Theory Application Paper

 

The paper will comprise of cited research on the effectiveness of the model(s) or theories related to your identified issue of HIV among homeless youth, a gap analysis, and a proposed intervention that would help fill the gap.

 

Guidelines for Submission:? Submit a 10 page word document that uses 11-pt Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins. Utilize at least 10 references to support your claims. All citations and other formatting conventions should follow the most current version of AMA style. 

 

TOPIC: HIV Among Homeless Youth in the US

 

Your paper needs to include the following: 

 

• Introduction –Compete- see pages 4-5
  • Briefly review the chosen issue or behavior.

?    Explain the history, public health implication, affected population, and economic and/or social consequences.

?     State why the issue you chosen is an important one to address.

?     Explain how addressing this issue might lead to better conditions.

• Theories, Models, and Gap Analysis
  • Describe the different social and behavioral health models that people in the field have used to address this behavior/issue.

?    Identify a gap that still exists despite the current efforts in the field. What could be done to address the gap? What behavioral change must occur?

?    Support all claims with relevant and reputable resources and examples. You may want to reference the work done in your research summaries.

• Intervention
  • Propose a behavioral intervention that would help to fill the gap you have described above. ?This does not need to be an original intervention, you may? choose an intervention that has already been proposed. The purpose is to propose an intervention that would best fill the gap you have identified.

 

?    You are not expected to provide an in depth proposal with all the details of the intervention.

?   For example: An intervention for school aged children who smoke may be an after school program to enhance positive interaction among peers.

 

?    Explain how your intervention utilizes the chosen theory/model. What specific components of the theory/model are being used in your intervention?

?    Support your proposed intervention with evidence from the literature. Reference the work completed in your research summaries.

?    Make a table/visual/figure that illustrates the relationship between your    theory/model and the proposed intervention. This visual should show which components of the theory/model are being used and where in the intervention.

 

Conclusion

?    Summarize the major concepts from this paper.

?    How does your intervention achieve the desired behavioral change?

?    What limitations are there to your proposed plan?

?    Discuss potential next steps.

 

RUBIC:

	Excellent	Satisfactory	Needs Improvement	Not Evident
Introduction	Meets the “Satisfactory” criteria and explains how addressing this issue might lead to better conditions	Succinctly identifies chosen issue/behavior, explains the history, public health implication, affected population, economic/social consequences, and identifies why the issue is important to address	There are gaps in the identification of the chosen issue/behavior, explanation of the history, description of the public health implications, the description of the affected population, discussion of the economic/social consequences, or the identification of why the issues in an important one to address	Does not correctly identify the chosen issue/behavior, explanation of the history, description of the public health implications, the description of the affected population, discussion of the economic/social consequences, and/or the identification of why the issues in an important one to address
Theories/Models	Meets the “Satisfactory”	Correctly describes the	There are gaps in the description of	Does not describe the social and

 

	criteria and supports all claims with relevant and reputable resources and examples	social and behavioral health models people in the field have used to address this issue	the social and behavioral health models people in the field have used to address the issue	behavioral health models people in the field have used to address this issue
Gap Analysis	Meets the “Satisfactory” criteria and supports all claims with relevant and reputable resources and examples	Identifies a gap that exists and discusses what could be done to address the gap	Identifies a gap that exists, but does not discuss what could be done to address the gap	Does not identify a gap that exists
Intervention	Meets the “Satisfactory” criteria and supports proposed intervention with evidence from the literature	Proposes a behavioral intervention for an identified target group that would fill the identified gap and explains how the intervention utilizes a specific theory/model	Proposes a behavioral intervention for an identified target group that would fill the identified gap, but does not explain how the intervention utilizes a specific theory/model	Does not propose a behavioral intervention for an identified target group that would fill the identified gap
Table, Visual, or Figure		Creates a visual that clearly illustrates the relationship between the theory/model and the proposed intervention	There are gaps in the visual that does not clearly illustrate the relationship between the theory/model and the proposed intervention	Does not create a visual that illustrates the relationship between the theory/model and the proposed intervention
Conclusion	Meets the “Satisfactory” criteria and summary is clear and succinct	Summarizes major concepts, discusses how the intervention fills the identified gap, and discusses limitations of the proposed plan	There are gaps in the summary of the major concepts, the discussion of how the intervention fills the identified gap, or the discussion of limitations of the proposed plan	Does not summarize major concepts, discuss how the intervention fills the identified gap, and discuss limitations of the proposed plan
Bibliography	Meets the “Satisfactory” criteria and all	Correctly cites all sources used in the analysis and	All sources are relevant to the chosen disease or	There are citation errors and sources are not relevant to
	sources are reputable and current	all sources are relevant to the chosen disease or condition	condition, but there are citation errors	the chosen disease or condition
Writing Mechanics	Meets the “satisfactory” level and all sections are clear, concise, and written in a professional tone	Paper is organized in the required format and contains no grammatical errors	There are grammatical and formatting errors, but they do not affect the readability of the paper	Errors in formatting or grammar affect the readability of the Paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HIV Prevalence among Homeless Youths

