Running head: WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 1 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Wellness Education Program Proposal Learner’s Name Capella University Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Vulnerable and Diverse Populations Wellness Education Program Proposal May, 2017 WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 2 Wellness Education Program Proposal I. Introduction In the United States, vulnerable populations such as Hispanics are more likely to face difficulties while accessing health care than less vulnerable populations. Many factors such as low income, lack of insurance, lack of education, and lack of English and Spanish language proficiency contribute to this disparity in accessing health care. This language barrier can prevent Hispanics from accessing important health education material and prevent health care workers from providing regular medical care. This proposal focuses on the importance of developing a wellness education program for health promotion and disease prevention among Hispanics. II. Problems and Needs To address the health care disparities, a holistic wellness education plan needs to be developed for Hispanics taking into consideration their affinity to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and spiritual care. It is also necessary to be aware of the positive and negative aspects of the ethical, legal, and economic principles of health promotion and disease prevention while developing the wellness education plan. III. Proposed Solution An ideal wellness education plan for Hispanics would integrate the elements of culture, language, CAM, and spiritual care for addressing the health care disparities faced by them. Integrating these elements would help them receive a more holistic health care as their physical and mental states are taken into consideration while devising the plan. WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 3 Cultural Considerations in the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics Delivering culturally competent health care with knowledge about the cultural beliefs of patients from diverse populations assures good health service delivery. In keeping with this belief, Dr. Marilyn A. Ray, a renowned nursing educator and researcher, developed a program called the Transcultural Caring Dynamics in Nursing and Health Care Model. This model helps nurses clarify queries pertaining to patients from diverse cultural backgrounds and helps them understand the processes that affect nursing from a transcultural perspective, which will enable better health care. This model has four major concepts: (a) the essence of caring, which includes various concepts of love, empathy, attention, availability, and communication; (b) the transcultural caring ethics dynamic, which includes respect, trust, commitment, autonomy, impartiality, human rights, and cultural rights; (c) the transcultural context .

1. Running head: WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 1
Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of
this document are prohibited.
Wellness Education Program Proposal
Learner’s Name
Capella University
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Vulnerable and
Diverse Populations
Wellness Education Program Proposal
May, 2017

2. WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 2
Wellness Education Program Proposal
I. Introduction
In the United States, vulnerable populations such as Hispanics
are more likely to face
difficulties while accessing health care than less vulnerable
populations. Many factors such as
low income, lack of insurance, lack of education, and lack of
English and Spanish language
proficiency contribute to this disparity in accessing health care.
This language barrier can prevent
Hispanics from accessing important health education material
and prevent health care workers
from providing regular medical care. This proposal focuses on
the importance of developing a
wellness education program for health promotion and disease
prevention among Hispanics.
II. Problems and Needs
To address the health care disparities, a holistic wellness
education plan needs to be

3. developed for Hispanics taking into consideration their affinity
to complementary and
alternative medicine (CAM) and spiritual care. It is also
necessary to be aware of the positive
and negative aspects of the ethical, legal, and economic
principles of health promotion and
disease prevention while developing the wellness education
plan.
III. Proposed
Solution
An ideal wellness education plan for Hispanics would integrate
the elements of
culture, language, CAM, and spiritual care for addressing the
health care disparities faced by
them. Integrating these elements would help them receive a
more holistic health care as their
physical and mental states are taken into consideration while

4. devising the plan.
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 3
Cultural Considerations in the Wellness Education Plan for
Hispanics
Delivering culturally competent health care with knowledge
about the cultural beliefs of
patients from diverse populations assures good health service
delivery. In keeping with this
belief, Dr. Marilyn A. Ray, a renowned nursing educator and
researcher, developed a program
called the Transcultural Caring Dynamics in Nursing and Health
Care Model. This model helps
nurses clarify queries pertaining to patients from diverse

5. cultural backgrounds and helps them
understand the processes that affect nursing from a transcultural
perspective, which will enable
better health care.
This model has four major concepts: (a) the essence of caring,
which includes various
concepts of love, empathy, attention, availability, and
communication; (b) the transcultural
caring ethics dynamic, which includes respect, trust,
commitment, autonomy, impartiality,
human rights, and cultural rights; (c) the transcultural context
component, which takes into
consideration the personal beliefs, attitudes, and cultural values
of people; and (d) universal or
spiritual resources, which include spiritual traditions and
prevailing religious ceremonies that

