Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
Sexually transmitted disease among the youths is a global concern to public health. The rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as syphilis, simplex virus, chlamydia, and gonorrhoea have dramatically increased among the heterosexual youths, especially among women of childbearing age. Research indicates that two-thirds of the estimated 12 million new incidences of STIs in the USA are women.
Women are twice likely to acquire infections after a single exposure to pathogens causing Hepatitis B, Chlamydia infection, Chancroid, and gonorrhoea as compared to men. These STIs are the leading causes of reproductive morbidity among the women of childbearing age (Mittal, Senn, & Carey, 2011).
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
This highlights that STIs are of particular distress among women due to their potential acute complications which can be life threatening especially during pregnancy. These include complications such as fetal death secondary, pneumonia, sepsis and premature delivery. My main inspiration for this topic is derived from the many cultural and religion expectations of women on mutual monogamy during and after their marriage.
This expectation contradicts most STI teachings resulting into the dramatic increase in STIs prevalence rates among this group. I feel obliged to conduct this research as women need to understand their STI risks, and learn the most effective preventive measures, chiefly because we live in a generation that lacks any assurance of mutual monogamy (Mittal, Senn, & Carey, 2011).
Without any interventions, a dramatic increase of the incidences is anticipated. This is has earned my interest as there is limited research on knowledge and perceived risk among women in the childbearing age. Due to the rising incidences of the STIs among the youths, evidence-based research indicates that behavioural interventions should aim at empowering women to increase their knowledge and perceptions of risk factors (Mittal, Senn, & Carey, 2011). Well, it is said that when a woman is educated (empowered) the whole nation is educated.
References
Mittal, M., Senn, T., & Carey, M. (2011). Mediators of the Relation between Partner Violence and Sexual Risk Behavior among Women Attending a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/olq.0b013e318207f59b
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Sexual Education
Idea for evidence based project
My project will be on a systemic review on the effectiveness of sexual education in enhancing knowledge among teenagers, encouraging safe sex practices, and decreasing the incidence of STIs. This is an important project in the field of healthcare because it has been proven that one out of five adolescents will have sex before they are 15 years old and most of those who continue being sexually active rarely use condoms consistently. This exposes themselves to STIs and unwanted pregnancies.
Moreover, what interested me into conducting this project is the sad revelation that more than half of all new HIV patients acquire the HIV virus through unprotected sexual intercourse before they attain the age of 25 years (CDC, 2012). In addition, research by Boonstra (2015) reported that approximately 85,000 teens in the U.S experience pregnancies. It is for these reasons that I chose this project of sexual education which will not only safeguard teenagers from STIs but also from teenage pregnancy that is acquired through unprotected sex.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Evidence Based or Research Based
This project will be an Evidence Based Project and not a research project because it will rely entirely on systematic review of several peer review sources on the effectiveness of sexual education. A number of scholars have conducted research on this subject and documented their findings which will be essential in my project.
Description of Project Issue
My project will be on sexual education with an aim of filling the gap revealed by studies that majority of teenagers lack adequate knowledge about their sexual behavior and they therefore fail to make responsible decisions leaving them vulnerable to STIs, coercion as well as unintended pregnancy. Most adolescents turn to their families and schools for reliable information. Therefore, my project will aim at support parents and schools for them to do a good job in encouraging the teens to engage in safe sexual practices.
The project will emphasize on provision of detailed whole-school sexual education that will offer accurate and consistent information to young people from an early age. According to Duflo, Dupas & Kremer, (2014), teenagers exercise good behavior when they make good decisions on their sexual health. Furthermore, the project will encourage maintenance of a shared partnership approach between parents, schools, and the local community so that accurate evidence-based sexual education is available for teenagers.
Some of the objectives that this study will aim to attain include; encouraging abstinence, promoting safe sex practices such as the use of condoms for sexually active adolescents, discourage several sexual partners, sensitize teens on the significance of early documentation and management of STIs, and teach the teens crucial sexual communication knowledge, which will be operative in keeping them free from STIs as well as safe from unwanted pregnancies.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Relevancy to specialization
This project is at the core of my practice. As healthcare practitioners, we are charged with the responsibility coming up with effective strategies for advising and counseling the general on important health practices (Boonstra, 2015). It has been proven that most young people do not receive adequate education on crucial health topics such as sex and sex-related issues (Tolli, 2012). As a result, they end up acquiring this information from other people and platforms such as the mass media which in most cases are misleading.
