Health Promotion and Education for HIV

health Promotion and didactics for human immunodeficiency computer virusIntroductionThe prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infections has increased rapidly in recent years in the UK. In 2006, it was estimated that a total of 73,000 great deal were infected with HIV, with a further new 6,393 cases reported in 2007 (wellness resistance theatrical performance 2007). The epidemiology of HIV infection has assortmentd over the years. In the mid-1980s, the three conclaves of great deal considered to be at the highest risk of HIV infection were men who adjudge sex with men, injection drug partrs and those who dupe received blood products (e.g. through with(predicate) blood transfusions). However, since 1999, the majority of new infections have been reported among heterosexuals (Health security Agency 2007). The prognosis for HIV-infected individuals has improved over the past ten years. Although there is presently no vaccine and no cure for HIV, HAART (Highly Active An tiretroviral Therapy) has be highly trenchant in delaying the onset of help and lengthening the living of infected individuals (Rutland et al. 2007).The increased prevalence of HIV infections in the UK means that wellnessc atomic number 18 professionals in all settings ar more likely to care for longanimouss with HIV than in past years.A number of studies have been conducted worldwide to essay health care professionals att closing curtain and/or attitudes to HIV in countries including the UK (Tierney 1995 Laraqui et al. 2002 Pisal et al. 2007). Findings showed that health care workers are frequently fearful, negative, ill- assureed and discriminatory towards HIV-positive patients. Furthermore, fears regarding perceived risks when caring for parents with HIV may restrict spirit of patient care (Pisal et al. 2007). As a result, HIV-positive patients may amaze stigma and dehumanisation, together with feelings of isolation and guilt. There is an unmet need for effectiv e upbringing broadcastmes to increase healthcare professionals experience ab out(p) HIV, modes of transmission and precautions that should be interpreted when caring for HIV-positive patients. Studies have shown that reading programmes to increase levels of knowledge among nurses significantly cut back fears about interacting with HIV-positive patients (Pisal et al. 2007).This root discusses the take onment of an educational booklet aimed at healthcare professionals, analyses the methodology employ and evaluates the folder and the process of development.Leaflet developmentWhen invent health promotion and education programmes, the three of import components which must be considered are planning, implementation and evaluation and it may be helpful to function a health promotion object lesson in this process (Whitehead 2003). The Ewles and Simnett model (1992) proposes five different ways of considering health promotion which hold a medical approach, behaviour change app roach, educational change approach, knob-centred approach and amic fitted change approach. Our health education approach best fit the educational and behavioural change approaches. By educating the soft touch group of individuals, the knowledge they wee-wee will empower them to run into informed decisions and will act as an weighty influencer on their behaviour (Aghamolaei et al. 2005). In their model, Ewles and Simnett identified 9 st come ons which were utilize in the planning of the health education initiative discussed in this piece and which includeIdentification of the level groupIdentification of the needs of the target groupEstablishment of the goals of educationFormulation of specific objectivesIdentification of imagerys homework of heart and methodPlanning of methods of evaluationImplementation of education paygrade of effectiveness.PlanningThe target group for this health education strategy was healthcare support workers who may come into contact with clients i nfected with HIV or assist. As discussed, there is a clear need for education programmes for healthcare professionals who may have contact with HIV-positive clients. The main goals of this strategy were to increase levels of knowledge about HIV with a view to reducing fears and stigma ring HIV-positive individuals, and alleviate any existing misconceptions surrounding the sp ingest of the HIV virus in clinical pull. The approach taken in this strategy was to develop an educational schooling cusp. Previous research has show that tracts that promote knowledge of HIV are effective in reducing fear and solicitude among healthcare workers, time to a fault increasing boilersuit knowledge of the indisposition (Pisal et al. 2007). Leaflets have been shown to provide a number of benefits. For example, they can be utilise to re-enforce selective information delivered verbally and can deliver a greater volume of information that via verbal communication alone (Secker 1997). Furthermo re, leaflets may be h aging for future reference and can be shared with others. However, there is indicate to suggest that health promotion leaflets needs to be carefully boded, since non all leaflets communicate their messages effectively to their target audience (Shire Hall communication theory 1992).MethodologySources of informationInformation on the HIV was sourced by prying the Pubmed electronic database and Department of Health websites. Up-to- leave, high-quality publications were selected where assertable. The Health Protection Agency websites was also search for recent UK-specific epidemiology data. Information relating to the design of the leaflet was gathered from twain Pubmed and Google searches. All information sourced was read carefully, findings were accurately summarised and key points