6. impact transcultural caring experiences centered around
spirituality and religion (Bailey, 2015).
Elements of Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
Traditional Medicine, Holistic
Health, and Spirituality in the Wellness Education Plan for
Hispanics
Hispanics are avid users of CAM because of their lack of
accessibility to conventional
forms of health care and their belief in spirituality. “CAM is
defined by the National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) as the
medical and health care practices
and systems that are not included in conventional, Western
medicine” (Pérez & Luquis, 2013, p.
90). Integration has led to the emergence of TM and CAM
therapies. TM and CAM therapies are
considered prescription based if minerals, herbal medicines, or

7. homeopathic remedies are used
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 4
for treatment. These procedures can include acupuncture;
manual therapies such as exercises,
massages, and chiropractic; and yoga, qigong, tai chi, spiritual,
or meditation practices. Some of
the features that attract people to TM and CAM therapies
include flexibility, diversity, greater
acceptance in developing countries, and lesser need for modern
technology. TM and CAM
therapies have led to a lot of positive outcomes. Some of them
are as follows:
affordability: TM and CAM therapies have
led to greater accessibility
to health care among low-income populations primarily because

8. they are affordable and
easily available than conventional therapies.
om TM and
CAM therapies is that they are
considered to have a lower rate of adverse effects than normal
pharmaceutical therapies.
Integration of Linguistic Considerations into the Wellness
Education Plan for Hispanics
Language is a reflection of the culture of a population and has
specific meaning to that
population. In case of Hispanics, it is necessary to develop a
Spanish-speaking wellness health
program as it will reduce health disparities in the community
and minimize miscommunications
between health care workers and patients (Pérez & Luquis,
2013).

9. One of the most prominent Spanish-speaking wellness programs
is the Tomando Control
de su Salud [Spanish Chronic Disease Self-Management
Program]. This is a community-based
program that is conducted once a week, for six weeks, for
various Spanish-speaking people with
different chronic health issues.
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 5
Strategies for Implementing Wellness Education Plans for
Health Care Among Hispanics
To ensure the effective implementation of health care plans in
the Hispanic population,
health care workers need to implement certain strategies that

10. will educate and market their
wellness education plans to the Hispanic population. A few such
strategies are as follows:
and health promotion
can be communicated and marketed through television and radio
advertisements.
professionals can implement is
being sensitive to the language of the Hispanic community.
Spanish is an important
marker of social, personal, and political identity among
Hispanics—even for those
who can speak fluent English.
community
outreach activities

11. through trusted organizations such as Promotoras, health care
professionals can share
information about health promotion and disease prevention with
Hispanics and also
market the wellness education plan.
Being aware of the habits and preferences of the Hispanic
population can help tailor
messages for this audience and can also create a wellness plan
that benefits Hispanics over a long
and short time period. (CDC, n.d.).
Benefits of the Wellness Education Plan for Hispanics
The health and wellness plan comes with many short-term and
long-term benefits. Some
of the short-term benefits are that it ensures a healthier lifestyle
by providing easy and immediate
access to preventive measures, regular doctors, and early

12. interventions. Short-term benefits of
Comment [A1]: Good number of
strategies!
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 6
conducting the health and wellness program for health care
organizations include the ability to
provide more culturally sensitive care (Pereyra & Meth, 2012)
Some of the long-term benefits of participating in the health
and wellness program will
be greater access to health care organizations and improvement
in behavior when coping with an
illness. It also saves costs by minimizing visits to the
emergency room. In the long run, health
care organizations can customize their wellness plans for
diverse populations based on their

13. interaction with these populations and provide quality care
(Pereyra & Meth, 2012).
Impacts of Ethical Principles on Preventative Care and Health
Promotion
Before implementing a health care plan, health care
professionals must consider the
ethical principles that can affect preventative care and health
promotion. Some of these
principles are as follows:
health care decisions
without coercion. It has a positive impact on Hispanics as they
value autonomy and see it
as a way to maintain control (Kreling, n.d.).
d non-maleficence: This principle requires
that all procedures be

