How to write a short nursing on Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Prevention (Solved)

How to write a short nursing on Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Prevention (Solved)

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) impose a great burden on the health of the people and economic status globally. When left untreated, STIs cause complications that may include adverse pregnancy outcomes in women like abortion, genital malignancies, and infertility (Low & Broutet, 2017). To a large extent, inadequacies in health care service delivery including lack of effective preventive measures are responsible for the high levels of STIs in the country. The prevention of STIs is crucial to address the complications associated with the diseases and lower healthcare costs.

Background

In the United States, statistics indicate that the rate of STIs reached an all-time high in 2018 across all populations (Henderson et al., 2020). Common STIs in the county include chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and human papillomavirus (HPV). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 1.8 million cases of chlamydia, 616, 392 cases of gonorrhea, and 129, 813 cases of syphilis in 2019. The economic burden of STIs is enormous with the country spending about $16 billion annually to manage the infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2021). To effectively manage these infections, past strategies have focused on STD testing, abstinence, and the use of condoms. However, these strategies have failed to address the increasing rate of STIs prompting the use of innovative approaches. The focus of this synthesis is to identify the most effective strategies that can be used to reduce the alarming rate of STIs across all populations.

Literature Synthesis

Approximately 20 million STI cases occur each year in the US with the majority occurring among persons aged 15 to 24 years. To effectively prevent STIs, behavioral interventions are among the best approaches proposed. Developed by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), these interventions reduce the likelihood of acquiring STIs among adolescents and adults at increased risk. For example, personal counseling, the use of videos, websites, and written material offer great behavioral counseling for adolescents (Henderson et al., 2020). Behavioral interventions focus on commitment to safe sex practices, training in condom use, and communication about sex that can be used to decrease STIs. Apart from the general use of behavioral interventions, there is supportive evidence on its effectiveness on those that display high-risk sexual behaviors (Low & Broutet, 2017). An example is those that are not consistent in condom use, being diagnosed with an STI in the past year, and having multiple sexual partners. Group counseling, especially those that involve more than 120 minutes is observed to have a huge effect on STI prevention.

Policies are an important part of public health interventions for STI prevention. These policies aid in the creation of programs that reach people in the community to ensure relevant information about STIs is conveyed (Ott & Santelli, 2019). Among the widely used policies involve regular screening for STIs especially in government institutions. For example, there is supportive evidence of screening for syphilis in pregnancy for more than 90% of healthcare institutions in the country (Leichliter et al., 2016). Other state jurisdictions have focused on policies that improve the partnership between the private and public sectors. Similarly, state and local policies across the country have promoted safe sex in commercial venues. At the institutional level, the use of policies serves to address crucial aspects like contact tracing and vaccination programs for HPV to reduce the rate of STIs (Ott & Santelli, 2019). Other policies observed to address the rate of STIs involve criminalizing laws to punish those that spread infections intentionally. Overall, policies serve to increase access to essential resources to help the public in preventing and managing STIs.

Conclusion

Sexually transmitted infections constitute a huge burden to the health of the people and the economy. In the past years, there has been an alarming increase in the rate of STIs especially chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HPV. To effectively manage these infections, evidence suggests the use of behavioral interventions like the use of condoms and communication among partners. While implementing the use of this approach, engaging the public health sector through policy formulation can serve to increase access to resources for STI prevention.

Thesis Statement

The purpose of this project is to identify preventive strategies that can help to reduce the rate of STIs in the community.

Project Outcomes

Outcome #1: Decreased number of STIs in the community measured by local health data.

Outcome #2: Increased knowledge on STIs prevention among individuals measured by a survey in the community.

 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Sexually transmitted disease surveillance 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2019/default.htm

Henderson, J. T., Senger, C. A., Henninger, M., Bean, S. I., Redmond, N., & O’Connor, E. A. (2020). Behavioral counseling interventions to prevent sexually transmitted infections: updated evidence report and systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA324(7), 682-699. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2769473

Leichliter, J. S., Seiler, N., & Wohlfeiler, D. (2016). Sexually transmitted disease prevention policies in the united states: Evidence and opportunities. Sexually Transmitted Diseases43(2 Suppl 1), S113–S121. https://doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000289

Low, N., & Broutet, N. J. (2017). Sexually transmitted infections—Research priorities for new challenges. PLoS Medicine14(12), e1002481. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002481

Ott, M. A., & Santelli, J. (2019). Sexually transmitted infections, public health, and ethics. The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics, 378. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190245191.013.36

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