Assignment 1: Selecting a Population Health Problem
Number of sources: 5
Paper instructions:
Prepare for Assignment 1 as follows:
• Review the Major Assessment Overview.
• Determine a population health problem that is viable for completing this paper. You may use the problem you identified in the Week 1 (Covid-19), week 2 (MDD), or Week 3 Discussion, or you may select a new one.
• Determine the characteristics of the health problem in terms of person, place, and time.
• Using the Walden Library and credible websites, conduct additional research on your selected population health problem. Consider the significance of this health problem.
• Examine how Healthy People 2020, listed in the Learning Resources, supports the importance of addressing your selected health problem.
• Develop a preliminary research question or hypothesis appropriate for your topic.
To complete:
Write a 1- to 2-page paper that addresses the following:
• Describe the population health problem in terms of person, place, and time.
• From the primary research literature and Healthy People 2020, briefly explain the significance of this health problem.
• Include your preliminary research question or hypothesis.
CLient message:
Describe the population health problem in terms of SENTENCES that address “all persons” as a total population or if you are reporting data about certain racial/ethnic groups or age groups, for example, then make this clear.
What place do the data represent: (the nation? state?). What years are the data from (time)?
Do not make a separate section for Persons, Place, or Time please. Do not have headings for Persons, Place, or Time either. These 3 criteria about data belong in sentences about the problem, its trends (2 points in time), and demographic characteristics or profiles.
From the primary research literature, briefly explain the significance of this problem. If you do not recall what primary research is then look up the definition please.
From Healthy People 2020, briefly explain the significance of this health problem. Cite and reference HP2020!
Include your preliminary research question or hypothesis for a DESCRIPTIVE study only. This will make Paper 3, later, much easier!
Population Health Problem
Introduction
The world today experiences a diverse population health problem. In this assignment, the focus on the global pandemic COVID-19 in the United States. The selection of the population health problem is in preparation for the major assignment.
Description of the Population Health Problem
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus. The health problem is a newly discovered disease that started in 2019 in Wuhan, China. The pandemic spread to the rest of the world causing infections and deaths (Rothan & Byrareddy, 2020). Today, the United States is one of the most affected countries recording over 17.2 million infections and 310,000 deaths (Mills et al., 2020). Globally, 74.9 million people have contracted the virus while another 42.3 million have recovered and 1.66 million people have died (Mills et al., 2020). Although the virus was discovered in 2019, most countries did not acknowledge it until several people started dying from a strange disease (Bashir et al., 2020). The first case of the virus can be traced back to November 17, 2019, in Wuhan, China (Bashir et al., 2020). The United States acknowledged the first case in January 2020.
COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease that spreads when an infected person speaks, coughs, or sneezes. People can be infected by coming into contact with infected surfaces, carrying the virus in their hands, and then touching their eyes, mouth, or nose (Lau et al., 2020). One of the health recommendations to avoid the spread of the virus is to ensure proper and regular washing of hands with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds (Lau et al., 2020). The public health organizations such as the Center for Disease Control encourage people to wear masks, maintain social distance, wash hands regularly, avoid crowded places, and unnecessary travel as precautionary measures.
Significance of the Health Problem
The infectious disease has caused diverse health and socioeconomic impacts in the world today. The health problem has led to the deaths of young and old people across the world (Bashir et al., 2020). Countries and states have used lockdowns to control the movement of people and minimize the spreading of the virus. For example, the spread of the disease across the world is attributed to travelers from one country to another. Research shows that the infection can be asymptomatic (Bashir et al., 2020). An infected person can spread the virus to other unsuspecting people. COVID-19 is an infectious disease that spreads when people cough, sneeze, speak or touch contaminated surfaces.
The virus puts healthcare workers at risk. Admission of people beyond the capacity that healthcare facilities can handle is a challenge associated with the disease (Rossi et al., 2020). Crippling the healthcare sector is a major hindrance to fighting the pandemic. The fight against the disease is a challenge since it affects the economy by limiting the movement and interaction of people (Rossi et al., 2020). For example, one of the health guidelines is to avoid crowded places. Schools have been affected since the children are at a greater risk since they are ignorant of the risk the disease poses to human life (Rossi et al., 2020). The unique characteristics of the virus pose a challenge to the economy and the healthcare sector.
Preliminary Research Question or Hypothesis
Some of the preliminary research questions to explore COVID-19 are as follows;
1. Can people who contracted the virus get re-infected?
2. What are the best measures of tackling the viral disease?
3. Is the current vaccine effective in preventing the virus?
4. Does the public trust the vaccine?
References
Bashir, M. F., Ma, B., Komal, B., Bashir, M. A., Tan, D., & Bashir, M. (2020). Correlation between climate indicators and COVID-19 pandemic in New York, USA. Science of the Total Environment, 138835.
Lau, H., Khosrawipour, V., Kocbach, P., Mikolajczyk, A., Schubert, J., Bania, J., & Khosrawipour, T. (2020). The positive impact of lockdown in Wuhan on containing the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Journal of Travel Medicine, 27(3), 37.
Mills, W. R., Sender, S., Lichtefeld, J., Romano, N., Reynolds, K., Price, M., … & Barnes, R. (2020). Supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disability during the first 100 days of the COVID‐19 outbreak in the USA. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 64(7), 489-496.
Rossi, R., Socci, V., Talevi, D., Mensi, S., Niolu, C., Pacitti, F., … & Di Lorenzo, G. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures impact on mental health among the general population in Italy. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 790.
Rothan, H. A., & Byrareddy, S. N. (2020). The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Journal of Autoimmunity, 102433.
