NURS 3882 Service Learning 1: Vulnerable Population Research Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of vulnerable populations, focusing on mental health and disability. It addresses the concept of vulnerability, detailing how societal factors and lack of equal opportunities impact access to healthcare. The report explores health disparities, including the impact of stigma, discrimination, and income on the mentally ill and disabled. It examines how culture and ethnicity influence health perceptions, symptom presentation, and treatment approaches. Effective communication strategies for interacting with these populations are discussed, along with methods for incorporating cultural information into the nursing process. The role of nurses in reducing health disparities is highlighted, emphasizing education and community outreach. Finally, the report considers how a nurse's cultural background can influence care, advocating for cultural diversity and sensitivity in healthcare practices, and providing a detailed overview of the assignment questions and answers.

Running head: VULNERABLE POPULATION 1
Vulnerable population
Student’s Name
University

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Question one
Vulnerability is the degree to which individual populations cope or are unable to recover
from the effects and challenges induced by a disaster due to the factors outside their control that
make them lack similar opportunities as the rest of the population. According to Bracken-Roche,
Bell, & Eric Racine (2016), the concept of vulnerability comes from the need to identify special
groups within the society are likely to be harmed or exploited. This means that when accessing
healthcare and other basic life opportunities, these people cannot compete like others. In
healthcare, the health domains of vulnerable populations exist I three categories of physical,
psychological and social which create the challenges that the people face.
Mental health people suffer from the psychological domain since they lack the mental
capacity while those with disability suffer from physical vulnerabilities that create challenges in
navigating their environment. People living with mental illness and disability are vulnerable
because they present special needs that cannot be treated the same way as the rest of the
population (WHO, 2019). The vulnerability mostly arises from the way the society treats them or
subjects them to stigma and discrimination which is also seen in other restrictions that they face
when seeking to access essential health and social care.
Question two
Health disparities are differences that exist in the society which define the prevalence of
diseases and opportunities that affect the ability of the individual to achieve optimal health
(Dehlendorf, Bryant, Huddleston, Jacoby, & Fujimoto). According to Healthy People 2020
(2019), different health disparities affect different groups of vulnerable populations. One of the
primary factors that contribute to mental illness disparity is stigma and discrimination. In most
mental ill and disability populations, discrimination creates access difficulties since it creates a

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stigma that denies such people an opportunity to access healthcare. Stigma creates
discouragement which limits the access to health-related opportunities. Stangl, et al. (2019)
suggest that discrimination leads to subconscious treatment of individuals differently which leads
to worse treatment of the mental health persons that make them different from others.
Stigma is one of the biggest challenges to people mental health and disability since it
worsens the problem and impedes the delay of getting treatment. Stigma leads to hurtful isolation
of mentally ill people thus making it difficult for them to access healthcare. The prejudice and
fear that the stigmatized population prevents these people from coming out to seek for healthcare
and other needs (Tanaka, Tuliao, Tanaka, Yamashita, & Matsuo, 2018). In other cases, stigma
creates difficult situations that deny the mentally ill opportunities by stopping responsible
persons from offering the required services to the patient.
Income is one of the primary factors that create disparities among the mentally ill and
disabled populations. According to Singh, et al. (2017) income defines the nature and quality of
healthcare that one can receive which can be seen like disparities that exist in the US. In
countries that are funded by the medical insurance schemes, there are difficulties in the mental
health patients accessing health insurance due to its cost. For example, Lake & Turner (2017)
suggests that the current treatment model in the US does not cover the complexity of mental
illness which affects the level of access to healthcare. The disparities are created by the different
levels of income that affect the ability of the patient to afford the healthcare requirements.
Question three
Culture is an important element in the life of people and defines how people associate
and relate with each other since it influences health access and its disparities. Culture defines
how patients define or present their symptoms to the clinician (Srinivasan, 2016). These

