Low income adults in Wyandot County, Kansas City, Kansas, are vulnerable to the socio-economic factors that commonly have a negative health impact. These factors include low wages, unstable family life, risky sexual behavior, drug and alcohol abuse, high crime, low education, obesity, diabetes, and poor access to health care (Boyer et al., 2017; Guariguata, 2014; Osborn, Squires, Doty, Sarnak & Schneider, 2016). Low income adults, therefore, are at risk of not receiving the proper health education they need to maintain healthy lifestyle; they are at risk of lacking a cogent support system to maintain a healthy lifestyle; they are at risk of not having adequate access to health care, whereby they maintain obtain necessary health education and preventive care.
Understanding the needs and risks of vulnerable populations is important to the clinical population I will serve as an advanced practice nurse because community health is a field that demands more attention especially from APRNs in today’s world. And as the Institute for Research on Poverty (2013) shows, there is a strong “link between poverty and poor health. People with more income tend to be healthier and live longer” (p. 1). There are environmental, social and psychological factors that are generated within low income communities that negatively impact the health of the community.
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For example, “material factors like unhealthy housing, unemployment, and food insecurity all affect one’s health. The amount of exposure one has to pollution and other biohazards can also lead to poor health” (Institute for Research on Poverty, 2013, p. 2). As an APRN, I will be able to focus on this population by improving the community’s access to care. The role of the APRN was originally conceived as a way of filling the gap in primary care when primary care physicians began moving into specialized medicine. APRNs have the training, expertise and ability to diagnose, treat and provide preventive care to all communities. In Kansas City, the low income adult population is particularly large and vulnerable and therefore is a community that we as health care providers have to be more mindful of.
Ethical considerations that apply to this population include the need to identify local values and find ways to align them with public health policy so that this community is better supported. Another consideration that should be made is the problem of fragmentation among the community: many low….....
Boyer, C. B., Greenberg, L., Chutuape, K., Walker, B., Monte, D., Kirk, J., ... & Adolescent Medicine Trials Network. (2017). Exchange of sex for drugs or money in adolescents and young adults: an examination of sociodemographic factors, HIV-related risk, and community context. Journal of community health, 42(1), 90-100.
Goodman, R. A., Bunnell, R., & Posner, S. F. (2014). What is “community health”? Examining the meaning of an evolving field in public health. Preventive medicine, 67, S58-S61.
Guariguata, L., Whiting, D. R., Hambleton, I., Beagley, J., Linnenkamp, U., & Shaw, J. E. (2014). Global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2013 and projections for 2035. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 103(2), 137-149.
Institute for Research on Poverty. (2013). Poor and in poor health. Retrieved from https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PoorInPoorHealth.pdf
Osborn, R., Squires, D., Doty, M. M., Sarnak, D. O., & Schneider, E. C. (2016). In new survey of eleven countries, US adults still struggle with access to and affordability of health care. Health Affairs, 35(12), 2327-2336.