were highlighted.Leaflet designThe design of educational leaflets should assist the readers agreement of the content inwardly (Secker 1997). The leaflet title was chosen car efully so as to be appealing and come along readers to want to read the entire leaflet. A design theme was chosen which was applied consistently throughout all(prenominal) of the pages. Black and red schoolbook was utilise against a yellow mise en scene which demonstrated good discernability and do the leaflet stand out on the shelf among a group of other leaflets. The choice of colours was designed to reflect a danger/hazard theme which was think to motivate the reader. While it could be argued that the association of red with danger may actually re-enforce existing negative beliefs about HIV, we believe that our choice of a strong and positive leaflet title negates this possibility.The Times freshly roman letters font in a 12 point size was used for the main text. Research suggests that this is one of the best fonts for educational materials, and that a 12 point font size is the minimum size for readers without visual declension (Secker 1997). Although it is acknowle dged that using a font size as immense as this limits the amount of text that can be accommo bodyguardd, a flaw of many educational leaflets is that they contain text which is too small to read comfortably (Albert and Chadwick 1992).The images used in the leaflet were relevant to the content. Research has shown that the use of illustrations is an important factor to consider in leaflet design and that illustrations should forever and a day be informative and relative to the content of the leaflet, otherwise they will remove from the information being mystifyed (Rohret and Ferguson 1990 Albert and Chadwick 1992). By using before and after versions of sympathetic images, we aimed to convey some of the feelings that HIV-positive clients may possess in healthcare settings and how a change in the behaviour and attitude of healthcare workers can have a positive impact on the clients experience as well as improving the interaction between the client and care provider. Another impor tant factor which must be considered when using images, pictures and other illustrative materials is their source and whether there are copyright issues associated with their use. Unfortunately, we did not consider the legal implications associated with our choice of illustration, which subsequently prevented the leaflet from being distributed to the target audience.A folded one third A4 size leaflet, printed on yellow paper with a gloss finish was chosen. This is a popular choice of size for educational leaflets and provides good portability, being small enough to put in a bag. The use of folding negates the need for staples which add to cost. Client you didnt bring up anything about leaflet size, stock of paper or finish so Ive added in what I have found from my own experience of designing educational materials, although Im not sure of the consume stock of paper that would be the best for a leaflet of this verbal description and no papers discuss thisLanguageAccording to Bennett and ogre (2006), discourse the language of the audience is crucial in attempting to appeal to them and change their projecting of any issue. The language in this leaflet used uncomplicated terminology that is easily understood and is jargon free, two factors which have been shown to be of importance in educational materials (Ewles and Simnett 2003). Personal and colloquial hurt were used which were designed to engage the reader and encourage critical thinking and blame of their own clinical practice. The use of personal pronouns has previously been shown to be effective in qualification the reader feel that the leaflet is overlaying them directly, thereby making it more appealing (Glasper and Burge 1992 Albert and Chadwick 1992).The use of long words was limited and sentences were for the most part short and succinct, with each attempting to explain a single idea (Manning 1981). picture has shown that this facilitates the integration and storage of information into memory . This is an important factor since the cognitive extend theory proposes that redundant forms of information may require longer process and may prevent the reader from learning (Doak et al. 1996). Research has also demonstrated that the more long words and long sentences used, the more difficult the leaflet will be for the reader to understand (Pastore and Berg 1987 Bernier and Yasko 1991). Simplicity in both choice of language and sentence structure is also of apprize if the leaflet were to be translated into other languages or into Braille. While this leaflet was exclusively designed for target groups within the UK, it could also be translated successfully if required. discernability may be assessed more accurately by performing a readability test to determine the reading age of any pen material. These tests typically relate the number of long words and sentences to the reading age necessary to understand the materials. Evidence shows that the reading age of the majority of a dults in many developed countries is 10-14 years (Vahabi and Ferris 1995). Although we did not employ a readability test when developing this leaflet, it is an activity that would have been helpful to confirm the readability of the material we had developed and would be particularly valuable when developing patient educational materials where reading age would be of greater importance.Content and judicature of informationIt is important that educational materials are accurate and up to date (Secker 1997). As previously discussed, the most recent information was selected for inclusion in our leaflet. Summarised information was discussed for suitability and