1:

Predisposing and enabling factors

Whether one lives in an urban city, a gated suburban community, or a small town in rural America, the presence and realities of vulnerable populations are prevalent and access to health care is limited. The lives of people in these populations are interwoven into communities and neighborhoods. They are homeless veterans that you see sleeping on park benches, a single mother of three who just lost her job and insurance benefits, or a young man diagnosed with HIV who is in college, the neighbor’s daughter who dropped out of high school and has been abusing drugs to self-medicate her untreated bipolar depression, or a retired police officer who is living on a fixed income who had both lower – legs amputated due to complication of diabetes.

Illustrate an understanding of predisposing and enabling factors.

Include the following aspects in the discussion:

• Choose a vulnerable population from the readings
• Identify the barriers to accessing health care for your population
• Use Healthy People 2020 to provide statistical information for your population
• Discuss what is currently being done to address these access concerns

2:

Poverty

Poverty is a pervasive human condition of being unable to obtain or provide a standard level of food, water and/or shelter. It exists in every country in varying degrees. In 2016, 40.6 million people lived in poverty in the U.S. That means the poverty rate for 2016 was 12.7%. For 50 years, lawmakers have attempted to equalize services for all.

Explore the relationship between poverty and health.

Include the following aspects in the discussion:

• Use Healthy People 2020 to find data on poverty and health
• What vulnerable populations are most impacted by poverty?
• What actions are being taken to address the poverty?
• Healthy People began with 1990. 2030 is being planned (the initiative crosses a decade at a time). Has progress been made in all these decades?