14. conducted only for the good of a patient. Patients should not be
harmed in any way while
they are undergoing treatment procedures. This principle has a
positive impact on
patients as they feel protected from harm. It has a negative
impact only on health care
organizations. Patients may autonomously choose a treatment
that a practitioner believes
would not be beneficial to them.
Ethical transparency is an extremely relevant aspect in health
promotion. It will have a
positive impact on health care organizations as it will help
foster a greater sense of accountability
Comment [A2]: Good

15. WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 7
to the communities these organizations serve and can also
increase the effectiveness of
communicating the different risks involved in a treatment
(Coleman, Bouёsseau, & Reis, n.d).
However, an ethical issue that has arisen in health promotion is
the question of the extent to
which public health authorities should interfere with personal
choice on health—particularly if
they are caused by behaviors such as smoking. This has led to
the need for certain health-related
laws to be developed (Carter et al., 2011).
Impacts of Local and Federal Laws and the Affordable Care Act
Besides ethical principles, various local and federal laws will
also impact health care
plans in many ways. One of the key health care laws

16. implemented by the U.S. government has
been the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a comprehensive health
care act that aims to make
affordable health insurance available to more people.
Some of these positive impacts are as follows: (a) the ACA
enables Hispanics to save
millions on preventative health care services that are now
available free of cost; (b) on 2014,
more than 2.3 million Hispanics who were small business
owners or self-employed became
eligible to buy affordable health care coverage through an
insurance exchange. This gave
employers the chance to select more affordable health care; (c)
over a third of the 2.5 million
Hispanic youth are insured under the Act’s new dependent
coverage provision, which allows

17. them to remain under their parents’ insurance policy until the
age of 26 (Pereyra & Meth, 2012).
Regardless of some minor negative impacts, new health care
laws at the local and federal
level have a positive impact on everyone. The Supreme Court
upholds tax credits for small
businesses that want to provide health insurance for their
families. This mandate ensures
insurance coverage for everyone in the United States and makes
insurance coverage much easier
to finance for small business owners (Kruse, 2015). However,
the growing need for staff and
Comment [A3]: Good job on ethics!
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 8
infrastructure has had a relatively negative economic impact on

18. clinical prevention of various
diseases and health promotion.
Economic Impact on Clinical Preventive Services and Health
Promotion
Clinical prevention and health promotion play a key role in
improving the United States’
health and keeping rising health costs under control. However,
organizations face a negative
impact because of the need for more staff and resources, which
leads to an increase in health care
costs. Prevention policies and programs of various illnesses
such as diabetes are often cost-
effective. They improve productivity and reduce health care
costs. The following benefits
explain why prevention is a good economic solution in health
care: (a) in case of Hispanics,

19. prevention lowers health care costs. HIV is prevalent among
Hispanics. For every HIV infection
prevented, an estimated $355,000 is saved by avoiding the cost
incurred on lifetime HIV
treatment; (b) in case of organizations, prevention increases
productivity..
IV. Conclusion
Health care disparities still persist in the United States among
Hispanics. However, over
the past decade, there has been a focus on reducing disparities
through the implementation of
various wellness programs, which take cultural and linguistic
differences into account. There
have also been efforts to address clinical prevention and health
promotion at the federal, local,
and organizational level as the ACA includes additions that
attempt to reduce disparities between

20. Hispanics and the rest of the American population. The existing
health disparities present among
Hispanics makes it necessary to address all facets of the social,
economic, and legal principles of
health care. This will definitely lead to wider health care
coverage for all (Artiga, 2016).
Comment [A4]: Very good!
Comment [A5]: Good!
Comment [A6]: Very nice job on
this assessment �
WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 9
References

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brief/disparities-in-health-and-
health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/
Bailey, D. N. (2015). Mitigation of transcultural clinical
barriers in a health and wellness
program: A transcultural caring approach for vulnerable migrant
backstretch
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Benjamin, R. M. (2011). Economic benefits of preventing
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23. http://who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/8/08-055954/en/
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WELLNESS EDUCATION PROGRAM 10
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