Answer

Pacific Islander Health Status

Introduction

            Globalization has led to remarkable changes to societies and communities across the world. Increased migration has resulted in growing diversity amongst patients making culturally consistent health care an unconditional requirement. The migration of ethnic communities such as the Pacific Islander has created a lot of disparities in the provision of healthcare leading poor health outcomes. Such ethnic groups face a lot of difficulties blending with the native people due to a difference cultural practices, economic background, and even societal values. As such, this paper aims at exploring the health status and disparities of the Pacific Islander ethnic group.

Describe the ethnic minority group selected. Describe the current health status of this group. How do race and ethnicity influence health for this group?

            Pacific Islanders are individuals of the Pacific Island who speak a variety of Austronesian languages. It is an ethnic, racial, or geographic term used to describe the diaspora and inhabitants of any the three main sub-areas of Oceania including Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The group makes up 0.5 percent of the United States populace according to the 2013 census (Purnell & Fenkl, 2019). This population suffers from poor health outcomes including higher rates of diabetes, cancer mortality, asthma, overweight status, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease compared to other ethnic groups (Purnell & Fenkl, 2019). The aforementioned diseases or condition are attributed to poor health caused by poor nutrition, lack of primary care and limited accessibility to healthcare facilities. Race and ethnicity affect the health of the Pacific Islander in different ways. Race, on one hand, refers to the biological characteristics such as skin color while ethnicity entails sharing of a common culture, for example, traditions, religion, and language. Racism has resulted in ill-health among the Pacific Islanders as they suffer emotional abuse, stress, personal injury, and victimization. Furthermore, the racial stereotyping has played a significant role in limiting their opportunities for choices and employment prospects.  As a result of their ethnicity, the Pacific Islanders have settled in inner city areas where deprivation, social risks as well as poverty are already present.

What are the health disparities that exist for this group? What are the nutritional challenges for this group?

            Pacific Islanders health status is palpably poorer compared to other people living in the United States of America. Some of the health disparities or inequalities among this population include late diagnosis and treatment, lower quality health care, poor health outcomes, and poor prevention strategies such as screening and immunization. Many disparities occur in cancer treatment due to understudies and poor prevention measures and lack of awareness among the population (Subica et al., 2017). The population lack primary health care services within their vicinity to attend to their health care needs resulting in late diagnosis of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Apart from health disparities, Pacific Islanders face a lot of nutrition challenges. The people fail to eat balanced diets consisting of fruits and vegetables due to either unavailability of food or lack of money to buy a balanced diet meal. Subica et al. (2017), reports that the replacement of traditional food with processed foods has significantly resulted in the high prevalence of health problems such as obesity among the pacific islanders.

Discuss the barriers to health for this group resulting from culture, socioeconomics, education, and sociopolitical factors.

One of the barriers to health includes lack of employment and income of the population. In 2005, the average monthly income for the Pacific Islanders was established to be approximately $270 in comparison to $740 for the white Americans (). The low income leads to low standards of living which in turn result in unhealthy eating. The living standard for the Pacific Islander populace was in 2004 below average in comparison to the entire populace. Notably, lack of employment means no income for the people leading to inaccessibility of health care services. The high prices of healthcare have affected health and the population does not have adequate health insurance to cover the healthcare cost.

Another barrier to health among the pacific islanders is poverty. The pacific islanders living in poverty was close to 10% higher than other Americans in 2013 (Lassetter et al., 2015). The high poverty level results in poor living conditions which in turn lead to poor health. The accessibility, affordability, and quality of housing are other vital determinant of health outcome among this population. It is significant to note that housing quality is associated with poor nutrition, mental disorders, and even chronic illnesses such as cancer among the population.

Moreover, low educational levels among the population has led to poor health literacy and failure to secure employment opportunities; all which results in poor health. Lastly, minimal or lack of political representation in the government has led to absence of hospitals which can attend to this population.

What health promotion activities are often practiced by this group?

            The Pacific Islander population has resorted to physical activity to help in reducing chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and cancer. They have learnt that physical activity is crucial component or element of energy balance and is related to positive mental health (Purnell & Fenkl, 2019). In the same vein, the population has been receiving health education from public health officers on matters such as nutritional foods such fruits and vegetables as opposed to processed foods. Nutrition education has also been reinforced in schools through promoting healthy eating habits by children.

Describe at least one approach using the three levels of health promotion prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary) that is likely to be the most effective in a care plan given the unique needs of the minority group you have selected. Provide an explanation of why it might be the most effective choice.

            Given the unique needs of the Pacific Islander populace, direct intervention would be the best and effective primary approach in a care plan. This approach is effective as it would play a critical role in preventing infections, for example, via early screening, immunization, vaccination, treating infected persons, and eliminating environmental sources of germs (Purnell & Fenkl, 2019). Direct intervention encompassing members of the community would ensure that health intervention get to persons who most need them. This approach can be best implemented at the primary level with the deployment of enough care providers to the community level to tackle the health issues faced by the local population.

What cultural beliefs or practices must be considered when creating a care plan? What cultural theory or model would be best to support culturally competent health promotion for this population? Why?

            Some of the cultural beliefs or practices to be considered in creating a care plan include spiritual beliefs, role of family members in health decision-making, ethnic customs, dietary customs, and health beliefs. It is important to note that considering the above cultural practices or beliefs can aid nurses engage the patient so that jointly, they can devise an effective care plan which is consistent with the patient’s values. The best cultural model that would culturally support competent health promotion for the Pacific Islander population includes the Purnnel model for cultural competence. This model concentrates on offering a background for understanding and comprehending different attributes of the Pacific Islander culture allowing care providers to sufficiently view patients’ attributes including notions illness and healthcare (Purnell & Fenkl, 2019). Through using this model, the care provider would consider heritage and culture, language and dialects, family roles, autonomy, behaviors or habits, food consumption, spirituality as well as perceptions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the main factors resulting in health disparities among the Pacific Islanders include education, high poverty levels, poor lifestyle habits, low incomes, racial discrimination, poor living conditions, and lack of employment. The above factors have led to poor health resulting from stress and diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. The government should, therefore, consider increasing its health expenditure to ensure equity and equality in delivery of high quality health across the country. The country, for example, should reduce health disparities by offering free care to the marginalized groups.