed over six months.
This period will be enough to allow engagement of all stakeholders, organization of
activities, and provision of content through the identified platforms. The first month
will involve the mobilization of key stakeholders, seeking their support, and
organizing financial support for the program. Upon acceptance for cooperation from
the health clinic, local IT department, and private partnership, the second month will
involve the creation of the Facebook and Instagram pages. Additionally,
customization of the pages together with increasing awareness of these approaches
will be done. By the end of the second month, all the pages will be clear for the airing
of content. Spreading information will be through local advertisements and using the
health clinic and town schools. Airing of videos, sharing of websites, and posting of
other material will be done for three months. Every Saturday will involve airing of
live events that will include exercise and nutritional guidance for the parents and
guardians.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the campaign effectiveness will be done after six months to allow
for enough time for engagement and learning. Because the primary purpose of the
campaign is to increase awareness of obesity among children and adolescents, the
primary evaluation method will focus on active engagement on social platforms. Over
the six months, both Facebook and Instagram should have many followers viewing

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the content and providing feedback. The local IT department will create a platform to
measure the number of viewers over time and analyze the replies from the
participants. Secondly, the local food store should report increased sales for fresh
fruits and vegetables alongside other nutritious foodstuffs. The two social platforms
will update citizens every week on the availability of fresh food supplies in town and
drastic changes are expected over the six months. Facebook polls will be used as a
tool to measure the effectiveness of the social media campaign. The polls will indicate
whether the strategy has improved health-seeking behavior among the target
population.

Cost of Implementing the Campaign

Minimal costs will be incurred during the implementation of the campaign
because of the anticipated public-private partnership. Perhaps, the Town Cafe might
purchase bigger screens to air the live events during the weekends and this will cost
approximately $600 for one bigger screen. The Facebook and Instagram pages will be
created for free and with the support of the local IT department, no additional costs
will be required. The healthcare workers from the health clinic will be engaged on a
volunteer basis and the availability of free Wi-fi posting of the content will be free.

Reflection on Social Media marketing

Social media empowers nurses to promote community wellness by educating
consumers about available resources (Jackson et al., 2014). The community health
nurse can use social media to refer populations to healthcare institutions where they
can find the most appropriate assistance. Secondly, nurses maximize social media by
encouraging consumers to promote organizational services and treatments. Lastly, the
community health nurse can organize private, members-only Facebook groups where
populations with similar health problems meet to share. For example, the nurse can

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organize a group for individuals with obesity or heart disease where they can join to
discuss their health and access material that can improve their health outcomes.

Reflection on Future Nursing Practice

The major health issues today include the burden of chronic diseases like
diabetes, obesity, cancer, and heart disease, all of which can be managed using
lifestyle modification. Increasing awareness and providing primary solutions to these
problems can improve the health of populations without even seeking medical
attention. I intend to use social media campaigns in the future to address the issue of
obesity which is a major precursor to heart diseases and some types of cancer. The
American Health Association has embraced this idea whereby it provides social
media outlets to keep the public up to date on issues of physical activity, healthcare-
seeking, and other preventive measures (American Public Health Association, n.d.).
My focus will be on maintaining a healthy BMI by creating an educative channel for
reference and for posting content to encourage the participants.

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References

Alghizzawi, M. (2019). A survey of the role of social media platforms in viral
marketing: The influence of eWOM. International Journal of Information
Technology, 3(2), 54-60.
https://journals.sfu.ca/ijitls/index.php/ijitls/article/view/91
American Public Health Association. (n.d.). Social media.
https://www.apha.org/news-and-media/social-media
Braveman P. (2014). What are health disparities and health equity? We need to be
clear. Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 129 Suppl 2(Suppl 2),
5–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S203
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019a). Overweight and obesity:
prevalence of obesity in the United States.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019b). Social media at CDC: CDC’s
guidelines to writing for social media.
https://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/tools/guidelines/guideforwriting.html
Elinder, L. S., Patterson, E., Nyberg, G., & Norman, Å. (2018). A Healthy School
Start Plus for prevention of childhood overweight and obesity in disadvantaged
areas through parental support in the school setting: Study protocol for a parallel
group cluster randomised trial. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 459.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5354-4
Healthcare Learning Innovations (Sentinel City) [Computer Software]. (2020).
Aurora, Co. Retrieved from http://wgu.ucertify.com/

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Jackson, J., Fraser, R., & Ash, P. (2014). Social media and nurses: Insights for
promoting health for individual and professional use. The Online Journal of
Issues in Nursing, 19(3). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26824150/
Weihrauch-Blüher, S., Kromeyer-Hauschild, K., Graf, C., Widhalm, K., Korsten-
Reck, U., Jödicke, B., Markert, J., Müller, M. J., Moss, A., Wabitsch, M., &
Wiegand, S. (2018). Current Guidelines for Obesity Prevention in Childhood and
Adolescence. Obesity Facts, 11(3), 263–276. https://doi.org/10.1159/000486512

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