The LGBT Population and HIV/AIDS Infection Paper Example

Description of the Selected Vulnerable Population

The vulnerable population considered are the members of the LGBT community that have HIV/AIDs. Gay and bisexuals represent the highest risk population at risk of the disease and in 2016, the demographic accounted for 26,200 or 67% of all the new HIV infections (HIV.gov, 2018). Research has portrayed that most people in the LGBT community that have HIV/AIDs lack sufficient knowledge to treat and manage their conditions. That is due to factors such as poor access to medication, stigmatization, and lack of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to present a health promotion program for members of the LGBT community that are infected with HIV/AIDs.

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Health Promotion Learning Need

The health promotion learning need for the LGBT with HIV/AIDs is to identify the factors that elevate the prevalence rate of the disease in the demographic. Another learning need is to ascertain an effective strategy that can be employed to encourage the members of the LGBT community to take an HIV test as an effective intervention for averting further transmission of the virus. The LGBT community also needs to have access to essential HIV/AIDs management resources like antiretroviral drugs (ARTs) and publications that educate on how to protect, prevent and manage HIV infections.

Goals and Outcomes

In order to assist members of the LGBT infected with HIV/AIDs, it is critical to set effective goals and attainable outcomes. The first goal is to identify the factors that increase the risk of HIV/AIDs infection among the LGBT members. The attainable outcome will be to ensure that the LGBT clients can identify the risk factors that could expose them to HIV/AIDs by the second clinic. The second goal is to educate the LGBT community on the importance of taking an HIV/AIDs screening test. The attainable outcome is to have LGBT patients request for an HIV/AIDs screening test by the second clinical visit.

The last goal is to ensure that the members of the LGBT community at risk of HIV/AIDs infection have attained relevant reading materials on the disease. The publications shall address topics like protection of HIV transmission using contraceptives such as condoms. The reading materials will also educate on topics pertaining effective use of medication to manage the HIV transmission and lastly, it will state the importance of ARTs and how to properly use them to prevent escalation of HIV to AIDs. The attainable outcome will be to ensure that the patients can identify at least three of the best HIV/AIDs educational books in the market by the next clinical visit.

Inter-professional Team

Team Description

The interdisciplinary care team that will be involved in offering care to the members of the LGBT community with HIV infection will include a nurse and social worker. The nurse will test the patients for HIV/AIDs and issue ARTs while the social worker will offer counseling and learning resources to the clients. Lastly, the social worker will be responsible for assessing the level of the healthcare outcome for LGBT patients with HIV/AIDs infection. Also, the social worker will be charged with the role of offering the HIV/AIDs patients educational resources like books that will educate the infected persons on how to manage their conditions and avoid opportunistic diseases.

Barriers to Successful Outcome and Plan for Avoiding Conflict

Poor communication between the medical practitioners and the vulnerable population on matters relating to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and management will be a primary impediment to the team's successful outcome. Research has validated that proper communication in a healthcare setting significantly promotes the attainment of improved patients' outcome. The plan to overcome this challenge will entail encouraging the team members to foster good communication between themselves and the LGBT individuals with HIV/AIDS. The stigmatization associated with having HIV/AIDS is also a factor that will affect the team in reaching its desired successful outcome.

In this case, some members of the LGBT community living with HIV/AIDS may be hesitant in participating in an intervention program such as the one that will be offered by the team due to fear of stigmatization. The effective plan to curb stigmatization will be to perform a public healthcare training that is focused on HIV/AIDS among the LGBT community, where the importance of getting tested and receiving early treatment shall be addressed. Subsequently, through the training, LGBT members infected by HIV/AIDS will overcome their fear of stigmatization and seek effect medical intervention from the team.

Role of MSN

In a team, an MSN also functions as the communication link between all the team members. Effective communication between the healthcare providers and the patients will help manage and treat HIV/AIDs-related infections among the infected LGBT members. Furthermore, the MSNs also possesses essential skills that can be utilized to promote the overall health of patients in a clinical setting. In this case, the MSNs will offer their essential guidance and counseling skills alongside their treatment to the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs as an effective intervention for the vulnerable intervention. Research has portrayed that counseling plays an imperative role in improving the healthcare outcome of patients.

