Health promotion: Breast cancer in menopausal patients and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Women Adolescents (Due 24 hours)

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Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Women Adolescents

Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are ravaging the lives of many young people, especially women in universities and other institutions of higher learning. At the global level, the prevalence of STDs among women has been on the rise with the number of people exposed to alcohol and drug abuse. More than one million STIs are contracted every day on a global scale. STDs in adolescent women have a significant impact on reproductive health because they claim lives and lead to poor health outcomes (Bütschi, Cattacin, & Panchaud, 2018). The STDs are substantial in the fight for healthier wellbeing because as more people are infected, their quality of life is lowered.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Women Adolescents

Global Relevance

STDs among women are significant in the world because they have threatening complications. When adolescent women are affected with STIs, the aftermaths of the diseases may lead to cancer, abortions, neurologic damage, and death. Some cancers involve people so that they will be unable to conceive and get pregnant in the long run. The quality of life among adolescent women depends on their sexual status. When they are affected by STDs, they will be prone to contact other opportunistic diseases, and the global outcome for health and wellbeing will be impacted (Cowan & Mindel, 2020).

National Relevance

The national relevance of STDs is the lowering of tax levels and the negative outcome in people's lives. When more people are affected by STDs, they will not be productive in their places of work, and consequently, they will no longer produce taxes to the government. In the long run, the GDP per capita of the country will be affected, and the level of dependents will increase. A nation where people are concerned with STDs will experience a population decline because some of the complications associated with the STDs is the inability of a person to give birth (Moore, Rosenthal & Mitchell, 2020).

When a person is affected with an STD, it will lead to lower quality of life because of its stigma. Discrimination among people is likely to affect adolescents, and they will not interact well in society. Consequently, they will spend most of their time alone and commit suicide in the discourse. Deaths rate are likely to increase in a country, and awareness should be conducted both to the infected and the other people affected in the society (Moore et al., 2020). The government must be prepared to install institutions to take care of people affected by STDs at the national level.

Local Relevance

The prevalence of STDs can only be reduced if its transmission rate is interrupted. The STD perspective at the local level is that people have the ability to prevent the disease if they want to do so courtesy of knowledge about the disease. Therefore, it is prudent for the local authorities to create awareness and educate people on STDs, how to reduce them, and take care of the people infected. When people are aware of the preventive measures for the given disease, they will deduce the best ways of avoiding the disease. For example, STD awareness may focus on the three main factors presented as acronym ABC, meaning abstain, be faithful, and use condoms. Such lessons will ensure that people remain safe (Reeves & Quiroz, 2018).

Health Promotion

Healthcare promotion is the most efficient strategy to overcome the global pandemic such as STDs. When people are aware of the preventive measures of a disease, they will take all precautions, such as abstaining and seeking medical care to ensure they are well taken care of. The global effort can be made from the World Health Organization to nations, giving better outcomes. When there was covid-19, the awareness programs started from the WHO to governments, and each government-organized grassroots campaigns to ensure that people were safe from the virus (Sodik, 2018). The efforts to curb STDs like HIV/AIDS differ in different caders and scales. The global scale is concerned with research, innovations, and better ways to manage the disease. At the national level, governments work around the clock to ensure that people are tested, and those found infected are registered for medication. On the other hand, local levels deal with awareness to ensure many people know the risk factors and the respective strategies to overcome them.

Health Problem

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are acquired through sexual contact with a person infected with the disease, which may involve oral, anal, or vaginal sex. They can be transmitted through parasites, viruses, or bacteria. STDs have a significant effect on the reproductive and sexual health of individuals across the world. In 2018, about one in five adults had an STD in the United States (Tuddenham et al., 2022). The common types of STDs are genital herpes, trichomoniasis, genitalium, HIV, syphilis, mycoplasma, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. STDs are more common among ethnic minorities in the U.S. and are a significant cause of fertility problems in women (Tuddenham et al., 2022).

The health promotion program will focus on advocating for adolescent women, particularly those who are sexually active, to be take screening tests for STDs in the first month after they have had their initial consultation. The program will allow the women to be educated about their sexual health and provided with brochures that would enhance their knowledge about STDs. The individuals involved in the program will be able to identify STDs and the need to perform annual screening. They will be provided with digital education and brochures to promote their understanding of STDs and encourage them to adopt healthier behaviors.

Risk Factors

Adolescent girls are among the most vulnerable groups to getting STDs in the U.S. Adolescent women aged between 15- and 24-years old account for sixty-eight percent of the cases of chlamydia in U.S. women (Scott-Sheldon & Chan, 2020). One of the factors that expose young women to the risk of contracting STDs is early sexual debut. Howard et al. (2021) established that early sexual debut and forced sexual initiation significantly increased the risk of STDs, as they are more likely to develop risk behaviors that expose them to STDs.

