2002 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 29-39
This paper proposes a new role for nurses in health care policy development using the example of a community-based health education program. Due to rapid changes in health care policy in Japan and the United States, there is a growing need for community-based health education programs. In Japan, Healthy Japan 21 emphasizes the importance of health education programs. Health promotion in the United States as well as Japan is viewed as beneficial to both the individual and society. Efforts at health promotion among the elderly population have been initiated at the national level by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as a part of their objectives for Healthy People 2000. Participation by members of the community in program planning necessary to ensure that programs meet the unique needs of the target population. Communities are unique in their characteristics, and their needs should be assessed holistically at the local level. Intervention also occurs at the local level, even if government regulations and health plans are regionally controlled, as they are in Japan. The significant steps in developing community-based health education will be illustrated using the example of the BABS(Be Able Be Satisfied)program, which was designed based on U.S. federal health care policy and implemented for an elderly Japanese population in San Francisco, California. The BABS program is discussed in terms of its process, impact, and outcomes with a particular focus on the changes necessitated by the demands of the actual situation. This adjustment during the implementation of the program, led to effective outcomes. Such information from the local level is needed to address existing problems in the community and needs to be heard at the national level. Therefore, the future role of nurses as facilitators of community-based health education programs will include knowledge of the political process, the ability to communicate the needs of a local community's population to health care policy decision makers, and the presence of a strong voice in professional organizations, as well as the skill to provide comprehensive health care. Nursing leadership in the process of policy development will assure the public of the provision of effective health education programs for the entire nation.
