Community activism is defined as actions through which organizations, groups and individual work together to promote economic, social, cultural policies and practice changes. Basically, the key goal of community activism is to endorse actions that decrease health disparities, improve living conditions and enhance community environments. Nowadays, advanced nurse practitioners engage in cooperative and nonstop actions to remove barriers (e.g., social, political, economic barriers, etc.) and change underlying structures aimed to improve the lives of patients subjected to unequal and discriminatory conditions (e.g., minorities groups, LGBTQs, etc.) (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).             The key concepts associated with community activism include social justice, praxis, empowerment, critical reflection and consciousness raising. Consciousness raising is a key concept in which is involves the presentation of pertinent information in order to engage with others in critical reflection. Critical reflection is a key concept through which community activists activate possible collective actions and transformations. On the other hand, praxis is a decisive reflective action derived of individual and collective consciousness and theories to create commitment in order to build a justice society (Murphy, 2018).             In addition, empowerment is another key concept that entails processes and results of the implemented transformational actions through which people, communities and organizations increase their control and mastery within political, social and economic frameworks in order to enhance a better quality of life. On the other hand, social justice is a fundamental concept which involves philosophical, public health and political elements embedded in the epitome of human rights and social fairness and impartiality (Murphy, 2018).             Recent data estimates that approximately 38 millions of people are smokers in the United States. Basically, Big Tobacco targets communities such as lower-income ones and creates products which include more addictive substances. These are the key reasons why the prevalence of smokers is higher, particularly among individuals with lower incomes. Therefore, it is crucial that nurses engage in community activism to halt or decrease the negative health impact from Big Tobacco. Some of the actions nurses can implement include the promotion of smoking cessation, education about the negative effects of smoking, increase their understanding of the tobacco industry, and increase awareness about the relationship between smoking and chronic medical conditions such as COPD, cancer, aortic aneurisms, etc. (Savell, Gilmore & Fooks, 2014).             In addition, nurses can alert patients to watch out for deceptions and lies used by these companies to prevent them from quitting. Moreover, nurses must alert smokers the multiple strategies these companies implement to increase their addiction, for instance; several studi.

1. Community activism is defined as actions through which
organizations, groups and individual work together to promote
economic, social, cultural policies and practice changes.
Basically, the key goal of community activism is to endorse
actions that decrease health disparities, improve living
conditions and enhance community environments. Nowadays,
advanced nurse practitioners engage in cooperative and nonstop
actions to remove barriers (e.g., social, political, economic
barriers, etc.) and change underlying structures aimed to
improve the lives of patients subjected to unequal and
discriminatory conditions (e.g., minorities groups, LGBTQs,
etc.) (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).
The key concepts associated with community activism
include social justice, praxis, empowerment, critical reflection
and consciousness raising. Consciousness raising is a key
concept in which is involves the presentation of pertinent
information in order to engage with others in critical reflection.
Critical reflection is a key concept through which community
activists activate possible collective actions and
transformations. On the other hand, praxis is a decisive
reflective action derived of individual and collective
consciousness and theories to create commitment in order to
build a justice society (Murphy, 2018).
In addition, empowerment is another key concept that
entails processes and results of the implemented
transformational actions through which people, communities
and organizations increase their control and mastery within
political, social and economic frameworks in order to enhance a
better quality of life. On the other hand, social justice is a
fundamental concept which involves philosophical, public
health and political elements embedded in the epitome of human
rights and social fairness and impartiality (Murphy, 2018).

2. Recent data estimates that approximately 38 millions of
people are smokers in the United States. Basically, Big Tobacco
targets communities such as lower-income ones and creates
products which include more addictive substances. These are
the key reasons why the prevalence of smokers is higher,
particularly among individuals with lower incomes. Therefore,
it is crucial that nurses engage in community activism to halt or
decrease the negative health impact from Big Tobacco. Some of
the actions nurses can implement include the promotion of
smoking cessation, education about the negative effects of
smoking, increase their understanding of the tobacco industry,
and increase awareness about the relationship between smoking
and chronic medical conditions such as COPD, cancer, aortic
aneurisms, etc. (Savell, Gilmore & Fooks, 2014).
In addition, nurses can alert patients to watch out for
deceptions and lies used by these companies to prevent them
from quitting. Moreover, nurses must alert smokers the multiple
strategies these companies implement to increase their
addiction, for instance; several studies have disclosed that
nowadays the tobacco industries are delivering products with
higher levels of nicotine in other to make smokers more
difficult to quit (Savell et al, 2014)
In summary, nursing advocacy is essential to provide actual
nursing care and represent a key role that illustrates the
competent power of nursing. The engagement of nurses in
community activism is crucial and patient advocacy is an
extremely important role which has been included in the moral
codes of nursing organizations. Undoubtedly, the need for
justice is a basic human right and nurses are regarded as the
health care professionals that most interact with patients and
their difficulties. Therefore, nurses can make available justice
for the patients better than any other health care professional
(Davoodvand, Abbazzadeh & Ahmadi, 2016).

