Community, Population, Public, and Global Health Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes covering community health concepts, ethical principles, epidemiological models and measures, theoretical frameworks, and environmental health.

Public Health (Specialty)

A specialty of community nursing practice that focuses on improving and protecting the health of a population through health promotion and disease prevention.

Community Health

Focuses on improving the health of a group, usually within a specific geographic area, like a neighborhood.

Population Health

Focuses on the health of a specific group of people, usually centered around a specific health topic such as asthma or T2DM.

Community-Based Nursing

Nursing practice that occurs in a specific place, such as a school or office.

Core Functions of Public Health

The three fundamental functions of public health practice across government levels: Assessment, Policy Development, and Assurance.

Beneficence

Doing good and acting to the benefit of the client.

Nonmaleficence

Doing no harm and determining the risk-benefit balance for any action.

Justice

Treating others fairly, equitably, and with respect.

Autonomy

Recognizing an individual's personal value and worth to determine their own path and make choices.

Veracity

Truthfulness and the ability to keep commitments and promises.

Informed Consent

Requires a competent, fully informed client who understands the options and potential outcomes of their choice.

Confidentiality

Sharing information only with those who have a right and need to know.

Primary Prevention

Interventions implemented to prevent conditions of poor health before they occur, such as health education, hand hygiene, and immunizations.

Secondary Prevention

Screening and assessing for early detection and early treatment of a condition, such as blood pressure screenings and TB tests.

Tertiary Prevention

Interventions aimed at minimizing complications and maximizing good health in individuals who have an established condition, such as rehabilitation and condition management.

Lillian Wald

Recognized founder of public health nursing.

Dr. Edward Jenner

Physician who noticed milkmaids with cowpox were immune to smallpox and developed the smallpox vaccine.

Ecological Model

A model showing how internal and external factors affect health behavior across multiple levels of society: internal, interpersonal, institutional, community-related, and public policy.

Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change)

A behavioral model showing that readiness to adopt a healthy behavior progresses through stages: Precontemplative, Contemplative, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, and Termination.

Aggregate

A community composed of people who have common characteristics.

Community of Solution

A type of community in which a common problem unites individuals.

Geopolitical Community

A community defined by formal boundaries, such as census tracts that subdivide larger communities.

Gentrification

The process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.

Community Health Assessment (CHA)

The collection and interpretation of information to prioritize, plan, and act upon unmet health needs, serving as a prerequisite for the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

Type 1 Data Collection

Collection of direct data (data generation), including primary data, informant interviews, participant observation, and windshield surveys.

Type 2 Data Collection

Collection of reported or existing data, including secondary data, public documents, health surveys, statistical data, and collaborative meeting minutes.

Metropolitan Statistical Area

A big city and its surrounding areas.

Vital Statistics

Official registration records of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and adoptions reported by local and state agencies.

Upstream Focus

Nursing actions directed at modifying economic, political, and environmental factors that are precursors of poor health.

Downstream Focus

Nursing actions focused on immediate individual care.

I PREPARE

An environmental exposure history mnemonic: Investigate potential exposures, Present work, Residents, Environmental concerns, Past work, Activities, Referrals and Resources, Educate.

Health Belief Model

A framework that focuses on the individual as the locus of change based on the assumption that a major determinant of preventive health behavior is disease avoidance.

Milio's Framework for Prevention

A framework providing a mechanism for directing attention upstream and examining population-level opportunities for nursing intervention.

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems.

Analytic Epidemiology

The study of the causes of disease and complex relationships among determinants using observational and experimental studies.

Descriptive Epidemiology

The study of the amount and distribution of disease using the Person, Place, and Time model.

Formative Evaluation

Program evaluation conducted during planning and implementation.

Summative Evaluation

Program evaluation conducted on well-established programs to measure overall outcomes.

Epidemiologic Triangle

A traditional model displaying the relationship between agent (cause of disease), host (carrier of disease), and environment (surroundings of the host).

Health Promotion

The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.

Health Protection

Interventions that guard against health threats by protecting, detecting, or preventing disease to maximize health within constraints.

Risk Factor

An exposure associated with a disease.

Wheel Model

A multiple causation model illustrating that disease results from a person's genetic core interacting with the biological, social, and physical environments; useful for analyzing chronic conditions.

Web of Causation

A model illustrating complex relationships between multiple determinants that influence disease risk and health outcomes as a network of interconnected causes.

Incidence

The number of new cases of a disease developing in a specified population during a specified period, calculated as $\left(\frac{\text{Number of new cases during a specified period}}{\text{population at risk at the beginning of the period}}\right) \times 100$

Prevalence Rate

The total number of all cases of a specific disease in a population at a given point in time, calculated as $\text{Incidence} \times \text{Duration}$

Attack Rate

A formula used during disease outbreaks to identify sources of illness and track spread, calculated as $\left(\frac{\text{number of sick people}}{\text{number of people at risk}}\right) \times 100$

Attributable Risk

An estimate of disease burden in a population, calculated as $\text{Incidence in exposed group} - \text{Incidence in unexposed group}$

Relative Risk

A comparison of risk between groups, calculated as $\frac{\text{Risk in exposed group}}{\text{Risk in unexposed group}}$

Infant Mortality Rate

Calculated as deaths among infants under age $1$ year divided by live births $\times 1000$

Stimulus-Response Conditioning (Behavioral Learning Theory)

A theory proposing that behavior is shaped through repetition and positive or negative reinforcement.

Cognitive Learning Theory

A learning theory stating that learning occurs through thinking, understanding, processing information, and problem-solving.

Humanistic Learning Theory

A learning theory that focuses on personal growth, self-direction, autonomy, and meeting emotional needs.

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

A learning theory emphasizing that individuals learn by observing, imitating, and modeling behaviors of others.

Health Literacy

A constellation of skills needed to perform basic reading tasks required to function in a healthcare environment for accessing, understanding, and using health information.

Sick Building Syndrome

Refers to any building that makes its occupants sick due to indoor environmental factors.

Healthy People 2030

A set of health objectives designed to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities in the United States. It aims to promote health equity, improve health literacy, and reduce health disparities.

geographical community

location delineated by boundaries and influenced by passage of time

macroscopic

pertaining to large-scale observations or studies; society, socioeconomic environmental

microscopic

pertaining to small-scale observations or studies

surveillance

ongoing collection and interpretation of data

Natural History of Disease

shows expected disease progression without intervention

USPSTF

creates evidence-based recommendations for clinical preventive services

grade A

There is high certainty that the net benefit is substantial.

grade B

There is high certainty that the net benefit is moderate or there is moderate certainty that the net benefit is moderate to substantial.

grade C

Offer or provide this service to individual patients based on professional judgment and patient preferences. There is at least moderate certainty that the net benefit is small.

grade D

There is moderate or high certainty that the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits.

grade I

The current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of the service.

Pender’s Health Promotion Model

based on individual characteristics and experience

Knowles Assumption of Adult Learners

five characteristics that differentiate adult learners from child learners

vector

vehicle for transmission (mosquitos, bats)

agent

cause of disease (bacteria, virus)

host

carrier of the disease (human)

cross-sectional study

examine relationships between potential causal relationships and disease at a specific time, analytic epidemiology

retrospective study

compare individuals to a particular condition or disease to those who don’t have a disease

prospective/longitudinal studies

monitors a group of disease free individuals to determine where and when disease occurs