Sudden Infant Death Health Promotion Plan

Health promotion is one of the significant responsibilities of nurses in public health nursing. Nurses participate actively in health issues assessment, health promotion across various health populations, and improving their quality of life.

The primary focus of health promotion is improving community well-being, enhancing lifestyles through education, and encouraging community members to support healthy behavior. Sudden Infant Death is a major health concern in the community. This essay presents a health promotion plan addressing sudden infant death to parents and caregivers in the community.

Sudden Infant Death Health Promotion Plan

Sudden Infant Death, Underlying Assumptions, and Areas of Uncertainty

Sudden infant death is an apparently healthy baby’s unexpected, sudden, and unexplained death before they turn one. The causes of the sudden deaths are not usually obvious before investigation but mainly happen when the infant is sleeping or in the baby’s sleeping area (CDC.gov, n.d.). Sudden unexpected infant deaths include Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), accidental suffocating in the baby’s sleeping environment, and other infant deaths that are mainly from unknown sources.

Sudden infant death is a global health concern. In the United States alone, the estimated number of sudden infant deaths is about 3400 annually. According to a study by Pretorius and Rew (2018), sudden infant death is the leading cause of neonatal mortality even in developed countries, despite public health campaigns and efforts to prevent it.

The primary underlying assumption is that preventable causes such as suffocation and strangulation in the baby’s sleeping areas can be used to reduce SID occurrences. One of the significant uncertainties in sudden infant death is that investigations of the causes of the deaths may be complex since, most of the time, the parents and caregivers are not present when the deaths occur. Investigators may also not be able to get clear descriptions of the circumstances around the death.

Importance of Sudden Infant Death Health Promotion to Parents and Caregivers

Despite many causes of sudden infant death remaining unknown, risk factors that may cause sudden infant deaths, such as suffocation of the sleeping environment and strangulation in bed, can be avoided. The immediate and extended family significantly feels the overall impact of sudden infant death. Losing a child to an unexplained reason leaves the parent or caregiver wondering what occurred.

More so, studies show that parents experience guilt since most sudden infant deaths occur in the home setting, where there could be risk factors (Pretorius and Rew, 2018). Parents and caregivers may also experience posttraumatic distress, grief-related complications, and general health problems.

Therefore, health promotion on sudden infant death for parents and caregivers is necessary. It will focus on creating awareness of the risk factors of sudden infant death among parents and caregivers, thus helping prevent preventable occurrences of sudden infant deaths. The hypothetical population will include parents and caregivers of infants below one year. Expectant mothers will also be included. The group comes from the non-Hispanic/Alaska Native community, which recently reported a high number of sudden infant deaths.

Current Population Health Data

As mentioned earlier, there are about 3400 sudden Infant Deaths in the US each year. The CDC’s breakdown by cause is as follows: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome-41%, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed at 27%, and unknown cause at 32%. The SID rates have significant racial and ethnic differences. Regarding race and ethnicity, non-Hispanic American Indians/Alaska natives record the highest number of SIDs, followed by non-Hispanic blacks and Pacific Islanders. The rates are lowest among Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Asians (CDC.gov, n.d.).

Factors Contribution to health, health disparities, and Access to Health Services

Various factors contribute to health, health disparities, and access to health services. The determinants of health include social, environmental, and physical influences, genetics, and medical care. These factors influence the health and well-being of people across health populations.

The health disparities among the parents and caregivers of infants may include race, ethnicity, and parents and caregivers from rural areas. The parents’ age can also be a health disparity since young parents may not seek health services like older parents (Lavista Ferres et al., 2020). These disparities may be a barrier to accessing health services and discourage parents from seeking health services.

Importance of Establishing Agreed Upon Goals in Collaboration with the Participants

Having mutually agreed upon goals is essential when addressing sudden infant deaths with the parents and caregivers is essential. A study by Tokhi et al. (2018) established that involving parents and caregivers in infant health promotion interventions is likely to lead to successful interventions. One way of involvement is by decision-making and setting goals. Comprehensive inclusion leads to better ownership of the program. The facilitator and the participants should collectively agree upon the learning outcomes and objectives of a health promotion program.

Conclusion

Sudden Infant Death is a serious health concern that requires attention. It adversely affects the parents, caregivers, and the entire family. One major cause of SID is suffocation and strangulation, which can be prevented. The health promotion program will teach parents and caregivers to create a safe sleeping environment for infants. Creating mutually agreed-upon goals helps enhance the success of the health promotion sessions.

References

Lavista Ferres, J. M., Anderson, T. M., Johnston, R., Ramirez, J. M., & Mitchell, E. A. (2020). Distinct populations of sudden unexpected infant death based on age. Pediatrics, 145(1). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-1637

Pretorius, K., & Rew, L. (2018). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A Global Public Health Issue and Nursing’s Response. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2018.1451569

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Sudden unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. https://www.cdc.gov/sids/index.htm

Tokhi, M., Comrie-Thomson, L., Davis, J., Portela, A., Chersich, M., & Luchters, S. (2018). Involving men to improve maternal and newborn health: a systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions. PloS One, 13(1), e0191620. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191620

NURS 4060 Assessment 1 Instructions: Health Promotion Plan

Develop a hypothetical health promotion plan, 3-4 pages in length, addressing a specific health concern for an individual or a group living in the community that you identified from the topic list provided.

  • Bullying.
  • Teen Pregnancy.
  • LGBTQIA + Health.
  • Sudden Infant Death (SID).
  • Immunization.
  • Tobacco use (include all: vaping, e-cigarettes, hookah, chewing tobacco, and smoking) cessation.

Instructions

Health Promotion Plan

  • Choose a specific health concern or health need as the focus of your hypothetical health promotion plan. Then, investigate your chosen concern or need and best practices for health improvement, based on supporting evidence.
    • Bullying.
    • Teen Pregnancy.
    • LGBTQIA + Health.
    • Sudden Infant Death (SID).
    • Immunizations.
    • Tobacco use (include all: vaping e-cigarettes, hookah, chewing tobacco, and smoking) cessation. (MUST address all tobacco products).
  • Create a scenario as if this project was being completed face-to-face.
  • Identify the chosen population and include demographic data (location, lifestyle, age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, education, employment).
  • Describe in detail the characteristics of your chosen hypothetical individual or group for this activity and how they are relevant to this targeted population.
  • Discuss why your chosen population is predisposed to this health concern or health need and why they can benefit from a health promotion educational plan.
  • Based on the health concern for your hypothetical individual or group, discuss what you would include in the development of a sociogram. Take into consideration possible social, economic, cultural, genetic, and/or lifestyle behaviors that may have an impact on health as you develop your educational plan in your first assessment. You will take this information into consideration when you develop your educational plan in your fourth assessment.
  • Identify their potential learning needs. Collaborate with the individual or group on SMART goals that will be used to evaluate the educational session (Assessment 4).
  • Identify the individual or group’s current behaviors and outline clear expectations for this educational session and offer suggestions for how the individual or group needs can be met.
  • Health promotion goals need to be clear, measurable, and appropriate for this activity. Consider goals that will foster behavior changes and lead to the desired outcomes.

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