Substance abuse is a major risk factor that makes adolescent women vulnerable to STDs. Gamarel et al. (2018) established that there is a close association between substance use and the risk of developing STDs among young people. Substance use may impair the behaviors of young people exposing them to sexual risk behaviors. Besides, the lack of use of preventive methods increases the risk of STDs in adolescent women. Kroeger et al. (2018) established that young women lack knowledge on the methods that can be used to prevent STDs, which exposes them to infections and also prevents early diagnosis.

Health Promotion

Various evidence-based interventions can be used to promote STD screening among adolescent women. Ippoliti and L’Engle (2017) established that mobile health programs for educating adolescents about sexual health could improve their understanding of sexual health and promote their health-seeking behaviors. The increased use of mobile phones among young people creates an opportunity that can be utilized to address the public health concern by promoting STD knowledge and available STD screening services. The intervention can be effective in promoting STD prevention and filling the knowledge gap about STDs among young women.

Self-sampling methods (SSMs) can be used to promote STD screening and improve the health of young women. SSMs are methods used to obtain self-samples to detect STDs. Griner et al. (2019) suggested that SSMs are accepted by young women and can influence their uptake of STD screening as they allow them to avoid interacting with providers. In another study, Lameiras-Fernández et al. (2021) stated that school-based sex education could be effective in promoting sexual health knowledge and helping individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, and improving STD testing. The study indicated found that digital sex education, such as the use of text messaging, increased sexual health awareness, reduced unprotected sex, and increased STDs testing among young people (Lameiras-Fernández et al., 2021).

Evidenced-based Scholarly Sources

The evidenced-based scholarly sources have both strengths and weaknesses. The major strength of Ippoliti and L’Engle (2017) is that the researchers provided evidence from different projects conducted in different parts of the world, which increases the applicability of the findings. The studies reviewed were conducted in Africa, Latin America, and Eurasia, among other countries. The weakness of the source is that most of the projects were conducted in low- and middle-income countries, which makes them less applicable in developed countries. The strength of Griner et al. (2019) was that the article is a primary source that provides first-hand information on the effectiveness of SSMs in STD screening. The main weakness of the source is that the study was theoretical and did not provide practical experimentation of the effectiveness of SSMs in promoting STD screening.

The major strength of Lameiras-Fernández et al. (2021) was that the study reviewed scientific evidence from peer-reviewed sources, which provide credible evidence that can be used in evidence-based practice. The papers reviewed were collected from international nursing databases and focused on the studies with the lowest risk of bias, and 16 out of the 20 reviews included U.S. samples. However, most of the studies reviewed had small sample sizes, which increases the margin of error and reduces the power of the studies to make reliable conclusions.

Health Promotion Model

The health belief model (HBM) is the best framework for the health promotion program as it allows individuals to predict individuals' health behaviors. The model can be used as a guide for health promotion and in the implementation of programs designed to prevent diseases. The HBM is popular in health education and can be used to provide a theoretical framework for health promotion programs. The model explains changes in the behaviors of individuals and can help in achieving optimal behavioral change. Health beliefs influence individuals’ willingness to change their behaviors. As such, individuals’ unhealthy behaviors can be modified by influencing their beliefs. Chen et al. (2019) established that there is a close relationship between individuals’ health beliefs and a healthy lifestyle. To promote a healthy lifestyle, it is important to find ways of influencing individuals’ health beliefs.

The model would be used in the program to influence the health behaviors of adolescent women and encourage them to take STD screening tests. Azadi et al. (2021) established that the HBM could be used in health education to promote individuals’ preventive behaviors. STD screening is a preventive intervention that is used in the prevention of STDs. Therefore, the HBM would be appropriate to promote the preventive behaviors of adolescent women who are at a high risk of contracting STDs due to lack of knowledge of the appropriate sexual health behaviors, as well as the importance of STD screening in the prevention of STDs.

MAP-IT stands

The initiative for the improvement of sexual health among women adolescents should be established on integrating the efforts of multiple parties and utilization of different strategies at the same time. The initiative entails bringing together educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and politicians. The purpose of the group is to implement protocols that will ensure that sexually transmitted infections are no longer a problem among adolescents. The primary role is to bring together people who can contribute to the resources for the initiative (McCann et al., 2021).

The problem is that despite the progress in tackling STIs, adolescents still face significant infection levels. It is important that these levels be minimized to negligible or below average rates compared to the general population. This is achievable as there are effective strategies that have been influential in improving sexual health. The data collection should mainly take place in educational institutions as they carry the target age group in the population. The data will entail being sexually active, use of protection, and medical check-ups (Keller, 2020).

Medical personnel will provide data on the treatment of adolescents. The initiative will primarily rely on proven interventions. The data will inform on what to do, how to do it, and where to implement the objectives. Progress will be measured from the increase in testing and screening, abstinence and use of protection, and involvement in the discussions (Yuniarti et al., 2018). The number of treatments should increase in the short-term while total cases should reduce in the long term.