The AACN MSN Essentials that Will Be Used by the Nurse in this Role

The MSN will use two fundamental AACN Essentials' roles. The first Essential will be Essential IV, which provides a guideline of how a nursing practitioner can use essential research skills in leading a continuous improvement process. In this case, the MSN will use research to determine the best way she can provide quality healthcare to the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs. The second AACN Essential will be Essential VII, which focuses on the use of inter-professional collaboration skills to improve the patients' health outcomes. In this case, the MSN will work collaboratively with other healthcare providers to coordinate care that can improve the health of the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs.

Health Promotion Program

Healthcare Promotion Model to Be Used

The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) will be the healthcare model that will be employed in taking care of the stated vulnerable population. The model focuses on a patients' personal factors, the environment that surrounds a patient as well as the behavior of patients with those in their close environment. By taking these factors into account, the healthcare practitioners will plan a treatment method that considers the personal, environmental and behavioral aspects of the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs.

Evidence-Based Program That Can Be Implemented

Linking of people diagnosed with HIV (PHAs) to care is one of the most effective evidence-based interventions and practice that can be employed on the stated vulnerable population (Maina et al., 2016). Today, HIV/AIDs has been declared as a chronic disease. Nevertheless, the prevention of further transmission of the disease, decreasing of the mortality and morbidity rates associated with HIV infection and improving the quality of life of PHAs has remained a major challenge. As such, linking the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs to proper healthcare services will be imperative as an effective intervention for managing and treating the disease.

Web Source Utilized in the Health Promotion Program

The use of the Internet as a source of information pertaining to HIV/AIDs was ascertained as essential for members infected with HIV/AIDs. Web sources provide a simple way that the infected LGBT members can access information on how to treat, manage and prevent further transmission of HIV/AIDs. In the health promotion program, one web source was utilized and it could be accessed at https://www.ei-ie.org/en/detail_page/4651/hivaids-prevention-and-education (Educational International, 2017). The website provides comprehensive information pertaining to HIV/AIDs developed based on the latest research and clinical HIV/AIDs management practice.

Culturally Responsive Care

Health practitioners responsible for the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs must consider the patients' diverse beliefs, cultures, customs, and values when offering essential medical care. Research has found out that offering culturally sensitive care to patients can help clinicians build trust in the client and in the process attain correct diagnosis information (Pender et al., 2015). For this reason, the clinicians involved in the implementation of the healthcare program on the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs will ensure that they tailor their communication to suit the patients' diverse cultural values.

Barriers to Learning for the Population

Refusal to undergo an HIV/AIDs test is an individual barrier to learning. In this case, some of the LGBT community members may suffer a fear of learning their HIV status. Subsequently, this may hinder such people from attaining essential education pertaining to HIV/AIDs management, treatment, and prevention. Lack of a supportive community environment for the LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs can also be an impediment to learning. For instance, a community can be discriminative to LGBT members infected with HIV/AIDs. Subsequently, the infected LGBTs may avoid all educational programs focused on HIV/AIDs treatment and management to avoid stigmatization. Poor education on the use of HIV home test kits will also affect the learning process. Home test kits can be effective for LGBT members who worry about going to healthcare centers for screening due to fear of stigmatization.

Plan for Delivering Health Promotion Education for the Population

Linking LGBTs infected by HIV/AIDs will be the fundamental plan focused on managing, treating and preventing further transmission of the disease. The method is an evidenced-based practice that has been validated by research to be an effective intervention for PHAs (Maina et al., 2016). In this case, at the healthcare institutions, the LGBT members with HIV/AIDs will attain the right screening of their CD4 Count and also receive ARTs to manage their conditions. Moreover, at the medical center, the LGBT members infected by the HIV/AIDs will be issued proper counseling on how to live positively with the disease and also be issued with the right educational resources on how to manage and prevent further transmission of the virus. Lastly, home visits shall be done by qualified nursing practitioners, with the aim of monitoring the progress of the LGBT members infected with the HIV/AIDs.

Evaluation of the Educational Program and Identified Goals

The evaluation of the home visits will be measured based on the change in numbers of the LGBT members who have accepted their positive HIV status. Also, the outcome or attainment of goals will be considered successful if the home visited LGBT members will have accepted taking ARTs as a long-term management intervention for their condition. Lastly, the decline in the mortality rate of the LGBT members infected with HIV /AIDs as a result of educational intervention will also be considered as a measure of success for the intervention plan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the LGBT population is highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDs infection. The increase in the rate of new infection among the LGBT community is due to lack sufficient knowledge to treat and manage HIV/AIDs. The health promotion strategies that can be employed to help the stated vulnerable population is to identify the factors that elevate the prevalence rate of the disease in the LGBT demographic grouping....