 

HIV is an acronym of Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively high in homeless youths than stably housed youths in the country. According to California Homeless Youth Project publications, homeless and unstably, housed youths are likely to be exposed to contracting HIV, 2014. According to the report, roughly 60% of homeless youths are unaware of their HIV status1. This shows that the spread of HIV among these youths are quite unintentional. Lack of information or awareness about their health status is contributed by lack of accessibility to medication. Also, the sexual lifestyle of the unstably housed youths contributed greatly to their prevalence to the HIV/AIDS. As a matter of fact, homeless youths’ sexual lifestyle is classified into gay, lesbian and heterosexual or bisexual among others shows a different level of vulnerability to contracting HIV.

 

According to National Coalition for the Homeless, there is a higher rate of HIV infection among the homeless youths than well-housed youths in the same regions, 2007. According to the study, the level of vulnerability among homeless youths is about 3%-20% on the lower margin while other subgroups are rated to be of higher burdens of the menace2. In essence, people living with HIV are considered to have a higher risk of being homeless than their counterparts. For instance, a study conducted in Los Angeles indicated that almost 50% of domicile individuals living with HIV/AIDS believe that they were riskier to become homeless due to their conditions. Being homeless provides higher chances of the high mortality rate for the infected people than their counterparts. For example, youths who are homeless are prone to unprotected sex or do not mind about safe sex, thus increasing chances of infection. Additionally, this age is susceptible to regular unprotected sex with their counterparts whom they are not aware of their HIV status. According to CDC, stable housing accelerates the accessibility of medical care and observance to antiretroviral therapy that reduces the replication of the virus in HIV-positive individuals. However, homeless people are not able to access health care and medication and are highly vulnerable to the spread of the virus and early deaths.

 

Sarah Knopf estimated that by around 2009, the number of people diagnosed with HIV were roughly 784701. On the other hand, by 2010 those who were affected were found within low-income areas of U.S amounted to 2.1% as compared to general population3.  Going by this data, it is evident that areas that are highly impoverished are vulnerable to HIV, as well as unstably housed individuals. The economic impact of these individuals in these areas record low gross income due to lack of energy and commitment to economic production. Correspondingly, their social life is highly affected as they cannot afford decent housing, better diet and proper medication in the street where they seek for their shelter.

 

It is very important to examine the issue of HIV among homeless youths. Also, it is vital to address the issue with the aim of improving the conditions of HIV-positive homeless youths in U.S.  According to National HCH Council’s Quarterly Report, there is a high-risk behavior among homeless individuals than their counterparts in stable housing setup, 2012. Homelessness promotes uncontrolled engagement in behaviors that are linked to HIV risks such as unprotected sex practices, drug abuse or drug injections among youths through sharing of needles that promotes the spread of HIV3. In addition, there are high chances of the unstably housed youths to engage in commercial sex, hence promoting the spread of HIV/AIDS. So, providing decent housing model to keep the youths from the street and close care such as guidance and counseling would help to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS due to the creation of self-awareness among the youths. To reduce prevalence and spread of HIV among homeless youths, the concerned parties must at least house the affected youths to provide medication and a good diet to help in reducing the adverse effect on the affected groups. Finally, it is evident that the rate of infection and risk factor is so high in low-income areas where housing is a challenge. Consequently, the economic empowerment that can allow the inhabitants to afford better housing and income generation to reduce chances of commercial sex would help greatly in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

1. Ruddick, Susan M. “Young and homeless in Hollywood: Mapping the social imaginary.” 2014.

 

2. Salazar, Laura F., et al. “”Homelessness and HIV-associated risk behavior among African American men who inject drugs and reside in the urban south of the United States.”.” AIDS and Behavior 11.2 (2007): 70-77.

 

3. Council, N. H. “”HIV/AIDS among Persons Experiencing Homelessness:.” Risk Factors, Predictors of Testing, and Promising Testing Strategies.” (2012).