44000 – HDR Part V: Intervention & Policy Report Assignment Guide HDR Part V Overview For your Part V assignment, you will evaluate what has been done in the past to address your health disparity. This assignment will be in report format (see Report Template on Blackboard), and will consist of support from reputable and scholarly sources, as well as your own thoughts/analysis. Please see below for guidelines on what sources are required for this assignment. NOTE: You may start working on this assignment any time after you receive instructor feedback on your Part II: Draft Determinants Table assignment. Given the timeframe of the course, you do not need to receive feedback on your Part III: Final Determinants Table assignment or Part IV: Health Disparity Analysis Draft assignments before you complete your Part V assignment. Intervention & Policy Report Guidelines Key questions: What has been done to reduce this health disparity? Did it work? Intervention & Policy Report A. Intervention i. Describe one culturally-tailored intervention for your selected disparity that has been implemented, evaluated, and published in the scientific literature (NOTE: you should include at least one scholarly citation for this intervention) ii. Describe the results of the intervention (i.e. Did it work? What was the evidence?), as well as its strengths and limitations B. Policy i. Describe one federal- or state-level policy that has been implemented that should have helped reduce your health disparity (e.g. SNAP program, Affordable Care Act, Clean Air Act, etc.) ii. Discuss how you feel this policy action has or hasn’t actually affected your health disparity, and the strengths and limitations of the policy (NOTE: you should include at least one reputable source that supports your evaluation) Part V Assignment Expectations Your Part V assignment should be submitted in report format. A blank template is posted on Blackboard. • All writing should include proper grammar, mechanics, spelling, etc. • All sources should be reputable and should be included in APA-formatted within your report (sources do not need to be included in a separate reference list)

 

Intervention and Policy Report

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course

Date of Submission

 

Intervention and Policy Report

Any suicide committed is typically and significant tragedy within a given society or environment; therefore, it has been estimated that close to one million people die through the act of suicide and that there are suicidal attempts for every death. It is however unfortunate that suicide matters have not been prioritized as a significant health issue across the globe thus turning it into a health crisis. Also, even after conducting research and knowledge regarding suicide and its prevention mechanisms, the stigma and taboo about suicide are still ongoing, and at many occasions, people fail to seek for assistance thus are left on their own.

Intervention

One of the most effective interventions towards the suicidal attempts among teenager’s veterans between ages 18-29 in the United States is through restrictions of access to lethal means as the most popular ways of suicide involves using the use of pesticides, jumping from buildings and hanging. Therefore, stopping access to these means of death is an effective way of preventing suicide specifically impulsive suicide since it provides an opportunity to those contemplating suicide more time to reconsider their actions. In the United States, restricting access to firearms is one of the interventions towards death as firearms have over the past years led to a large number of suicides acts within the state (Andrés & Hempstead, 2011). The primary objective of this restriction is to prevent all deaths caused by illegal use of firearms within the United States thus providing an opportunity for one to be scrutinized if he or she is fit to own a gun. Through this restriction on legal purchase, there has been a reduction in the number of suicidal acts within the state, and this is affirmative action. However, as part of the limitations of gun control or restrictions to firearms, the power typically creates a loop for theft cases as there will be individuals who will try to steal firearms or alter information regarding background checks in an attempt to circumvent the laid down laws. Also, these restrictions will lead to the creation of a separate black market for individuals who want to own guns for self-defense purposes thus might result into more acts of wars and killings (Richardson & Hemenway, 2011).

Policy

Even though suicide acts are considered as the second most causes of death among the youths in the United States, there has been an increased hope that these deaths can be reduced and prevented as state implements laws regarding suicide prevention education and training in learning institutions. As observed by the American Foundation for suicide prevention, close to 27 states have approved legislation recommending learners to receive suicide control training. One of the most significant pieces of legislation put in place to curb this menace is the Jason Flatt Act that champions for teenage suicide awareness and prevention training within teacher training (Pytash, 2013). The primary objective of this act is that it requires all the Tennessee educators to get involved yearly in suicide awareness and prevention programs with the intention of keeping their licenses and since it was passed, close to 18 other states have embraced the legislation. In addition to the training initiatives, other countries are seeking for suicide prevention education for the middle and higher learning students. A good example is the Jamie’s Law passed in West Virginia that needs the public and private middle, colleges and high schools to talk about suicide prevention and awareness. One of the limitations of this act is that it only beneficial to school students thus sidelining other options.

Recommendations

Having looked at the interventions and the policy in place for curbing this health disparity, there other recommendations towards dealing with suicidal act within the United States. There is the need to understand the facts since suicide entirely and the possible beginning of a cluster might be associated with some significant rumor and even suspicion thus there is the need to examine the possible causes of suicidal acts. There is also a substantial value of associating the crisis response to longer-term processes of lethal menace reduction and social recovery. Communities need to come up with plans that should promote and help in more services that could help reduce suicidal acts in teenagers.

 

References

Andrés, A. R., & Hempstead, K. (2011). Gun control and suicide: The impact of state firearm regulations in the United States, 1995–2004. Health Policy, 101(1), 95-103.

Pytash, K. E. (2013). Using YA literature to help preservice teachers deal with bullying and suicide. Journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 56(6), 470-479.

Richardson, E. G., & Hemenway, D. (2011). Homicide, suicide, and unintentional firearm fatality: comparing the United States with other high-income countries, 2003. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 70(1), 238-243.