then reviewed for accuracy by several members of the team up as a quality prevail exercise. The content of this leaflet is or else specific and should be applicable for the foreseeable future, unless a vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS is developed or there are changes to universal precautions. Nonetheless, it may have been worth i ncluding a publication date on the leaflet to enable the reader to quickly see how old the leaflet is and if a more up-to-date version may be available.The organisation of text within the leaflet is a very important factor influencing whether the material makes sense to the reader (Secker 1997). Studies have shown that educational information should be presented in a way that reflects the priorities of the reader (Bernier and Yasko 1991). Therefore, paragraphs of text were ordered so that the most important and relevant facts were discussed first. This arrangement has been shown to facilitate the assimilation of information and re-enforce learning (Manning 1981). Sequential lists of bullet points were used to present the text included in the leaflet. These have also been shown to enhance assimilation, when compared with blocks of bulk information delivered in a narrative form (Manning 1981). Key points within the text were emphasised in bold type since the use of colour has shown t o be ineffective (Kitching 1990) and a number of colours were already employed in the design theme. The text in the leaflet was justified which is not in line with the recommendation of unjustified, left-aligned text using indentations for ease of readability (Kitching 1990).Client you fatiguet mention whether headings were used in the leaflet. Sentence case headings in bold type placed against the left-hand margin with plenty of office around are effective in standing out from the main text and will assist the reader in quickly status the information they require within the leaflet (Dixon and Park, 1990) Reference Dixon, E. Park, R. 1990, Do patients understand written health information?, Nursing Outlook, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 278-81.Evidence has shown that leaflets should convey only essential information and contain references to further reading in a separate section (Vahabi and Ferris 1995). In our leaflet, the name of the first root and the year were included in the text as citations for source references. For a more continuous flow, it may have been better to replace the spring name with a superscript number which relates to the full reference which would be included in a reference list at the end of the leaflet. Since this leaflet is aimed at healthcare professionals who aim to use research-based evidence to inform best practice, it would be particularly important to include the sources of the reference materials to encourage further reading however, due to space constraints, we were not able to include this reference list in our leaflet.ImplementationThe leaflet has not been distributed to the think target group due to legal implications surrounding the images used. The original implementation plan included (1) distribution of the leaflet after infection control study days held within the hospital, or at study sessions stress on HIV/AIDS as a method of re-enforcing the verbal information already delivered (2) inclusion of the leaflet as part of the conclusion package for relevant new members of staff and (3) inclusion of leaflets on stands already located in hospital common rooms or other venues.EvaluationAs discussed above, since the leaflet has not been distributed to the target audience, it has not been possible to evaluate the success of our approach. We planned to pilot our leaflet to a selected group of healthcare support workers and gain feedback both verbally and via the use of a questionnaire designed to address the quality of content, readability and use of language within the leaflet. Gaining preliminary feedback on the leaflet may have helped us to address any issues identified prior to implementation.The specific bounds identified in our leaflet have already been discussed within the relevant sections of this paper. However, when reflecting on our approach to producing this leaflet, we were able to identify a number of other areas where we feel that the process could be improved in the future (1) experimenti ng with other colours may make the leaflet aesthetically more appealing (2) including the address of the charity listed, instead of just the website, would enable those individuals without internet facilities to also access this valuable resource more easily (3) when searching for published literature on knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals to HIV, although many studies were identified, there were few recent studies conducted within the UK. For this reason, it may have been worth considering designing a preliminary questionnaire to gather the attitudes and beliefs of the healthcare workers within our particular setting to ensure that we were designing a leaflet which addressed their specific needs and (4) we believe that the use of an interactive tool, such(prenominal) as a quiz, would further engage the target audience, serving to re-enforce and dispute what they have learnt from the leaflet.ConclusionsOur leaflet met the majority of published criteria for well-desi gned educational material, in terms of content, language and design. The leaflet contained up-to-date, accurate information which was relevant to the target audience. The overall look and feel of the leaflet was appealing and uncrowded with good readability, while the use of relevant images helped to convey the important messages contained within the leaflet. 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