What Sources Say about the Pediatric Population
Among the population that can be employed in assessing a community one can name pediatric aggregate. This population is easily found in diverse places such as centers, volunteer organization, and nursing homes among other locations. The pediatric group is mainly composed of children and adolescents as well as infants with a particular age limit of 18 years and below. Therefore, it is significant to carry out a community assessment to identify some of the challenges this group is likely to face as well as offer solution where possible. Several methods and resources should be employed for data gathering as well as data generation that assist in discovering community needs. After the correction of information, it is crucial to analyze the data to identify trends as well as themes of the pediatric population. This paper will focus on community assessment methods and resources that will attempt to uncover the differences between what published sources say about the pediatric population and actual research that has been carried out in a known community surrounding to identify the challenges and solution faced by the said community.
Phase One
Pediatric aggregate refers to an individual population that can be employed in evaluating a community. This population can reside in diverse places such as in nursing home, volunteer organizations, and citizens centers as well as community activity centers. In essence, pediatric population refers to a population composed of children, infants, and adolescents with a trailing age limit of between birth and 18 years of age. In this case, the particular population will be adolescent. The age bracket is composed of the group that is not very vulnerable to chronic diseases. However, the pediatric population is composed mostly by developing nations where the age group falls below 18 years of age. However, the adolescent age being the most important in the growth of a nation is the most sensitive one since children are dependents as they are still under the care of their parents. The pediatric population exists in all neighborhoods since nearly every family has children below 18 years of age. Therefore, it is unfortunate that there are no geographical boundaries that separate the pediatric population from other populations. The community assessment will be performed to identify some of the challenges facing the pediatric population and to come up with solutions that will assist in overcoming the challenges. The assessments results may widely assist in identifying trends of chronic diseases that mostly target the pediatric population in different geographical areas of a community. The community assessment will be carried out during the school holiday. The choice of the evaluation timeline is because a large number of the pediatric populations live with their families during the school recess. The assessment will be carried out for duration of two weeks. The project funding will primarily rely on the municipalities for sponsorship since the data will assist in the better planning of the council for the pediatric population. The assessment will attempt to uncover the differences between what published sources say about the pediatric population and actual research that has been carried out in a known community surrounding.
Phase Two
The assessment of pediatric population involves the use of resources as well as methods to achieve the objectives. This phase will be the starting point for data generation as well as collection during the community assessment. To achieve the desired results, a variety of methods will be applied to discover the community needs, although availability of time as well as monetary resources may influence the methods to be employed. This may include data gathering of the existing information.
In 2015, the United States of America had a total population of 308,745,538, in which 29.6% of this population was made up of the pediatric population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). However, according to the US Census Bureau (2015), the percentage may seem small as compared to the remaining portion, but it simply means that the population of the United States stood at a ratio of 1: 3.7 in July 2015.
In 2015, CDC released a report citing a tremendous increase in behaviors that put teens in a state of risks. The report cited that most of the behaviors were cultivated in the early stages of the childrens development and later, they became catastrophes when the transition to adulthood occurred. The survey uncovered that even if risks like cigarette smoking had drastically reduced from 28% in 1991 to the current figure 11% in 2015, there was a sudden rise in e-cigarettes smoking within the pediatric adolescent stage. Not only had CDC aimed at condemning the youth but it also offered several remedies that would help reduce the elevated state of risk behaviors among the adolescents. Some of the measures included identifying and monitoring critical events that influenced youths health based on their behavior and related policies. Moreover, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (20016) seeks to make a summary and apply the findings obtained from the research to increase the effectiveness of the measures and to ensure monitoring of the progress to achieve the set goals of health standards.
The Healthy People 2010 was a nationwide promotion spearheaded by the Department of Human Service and Health in a bid to help prevent the spread of diseases. The campaign was designed and put in place to act as a framework that would contribute to improving the health of the people living in the United States of America in the 21st century. The promotions primary aim was to increase the quality and the years of healthy life to eliminate health discrepancies and serve as a measure of progress for the citizens of the United States. This program will assist in decreasing the mortality rate and putting the correct measures in place to ensure that adolescents would live longer and have a more qualitative life than the previous generation. The research showed that adolescent were the most affected by the population mortality rate as result of engaging in risks such as smoking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The National Center for Health Statistics would assist in data collection from different sources and analyze the obtained data to acquire trends in health status of a population based on geographical classifications as well as subgroups of the pediatric population.
