Assignment Instructions:
Advocating to Educate on Community Resources to Support Social Determinants of Health
What are significant social needs in your community and how can you help? Through your professional role as a nurse, as well as personal interactions as a community member, you likely have insight into issues that impact certain populations. Chances are you also see from your daily interaction with patients how lack of information or information that is not easily accessible or understandable prevents patients from making changes or getting resources and support that would improve their lives.
Using your knowledge of the social determinants of health and the needs of particular groups, you can be a significant advocate for a healthier community. Think of yourself as a bridge that connects those who need resources with those who can provide them. Every organization can use another voice to spread the word about what they do and offer. Vulnerable populations will benefit from an advocate who is aware of potential barriers, such as language or literacy levels, in recommending community resources.
For this Competency Assessment, you will identify a particular population in your community. You will research this population to understand their specific characteristics and needs and match them to organizations and services in your community. In addition, you will identify missing services to be developed and make the case for strengthening existing services. You will organize your research using a PowerPoint presentation. (Note: You are not required to add audio narration.) Think of your presentation as a place to start in determining how best to reach and inform your focus population and in filling your role as a social change agent with the information you gather.
To prepare:
- Access the PowerPoint template document for your presentation. Reflect on how to create a presentation that could reach and inform stakeholders in your healthcare facility and your community.
- Research to identify specific needs in your community based on the social determinants of health (SDoH): economic stability, education quality and access, healthcare access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, social and community context.
- Identify a population (e.g., children, families, the elderly, those with a particular health condition, residents of a particular neighborhood) with specific SDoH needs that you will advocate for as a social change agent in your community. Research to identify key characteristics of this population that are important in identifying resources for them, such as age, language, cultural considerations, technology access, literacy levels, and so on.
- Research resources in your community (e.g., organizations and services) you would recommend to the target population to address their specific SDoH needs and improve health and well-being. Aim for resources that will address each SDoH as it impacts your focus population or the SDoH(s) of greatest need. Identify all important information that the population will need to access and benefit from each resource to include the following: location, hours, languages spoken/multilingual materials available, special services, free services/materials, online links. Make a point to learn as much as you can about the resource(s) you highlight, including to determine ways that services could be improved to better meet your population's needs.
- Based on your research, identify services that are missing in the community and needed by your population.
- Consider strategies for reaching the focus population that align with characteristics of the population (e.g., technology access and forms, such as text, email, or print/poster options).
- Based on your advocacy plan, formulate goals for improving health outcomes for this population.
- Note: The PowerPoint template includes formatting notes and tips. Be sure to delete this information from your slides. Your presentation should feature only your original content and wording.
To complete the Competency Assessment:
Using the PowerPoint template document provided, create a PowerPoint presentation of 10-12 slides, plus title and reference slides, to include the following:
Part 1: Planning for Social Change Advocacy
- Summarize your concerns as a professional nurse about health quality and equity in your community.
- Explain your goals as a professional nurse to be a social change agent in your community. Be specific.
Part 2: Advocating for a Population Based on Social Determinants of Health
- Identify the population in your community for which you will advocate. Describe key characteristics of this population (e.g., age, language, culture). Be specific with examples.
- Identify the population's needs based on the social determinants of health (SDoH). Include examples to explain these needs.
- Identify three (3) resources (i.e., organizations and services) in your community that you would recommend to this population to address their specific needs, as well as improve health and well-being as defined by the SDoH. Explain your rationale for selecting each resource.
- Describe essential information the population would need to access and benefit from each resource (e.g., location, hours, languages spoken/multi-lingual materials available, special services, free services/materials, online links).
- Identify at least one example of a missing resource that is needed by the population and why.
- Explain recommendations for improving existing services to better meet particular needs.
Part 3: Reaching the Population
- Describe strategies for reaching the population with the community resource information you identified and that align with the characteristics and preferences of this population. Be specific with examples.
- Based on your advocacy plan, identify goals for improving health outcomes for this population.