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presentations vary from culture to culture and ethnicity. For example, Asian patients are
comfortable reporting somatic symptoms but may not report emotional symptoms. This shows
the selective presentation of symptoms in culturally acceptable ways (Stangl, et al., 2019). In
other instances, the meanings imparted on the symptoms vary from different cultures and
ethnicities which determine whether people are free to seek medical attention or not. This can
also be seen in the type of treatment that they receive since culturally incompetent clinicians can
develop attitudes towards mental health issues.
Singh, et al. (2017) suggests that cultural and social factors can also contribute to the
development of mental illness since they create a complex interaction of biological,
psychological, social, and cultural elements of disorders. For example prevalence, bipolar,
depression and other mental disorders have a similar pattern of causation that depends on cultural
and societal factors (Lake & Turner, 2017). This is also seen in the manifestation of PTSD and
suicide rates which vary across cultures and different US ethnic groups. This is because the
culture is important in the social integration of people in the society which influences the way the
exhibit mental disorder signs and symptoms and how the mental disorders are influenced across
populations.
Family factors have also been described as playing an important role in the psychological
health of the individual and mental illness. These factors can promote or protect one against the
risk of the disease. For example challenges in the family-like severe marital discord, social
disadvantage and overcrowding play a major role in the onset of mental illness. This similarity is
evident in children where conditions like child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect contribute to the
likelihood of the child developing mental illness (Piat, Sabetti, Fleury, Boyer, & Lesage, 2016).
Family is supposed to offer a cultural element of protection to the individual especially in

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controlling and management of mental symptoms. Iseselo, Kajula, & Yahya-Malima (2016) add
that cCoping strategies developed patients are also defined by the cultural characteristics that
people face within society. Some families place a higher emphasis on suppression affect while
other families provide an environment that calls for individual approaches to the management of
symptoms. For example, African-Americans prefer facing their problems as compared to whites
which increases their coping strategies.
Question four
Effective communication forms an integral part of quality patient care since it defines the
way the health professional relates to the patient to determine the best care that fits their needs.
Furnes, Kvaal, & Hoye (2018) argue that effective communication enables nurses to encounter
patient situations with sensitivity, empathy and moral accountability. This is reflected in the
ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds with a range of personalities.
Several strategies can be applied to deal with mental health patients.
The first communication strategy is the ability to accommodate the demands and requirements of
the patients. Mental illness patients exhibit many needs, wants and desires which requires that
the nurse accommodates these needs.
If the mentally ill or disabled person is accompanied by a family member, the nurse is supposed
to address the person with the disability rather than the family member.
When communicating, it is important to use the first language sine most people with mental
disorders are not the total of the disorder but rather only the person with a disability.
Listen closely and try to understand what they are communicating rather than interrupting them.
Try and set limits in the conversation to ensure that the conversation does not go overboard.

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If the person has difficulty speaking, use the clarifying skill after they are done talking to
confirm what they were saying.
Respond to anger with quiet assurance and not making sudden moves
Give simple instructions for what you ask the other person
Be patient and keen on communication since they may tend to focus on a particular object.
If the person has paranoia or experiences hallucinations, try to acknowledge that these feelings
are real.
Question five
One strategy for incorporating the cultural information in the nursing process is to work
with the patient in developing the nursing plan. This requires the nurse to seek clarification from
the patient on the best appropriate way. Cultural issues vary from group to group and thus the
nurse has to accommodate the cultural needs of the patient.
The nurse is also supposed to understand the cultural appropriate language of the specific
group. Language is an element of culture that shapes the way people relate within clinical
settings. This means that the nurse needs to understand the most appropriate language which is
defined by the age of the patient, ethnicity or race, religion, and even social status.
Question six
One major role of the nurse in reducing health disparities is through rebuilding the
capacity to care for patients through transforming nursing education on the principle of mutuality
(Edmonson, McCarthy, Trent-Adams, McCain, & Marshall, 2017). Nurses can develop clinical
capabilities that allow people with mental health illness to relate well with them. This will enable
them to rebuild their capacity in caring for people with different health disparities equally.

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Apart from dealing with patient-related issues, nurses can also take an active role in
health disparity awareness creation by focusing on the training and education of other healthcare
professionals. This entails assisting other professionals to develop an interpersonal approach to
address health issues. Health campaigns and community education can be used to improve victim
identification.
Question seven
Srinivasan (2016) suggests that the cultural aspect of a nurse influences the type of care
that patients receive. When working with vulnerable populations, cultural diversity is important
in meeting the needs of vulnerable populations. These populations are not supposed to be treated
like the general one since they present special needs that the nurse needs to consider. In this case,
developing cultural diversity skills can be used to influence the quality of care that the vulnerable
population receives through creating an environment that accommodates. Cultural diversity is the
ability to work with people from different backgrounds and groups.
On the other hand, the cultural background can also be a barrier to achieving quality care
for different populations. This is seen from the fact that nurse’s background can affect the way
they interact with patients thus making it difficult for the vulnerable populations to communicate
the health problems that they have. Different societies have different definitions and attitudes
towards healthcare groups which makes it difficult for them to achieve the required care. The
environment that the nurse creates is supposed to define the way the nurse relates to the patients.
This means that nurses from highly discriminative and stigmatizing populations can present
barriers to healthcare which influence access to care for vulnerable populations.

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