From research conducted by Virginia Rauh, a professor of population and family health, it is evident that children raised in poor homes or neighborhoods are likely to give out toxic stress. She explains that the interaction between the toxic stress and toxins such as pollution of the air may lead to emotional disorders. However, Rauh is of the opinion that children exposed to toxic pressure, especially at the adolescent stage, can slowly and gradually recover through responsive parenting and child care of high quality. Rauh points to the fact that most parents who are low-income earners find it hard to seek support for their children. To solve this problem, it is crucial to alleviate the standards of living for parents so that most children were saved from toxic stress.
The activities created by the universal inclusion of the adolescents are more significant than the activities that are forcibly given to them. An important aspect to note is that the pediatric population is one of the most dynamic types of people, and the universal inclusion of all of its members will lead to a more prosperous society in the making since everyone feels involved in the day-to-day activities.
After collection of data from various sources, the information should be reviewed to identify the areas as well as assets that need improvement. This can be achieved through the comparison of local data, if available, with national or state data. The collection of data will assist in information organization as well as direction for the next process
Windshield surveys are one of the methods used to collect data during the community assessment. As one drives around the community, common characteristics of a community +can be observed. They include the neighborhoods where the pediatric population lives, and the houses there are not more than 20 years old. The age of the houses can be well explained by the recently placed iron sheets in most of the homes. The recreational facilities in the community do not have many visitors because the area is not densely populated and adolescents seem to spend most of their time in schools. Thus, these facilities are occasionally opened. The animal parks are found on the outskirts of the community, while the stadiums have a central location within the town. Due to the scarcity of the population found in the area, there is plenty of space for the people of the community to move freely without interference or questioning; therefore, the business premises are set far away from the homes. The approximate distance from the homes to the business centers is three to four kilometers. Moreover, the neighborhood hangouts are not entirely elevated except for the few pubs that open late in the evening. Most of the joints are shops and trading stores since the community is deeply rooted in trade, and they believe that their great grandparents were the best merchants of the olden days. However, the community uses vehicles as the primary means of transportation despite the scarcity and low population density. The diesel-powered machines are used by the traders carry out their normal day-to-day activities without transportation hitches. Additionally, the traders most importantly keep time for ferrying their goods from one place to another using their automobiles. The streets and sidewalks are made according to the current plan structure of the modern roads, while lighting is a problem, especially during the night. The community is made up of mixed religions but mainly the Islamic faith and those who affiliate themselves with Christianity since both the mosque and the church can reasonably be seen from entrance into the community gate.
Participant observation was also used to collect data for the pediatric population. From the observations made while spending time with the adolescents in the community, one can conclude that the population grows rapidly due to the substantial trading activities that occur in the area and the high demand for jobs in the trading stores. There are averagely almost three children in every household as the result of the application of labor in the households and in the places of work. Therefore, there is a rapid growth in the developmental cycle of the pediatric population. It is evident that the peer-to-peer bonds of interaction are very active, considering that the fact that many businesses in the area are community-owned. The ownership belongs to social groups that have united to make their lives better by undertaking business activities that will elevate their living standards from the current state. The street families are a rare thing to find in the community, and this notion is almost forgotten among the community members. This disappearance of street families is the result of the peer interactions that assist in strengthening families. Advocating against marriage separations in the community, which is one of the leading causes of street families in the modern day world, has also played a role in ensuring the absence of street families. There is a general regard and respect for the peers in society as shown by the presence of places of leisure that are made up of a particular age group depending on the peer group of ones association. There is a general feeling of safety in the community. This is evident from the overhead headlights that light the streets at night to the metallic gates that demarcate the small sub-villages to keep track of who enters and leaves the residential area of the community. There are regular police patrols in the community since several governmental officials reside in the community. Security is one of the issues that have fostered growth in the community. It is worth noting that in the absence of security, no community can prosper or make strides in its development.
