Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign

Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign (continued): Ethical Considerations
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Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign (continued): Ethical Considerations
Advocacy is in actual fact the cornerstone of nursing – nursing practitioners advocate for the profession, for causes, and even for patients. Motivated by ethical and moral principles, advocacy is aimed at influencing policies by arguing or pleading within social, economic and political systems, and institutions, for a cause or idea that could result in decisions in resource allocation which promote nursing, nurses and all of healthcare (Masse & Williams-Jones, 2012). The ANA Nursing Code of Ethics reinforces the position of nursing as an advocate and describes the way in which professional associations advocate for the nurses, the profession of nursing, as well as healthcare for American people. This paper provides an explanation of the ethical dilemmas that may come up during the advocacy campaign and how these ethical dilemmas would be resolved. The ethics law and reporting requirements which are applicable to the advocacy campaign are described. Furthermore, this paper provides an evaluation of the special ethical challenges which are unique to the population being addressed; that is, returning veterans and their families.
Health promotion is an intrinsically value-laden enterprise which could result in significant ethical dilemmas. As such, ethical reflection on the part of the health advocacy professionals is of major importance so as to negotiate and understand the potentially conflicting fundamental interests and values of the diverse stakeholders for instance citizens, policy-makers, and professions who are involved in health promotion. In health campaigning, dilemmas require attention given that decisions made could affect both the image of profession and the success of policy initiatives, at times with trade-offs between these (Martin, 2012). Provision 8 of the ANA Code of Ethics specifies that nurses work in partnership with other health care providers and the public to promote international, national, and community efforts to meet health needs (American Nurses Association, 2011).
Ethical dilemmas during advocacy campaign
Whether or not to acknowledge vested interests: if the public health campaigner is backed or sponsored by powerful groups who have stakes in the measures that are being advocated, the ethical dilemma is whether or not the health advocacy campaigner should acknowledge the possible influence of these powerful groups. If they must be acknowledged, how should they be acknowledged? According to Hanks (2013), it is common for others to attack the role of vested interests. As such, it could be predicted that those who oppose the health advocacy campaign would claim that government departments, corporations and professional or religious groups, if they profit from policies or fund research, are a source of bias (Hanks, 2013). In resolving this dilemma, vested interests would not be mentioned if they are on my side and claim that the campaign and the campaigner are objective and therefore it does not really matter whether or not organizations provide funding or perks. This dilemma could also be resolved by defending the role of the vested interests such as organizations (MacDonald, 2010).
Autonomy: the arbitration and weighing of collective interests and individual rights is a considerable ethical challenge for health advocacy campaign and health promotion. Respect for individual liberty, autonomy and private life is of great importance to people. Therefore, an ethical framework needs to recognize that these values are actually at the foundations of today’s societies (Blaske, 2014). It is essential to be careful about how coercive or persuasive measures are utilized in promoting worthy goals of advancing public health. The respect for individual autonomy – that is, requirement for informed consent from individuals – is a fundamental principle of medical or clinical ethics. In the context in which communities or groups stand to benefit as a result of health promotion intervention such as in this health advocacy campaign, respect for individual autonomy of the people affected would be considered with regard to individuals. This means that before commencing the health promotion intervention, it would be more ethical to obtain authorization of representatives of the population being addressed (MacDonald, 2010).
Paternalism, Self-determination, and Empowerment: for long, health promotion has essentially been paternalistic in nature. As they strive to protect public good, Hanks (2013) reported that public health institutions have employed coercive tactics for instance mandatory participation such as in fluoridation and vaccination, prohibitions of particular conducts such as smoking indoors, as well as aggressive health promotion campaigns. As such, although effective, the paternalistic intervention supported in this health advocacy campaign may, to a certain extent, limit or impinge upon people’s individual liberties. Therefore, a major ethical issue for health advocacy campaign is appropriate usage of hard and soft paternalistic techniques.
In essence, if health promotion sees hard paternalism as a violation on principles such as privacy and respect for autonomy, soft paternalism could be considered as easily justifiable, unavoidable, and inherent aspects of health promotion programs. Hard paternalism is understood as coercive intervention to counter consciously assumed and voluntary behaviours. Soft paternalism is where people are strongly encouraged to take on behaviours which they think are good for them (Cole, Wellard & Mummery, 2014). To resolve this dilemma, the empowerment approach could be utilized. By focusing on empowering communities and individuals rather than just telling them what they need to do, the health promotion campaign would be more respectful of individuals. When the people are empowered, they are more likely to listen to and heed health advice and make independent decisions which are objectively good for their health (Cole, Wellard & Mummery, 2014).
Ethics laws and reporting requirements applicable to the advocacy campaign
There are quite a few ethics laws and reporting requirements that are applicable to the advocacy campaign. The laws include the following: the advocate must respect the self-determination, privacy, as well as dignity of the clients who include who include returning veterans and their families; advocate must treat everyone that he or she encounters in his or her work respectfully, honestly and fairly; and advocat...