The initiative should be implemented in the schools. Medical personnel in schools and facilities should avail all details on prevalence, access to care, and treatment of the population. Policymakers should factor in the development of sessions for sexual education in schools (McCann et al., 2021). Regular meetings and evaluations of the process will be part of the implementation in accordance with the goals and objectives.

SMART Goal:

Sexually active adolescent women, after one month from the first consultation, will show a better knowledge about the importance of annual screening for STDs by accessing online information and answering a final survey.

References

Azadi, N. A., Ziapour, A., Lebni, J. Y., Irandoost, S. F., Abbas, J., & Chaboksavar, F. (2021). The effect of education based on health belief model on promoting preventive behaviors of hypertensive disease in staff of the Iran University of Medical Sciences. Archives of Public Health, 79(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00594-4

Bütschi, D., Cattacin, S., & Panchaud, C. (2018). Managing AIDS: The Swiss Case (1983–1992) 1. In Managing AIDS (pp. 27-63). Routledge. https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/hivaidsguidelinesen.pdf

Chen, S. H., Chen, S. C., Lai, Y. P., Chen, P. H., Huang, T. Y., Lin, C. C., & Yeh, K. Y. (2019). Correlates between health beliefs and health-promoting lifestyle profiles in the development of metabolic syndrome in Taiwan. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 31(1), 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539518816245

Cowan, F. M., & Mindel, A. (2020). Sexually transmitted diseases in children: Adolescents. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 69(2), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.1136/sti.69.2.141 Moore, S., Rosenthal, D., & Mitchell, A. (2020). Youth, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Youth-AIDS-and-Sexually-Transmitted-Diseases/Mitchell-Moore-Rosenthal/p/book/9780415106337

Gamarel, K. E., Nichols, S., Kahler, C. W., Westfall, A. O., Lally, M. A., & Wilson, C. M. (2018). A cross-sectional study examining associations between substance use frequency, problematic use and STIs among youth living with HIV. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 94(4), 304-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2017-053334

Griner, S. B., Vamos, C. A., Puccio, J. A., Perrin, K. M., Beckstead, J. W., & Daley, E. M. (2019). “I'll just pick it up…”: Women's acceptability of self-sampling methods for sexually transmitted infection screening. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 46(12), 762-767. https://doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001077

Howard, A. L., Pals, S., Walker, B., Benevides, R., Massetti, G. M., Oluoch, R. P., ... & Patel, P. (2021). Forced sexual initiation and early sexual debut and associated risk factors and health problems among adolescent girls and young women—violence against children and youth surveys, Nine PEPFAR countries, 2007–2018. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(47), 1629. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7047a2

Ippoliti, N. B., & L’Engle, K. (2017). Meet us on the phone: mobile phone programs for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in low-to-middle income countries. Reproductive Health, 14(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-021-00230-w

Keller, L. (2020). Reducing STI cases: young people deserve better sexual health information and services. age, 79(65), 65. https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/article_files/gpr2300620.pdf

Kroeger, K. A., Sangaramoorthy, T., Loosier, P. S., Schmidt, R., & Gruber, D. (2018). Pathways to congenital syphilis prevention: a rapid qualitative assessment of barriers, and the public health response, in Caddo parish, Louisiana. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 45(7), 442-446. https://doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000787

Lameiras-Fernández, M., Martínez-Román, R., Carrera-Fernández, M. V., & Rodríguez-Castro, Y. (2021). Sex education in the spotlight: what is working? Systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2555. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052555

McCann, H., Moore, M. J., Barr, E. M., & Wilson, K. (2021). Sexual health services in schools: A successful community collaborative. Health promotion practice, 22(3), 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839919894303

Reeves, W. C., & Quiroz, E. (2018). Prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in high - risk women in the USA. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 14(2), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007435-198704000-00002

Scott-Sheldon, L.A.J., & Chan, P.A. (2020). Increasing sexually transmitted infections in the U.S.: A call for action for research, clinical, and public health practice. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 13–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01584-y

Sodik, M. A. (2018, September). Analysis of Improved Attitude of Youth in HIV/AIDS Prevention through the Provision of Health Education with Peer Education. In The 2nd Joint International Conferences (Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 495-502). https://proceeding.tenjic.org/jic2/index.php/jic2/article/view/131

Tuddenham, S., Hamill, M. M., & Ghanem, K. G. (2022). Diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections: A review. JAMA, 327(2), 161-172. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.23487

Yuniarti, E., Fadilah, M., Darussyamsu, R., & Nurhayati, N. (2018, April). Health Promotion and Preventive Contents Performed During Reproduction System Learning; Observation in Senior High School. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 335, No. 1, p. 012133). IOP Publishing. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/335/1/012133/meta