The interviews with several societal leaders in the community have revealed that to maintain the current community standards training re not only taught in the school compounds but also in every place where the interaction of people occurs. The societal leaders in this case were chosen since they were familiar with pediatric population on a regular basis (Horsch et al., 2002). The training places included places of refreshments, homes, schools, religious places, and even peer-to-peer events. The societal leaders attributed the strengths of the community to the virtues that most people of the community guarded heavily, and they displayed unity whenever an occasion arose. However, it was pointed out that the community had a strong religious background, a fact that may have led to the present nature of the population. The pediatric population is taught the importance of religion in their tender ages; therefore, departing from this teaching is quite hard. The strong social ties within the peers assist in the track keeping of different groups together and fostering unity. Nevertheless, the teachers pointed out a fact that the understaffing in schools was a drawback to the education in the community. Teachers reported that every school was proposed to have a ratio of one teacher to 10 students, whereas the current ratios stood one teacher to 20 students. The community members were concerned with the population growth and the rates of pollution, which they deemed as a future hazard if the matter remained without corrective action. At the same time, the health infrastructure in the community is appealing as most of the facilities operate on a 24-hour basis. The night shift is for emergency cases that may happen at night. Nevertheless, the 24/7 operation is not applicable to medicine dispatch chemists as most of them only operate during the daytime when most of the people are busy with their day-to-day activities. A cancer facility has been set up in a bid to curb the rising threat of cancer diseases in the community. The facilitys aim was to cut down the costs of people suffering from the illness in the area and to provide convenience to them to attend their chemotherapy sessions. The facilities are a breakthrough, especially for the parents that have the ill children as in adolescence, most chronic and infectious diseases happen.
Focus groups are small groups composed of 6 to 12 people; they have proved useful during the process of the community assessment because they provide information through dialogue openly, whereas survey and interviews yield to individual responses. During the process of assessment, 2 focus groups were approached to have a fully comprehensive study of the inhabitants of the community. The focus groups were composed of 6 people each. Out of 12 people, 10 people described their satisfaction with the services they received from the community. These services are inclusive of the health care services for them and their children, the sanitary conditions that provide a habitable environment for the pediatric population, and the good system of education that the community experiences. At the same time, 9 out of the 12 people chosen for the focus groups commended the efforts of their leaders to ensure good transportation means in the community. The focus group explained that transportation issues needed to be improved particularly in the rural roads that linked the main roads in the community outskirts. The focus groups pointed out the fact that the authorities had played a tremendous role in ensuring that the security mechanisms of the community were up to date. The pediatric population is the most affected one when there is insecurity in a community. They suffer the most as they experience psychological torture an issue that can lead to adverse affects in their studies.
In the research carried out by CDS, it can be observed that some adolescents are also involved in drugs, a situation that may lead them to indulge in theft. However, there were concerns of the particular groups of unemployed young adults that had started to sprout up in liquor joints continuously for 3 months. This did seem to irritate the elders.
During a community assessment, it is of great significant to scrutinize data after collection to discover the trends as well as the themes. This is achieved during the organization of information collected in the course of gathering as well as generation of data. It is evident that a comparison of collected data and the existing data from the pediatric population has a significant proportion of the population of both the census and the community assessment that has been undertaken. There is a big correlation between the population health and nutrition standards and the mortality rate in both the community assessment and the data existing from previous sources. The high mortality rate is attributed to poor sanitation and poor nutrition, while low mortality rates are the result of good hygiene and proper nutrition.
However, there is a sharp difference between the data generated and data gathered from sources. The population assessment brought to light that there were very few or even insignificant cases that associated the pediatric population with the use of drugs and indulging in crime cases. The assessment is contrary to the CDC report that explains that the significant number of youths has been engaged in theft and substance abuse. The strengths of the community are in the business and trade set up, which is a source of livelihood for the community, the respect for peer groups, and the cultivation of correct moral standards by the clergy and in schools. However, the community needs an improvement in infrastructure – mainly minor roads that are in constant use by the community member in their everyday activities.
In conclusion, the assessment carried out, although not in full correlation to the existing published information, is a clear indicator that more attention and focus should be directed to the pediatric population. This attention should be regardless of the geographical location, gender, or age but for the well-being and growth of community. A community has high potential for growth when the pediatric population is taken proper care and maintained since they are the future community leaders. However, some data was found to be misleading, and this research would help in updating the institutions that have some misguiding information such as CDC. As much as small percentage of pediatric population may indulge in substance abuse and theft, it does not infer the whole community abuse drugs. The community should embrace security and business as well as continuous cultivation of moral among adolescents as it has been identified as its strongholds.