For instance, teenagers are exposed to several messages about sexuality which they present through highly communicative and fancy styles just to sell their products but not to equip young people with relevant education on health promotion. With such a project, I will be in a better position to introduce new interventions that will counter what young people have been fed by the media and let them know what their parents or teachers might have failed to educate them. It is our role as clinicians to ensure that high health practices are maintained in the society.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC. (2012). HIV, other STD, and pregnancy prevention education in public secondary schools–45 states, 2008-2010. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 61(13), 222.
Tolli, M. V. (2012). Effectiveness of peer education interventions for HIV prevention, adolescent pregnancy prevention and sexual health promotion for young people: a systematic review of European studies. Health Education Research, 27(5), 904-913
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Teenage Sexual Education
My project is on the provision of sexual education to teenagers. Teenagers that are sexually active are a matter of serious public concern. In the past years, several school-based programs have been designed for sole aim of holding up the initiation of sexual activity. Schools can play a central role in offering teenagers with a wide knowledge base that can aid them in molding their healthy lifestyle and coming up with informed decisions about their behavior (Shindel& Parish, 2013).
Detailed sexual education provides accurate information about gender identity, human sexuality, sexual health, reproduction and develops skills for communicating and relating to others in meaningful and satisfying ways. Additionally, it supports one’s ability to make sexual decisions with integrity and respect to other people.
Noddings (2015) reports that equal access to sexual education for teenagers of all cultures, races, gender identities, economic circumstances, and ethnicities are a matter of social justice. Young people who learn how to make respectful and intentional sexual decisions manage leading a healthy and safe lifestyle free from early teenage pregnancies, STIs such as HIV/AIDS, syphilis and gonorrhea as well as lost opportunities and barriers of economy that often follow. Parents, schools, religious institutions, and community based organizations have a crucial role of providing detailed sex education to young people (Wight & Fullerton, 2013).
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
How it relates to the Field
As a health care practitioner, this project of sexual education is central to my practice. We are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the public engages in activities that do not predispose them to health risks. We have a mandate of ascertaining that high health standards are maintained in the community. It is our duty to enlighten the public on the consequences of certain activities that impair the quality of life of the people and may lead to high mortality rates.
Therefore, provision of sexual education is one way of ensuring that people lead a healthy lifestyle by avoiding STIs and teenage pregnancies. The school is the appropriate environment of offering sexual education since it is often in regular contact with a large percentage of young people, with virtual all teenagers attending it before they engage in risky sexual behavior.
PICOT Question
Population: Teenagers attending public schools in the US. Students that were cognitively handicapped, school dropouts, delinquent, institutionalized, or emotionally disturbed were not considered for this project since they address different needs and characteristics.
Intervention: Sexual education on the importance of abstinence behavior.
Comparison: The results of this study were compared to those of studies that focused of a group of students in public schools who had not received sexual education
Outcome: The results that were determined include; delay in onset of intercourse, decease in intercourse frequency, and decrease in the number of sexual partners.
Timing: Evidence was gathered from studies where by the intervention was implemented for a period of one year and results obtained.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
IOWA Model
According to Schaffer et al., 2013, health care providers are encouraged to use updated research evidence to promote better patient outcomes and inform actions, decisions, and patient interactions to deliver quality care to patients. Different models have been developed by scholars to promote the use of EBP in healthcare.
One of these models is the IOWA model. This model is quite crucial in my project since it will serve as a guide on the steps I should follow for successful completion of this project. For instance, it has seven steps that each researcher should follow when conduct a study. These steps are;
Selection of a topic
Forming a team
Retrieval of evidence
Evidence grading
Developing an EBP standard
Implementing EPB
Evaluation
With this model, I will be in a better position to actively read, critique, and grade evidence that will aid in promoting my project of sexual education among young people.
Feedback
A well designed PICOT question is an essential guide in retrieval of evidence in literature research. The question provides information on the type of population to be considered in the study, the implemented interventions, the control parameter, the outcome as well as the timing of the research.
Adhering to these steps makes a literature research simple even for novice researchers. The formulation of the PICOT question also supports an EBP project since one can select literature on the research topic and use the steps to gather evidence, implement it, and determine the outcomes of the project.
Schaffer, M. A., Sandau, K. E., & Diedrick, L. (2013). Evidence‐based practice models for organizational change: overview and practical applications. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(5), 1197-1209.
Wight, D., & Fullerton, D. (2013). A review of interventions with parents to promote the sexual health of their children. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(1), 4-27.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