3. References
Davoodvand, S., Abbazzadeh, A. & Ahmadi, F. (2016). Patient
advocacy from clinical nurses’
viewpoint: a qualitative study.
Journal of Ethics and History of Medicine, 9 (5),
1-8.
Maryland, M. A. & Gonzalez, R. I. (2012). Patient advocacy in
the community legislative arena.
The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Volume 17, Number 1
. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol17
No.01Man02.
Murphy, D. (2018). Introduction to social media, activism and
organizations.
SAGE Journals,
1-4. doi: 10.1177/2056305117750716.
Savell, E., Gilmore, A. B. & Fooks, G. (2014). How does the
tobacco industry attempt to
influence marketing regulations? A systematic review.
PLoS ONE
,
Volume 9 (2),
1-10.
Community Activism
Community activism can be described as a collaborative and

4. sustained action to bring social transformation in a community
by changing structures or removing barriers that impede
people’s wellbeing. It entails identifying specific policies and
practices that may be adversely impacting people's lives and
developing interventions that can improve their living
conditions, community environment, and overall health (Mason,
Leavitt, & Chaffee, 2017). To attain this goal, community
activists work with multiple stakeholders to address underlying
structures and policies that may be contributing to unequal,
oppressive, or unjust conditions. Advanced Practice Nurses may
play a critical role in community advocacy through involvement
in community assessment and legislative advocacy (Mason et
al., 2017). In the Big Tobacco problem, APN has a role in
helping the victims, mobilize people against the companies and
petition the government against the companies, and conduct
awareness programs in the community.
Community activism involves six major concepts: social justice,
community, empowerment, conscious rising, praxis, and critical
reflection. First, social justice is a philosophical concept that
emphasizes equitable allocation of resources and opportunities
to guarantee an active and satisfying life. Hence, it advocates
for equal access to resources and opportunities and equal
treatment under the law (Mason et al., 2017). However, in
different societies, inequalities continue to persist due to poor
government policies that continue to privilege the few over the
majority. Subsequently, community activism seeks to reverse
these policies while pushing for more equitable ones. For
instance, the nurses have vehemently opposed Trump's
proposals to the Affordable Care Act since they believe it will
deny many people health insurance and access to quality
healthcare.
APN should facilitate the formation of community partnerships,
which are the basis for conducting awareness mobilization,
treatment programs, and legislative programs (Mason et al.,

5. 2017). APNs can also organize wellness education programs
that educate people about the health dangers of tobacco, and
how tobacco companies are conspiring to frustrate anybody who
questions their actions. They may also be involved in the
treatment of the tobacco addicts (Carter, & Jones, 2017). They
have exceptional clinical and leadership skills that may help
them to create population-based interventions such as tobacco
cessation programs. They may also organize the community to
submit petitions to their representatives and later to Congress to
ensure that strict action is taken against the community (Grant
et al., 2017). Since the problem is national, critical reflection on
the issue may play a huge role in addressing the issue
conclusively.
References
Carter, M. A., & Jones, M. (2017). Nationwide doctor of
nursing practice/advanced practice registered nurse survey on
roles, functions, and competencies.
Journal of Doctoral Nursing Practice
, 10(2), 108-112.
Grant, J., Lines, L., Darbyshire, P., & Parry, Y. (2017). How do
nurse practitioners work in primary health care settings? A
scoping review.
International journal of nursing studies
, 75, 51-57.
Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chaffee, M. W. (2017).
Policy and Politics in Nursing and Healthcare 7th
Edition
. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Wright, T. (2017). Towards radical praxis through a new
formation in practice development.

6. International Practice Development Journal
, 7(2).