Community Strategic Plan
Using Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns framework, assess the health risks in your community.
In your community assessment paper, include the following:
Identify resources in your community that would enable you to complete a community assessment and submit a summary of your findings (1–2 paragraphs).
Refer to Table 8-3: Examples of Community Strengths and Concerns, and assess the strengths and concerns of your community (2–3 paragraphs).
Identify potential barriers to implementing community health plans in your community and brainstorm ways of addressing these barriers (2–3 paragraphs).
Your paper should be 2–3 pages in length, not including the cover and reference pages. Use APA throughout.
You must include 2–3 sources that are APA cited and referenced in your paper. (Sources may include community resources such as flyers, brochures, interviews, news stories, and local research data from credible sources, within the last 5 years.)
Community Strategic Plan
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Community Strategic Plan
Marjorie Gordon proposed the functional health patterns framework in 1987, which aids nurses in assessing community healthcare by classifying research questions in the following categories: health perceptions and management patterns, nutrition and metabolism, elimination, activity, cognition and perception, sleep and rest, self-perception and self-concept, roles and relationships, sexuality and reproduction, coping and stress tolerance, and values and beliefs. Assessing community health risks using available community resources helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of the community, therefore, enabling successful health implementation plans.
According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading causes of death in Alabama are heart disease, cancer, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. The assessment was conducted using interviews in the community, focus groups, CDC health data and reports, and the National Center for Health Statistics. Firstly, history is essential in Gordon's Functional Health Patterns Framework. In this regard, Alabama's public health has been offering free healthcare to those who cannot afford it, especially in rural areas. Secondly, the residents perceive Alabama's healthcare as not reliable. With the COVID-19 pandemic, Alabama's healthcare has deteriorated, with more people hospitalized for COVID-19. According to World Health Organization, Alabama ranks third in the United States for the number of people per capita who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. Therefore, many residents in Alabama cannot access healthcare for other diseases because medical practitioners are focused on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as well as attending to the numerous admitted patients.
Food that is mainly consumed in Alabama is barbeque, sweet potato and banana pudding, pork, fried catfish, et cetera. Most of the food consumed in Alabama is unhealthy, and people consume many junk food and meats (Neiman et al., 2017). Tobacco is highly consumed in Alabama, which plays a role in high respiratory diseases in the state. Therefore, Alabama is not necessarily a health-conservative state, which contributes to its high health risks. The State of Alabama came up with initiatives to improve residents' physical activity, such as exercise camps, workshops, and voluntary races (Neiman et al., 2017). According to CDC, in 2018, Alabama's fertility rate was 67.1 percent, which is above average. Also, most Alabama residents have Christian beliefs, while a percentage are Muslims, Buddhists, and pagans.