Community Nurses' Role in Addressing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Community Health Promotion Presentation
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Health Promotion Plan
The increasing prevalence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the U.S. and the modern world over the past years prompted the implementation of this health promotion plan. Many mothers lose their children every day, not knowing the cause of the death. This promoting health plan advocates for education programs to help women understand the causes, risk factors, and prevention strategies deeply. In assessment 1, it was discovered that the target population played a significant role in infant deaths due to unhealthy lifestyles like smoking that expose infants to harmful chemicals, potentially increasing the chances of SIDS. Mothers also subjected their babies to unsafe sleeping practices like bed-sharing and placing the baby face down. Educating the mothers about the effects of smoking on the infant and the unsafe sleeping practices would improve the health of the infants and reduce sudden deaths associated with these practices.
Audience Needs
The community health promotion plan addresses the target group's physical, psychological, and cultural needs.
Physical Needs
SIDS is associated with mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that slowly affect mothers' ability to engage in physical activities. Studies show that a person with these conditions is likely to experience a lack of stamina and difficulty handling time pressure or multiple tasks (De Vries et al., 2018). This negatively affects a person's job performance and productivity; physical capability and daily functioning; engagement with one’s work; and communication with coworkers. According to De Vries et al., 2018,)stress and depression reduces an individual’s ability to perform physical tasks about 20% of the time and lowers cognitive performance about 35% of the time. With that, the victims rely on daily care and long-term support. The health promotion plan will design measures to improve the mental health of affected mothers to allow them to meet their daily physical needs.
Psychological Needs
As noted in the physical needs, SIDS affects the mothers' mental well-being. It results in the progression of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD, that expose the individuals to stigma, low self-esteem, and loss of autonomy. With the health promotion plan, the individuals will understand how to cope with stressful situations to improve their psychological health. These needs are essential for mental growth, integration, and overall well-being. Psychological interventions are necessary and productive since it enables a person to remain responsive to make decisions and relate well with companions even if they are cognitively impaired.
Cultural Needs
Cultural needs include individual values, beliefs, and traditional practices. Based on people’s cultures, there might be different approaches to supporting populations with high SIDS prevalence rates. For instance, some communities believe bed-sharing should continue until one year as it encourages breastfeeding by making it more convenient for nighttime (McKenna, 2019). However, others believe that bed-sharing. Some cultures consider this practice taboo. With these considerations, the health promotion plan will propose solutions based on the beliefs and customs of the target groups to satisfy their cultural needs.
Educational Session Outcomes
A meeting with participants who smoke cigarettes showed that most of them lacked knowledge about tobacco's health risks and effects, primarily on infants. The absence of knowledge makes them vulnerable to an unhealthy lifestyle that increases the risk of SIDS. An interview with mothers revealed that most women in the community lack sufficient knowledge about safe sleeping practices for their babies. They would lay the baby facedown, oblivious of the dangers. Others thought that bed-sharing is suitable for infants, while others confessed that they cover their children with weighted blankets, not knowing that it would overheat the baby, increasing the baby’s risk of SIDS. Many mothers lacked knowledge about the safety measures related to infant sleeping.
Due to the low literacy of the target population regarding SIDS, public education is the most appropriate intervention for the problem. Educating the public would promote smoking cessation, thus, improving the health needs of infants and their parents. Educating mothers about safe sleep practices would also help address the problem (Laporte et al., 2020). Therefore, education session outcomes included improved knowledge about the risk factors of SIDS, increased awareness of SIDS preventive measures, and increased knowledge of safe sleep practices. Studies show that mothers with sufficient knowledge about SIDS have positive health beliefs and follow safe sleep practices for their infants (Ali Gamal El-deen et al., 2021). Simply put, education is the key to preventing or lowering the prevalence rate of SIDS. Agreed-upon health goals for the health promotion plan were as follows:
* By the end of the educational session, adults who consume cigarettes should be able to name the risk factors of smoking.
* By the end of the educational session, cigarette smokers should understand the effects of tobacco use on their health and the health of infants.
* By the end of the session, participants should state how smoking can be managed.
* By the end of the educational session, smokers should identify the potential...