Educational Interventions for Target Populations Applying Theories and Models

HEALTH

Applying Theories and Models to Educational Interventions for Target Populations

Beliefs/ Subjective Norms of Target Population

Poor health of female sex workers (FSW) has been one of the primary concerns of public health for decades. It has become an international concern since globalization has affected the mobility of female sex workers worldwide, causing a higher risk of spreading sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 

It is a generally held belief by the FSWs that their drug dependency during sex work is inevitable as they feel trapped in this spiteful cycle (Jeal et al., 2017). They feel it is highly likely that if they stop injecting drugs, there would be an inverse effect on their sex work. The drug services will be increased if sex work keeps relapsing and remitting during the entire process (Jeal et al., 2017). Moreover, female sex workers have reported that the use of drugs is to get rid of stress and trauma they undergo while being involved in unwanted sex life (Mergenova et al., 2019). They were under the strong influence of drugs to combat the ongoing socio-cultural disadvantages and the social stigma attached to their profession. 

Evaluation of Those Beliefs

With increased drug abuse, there is a higher risk of sexual health complications since when drugs are injected into the bloodstream; the blood-borne bruises are more likely to flourish (Jeal et al., 2017). There remains less concern about using protection or condom; hence, safe sex remains no more a worry. There could be abscesses where the drugs are injected over the skin and flesh, and deep vein thrombosis and septicemia are also some of the intricacies associated with the drug abuse of FSWs (Jeal et al., 2017). 

Women who start injecting drugs at a younger age are highly susceptible to using them till their later life stages (Jeal et al., 2017). The most common drugs used include cocaine and heroin. They use it as a source of their sex work as they feel they could be less successful in getting highly paid if they do not have drugs. On the contrary, they are unaware that this behavior would lead to poor mental health, suicidal intentions, blood-borne infections, greater risk of genital infections, exposure to viciousness, and higher vulnerability to death (Jeal et al., 2017). 

The Capability of Target Population to Complete Behavior

It is deduced that female sex workers who take drugs would need safety planning education and psychological help to address trauma and mental issues promptly. The capability of such women to complete the proposed behavior change could be a challenge as transfusing the learned behavior of reducing dependency on drugs and better sexual health has become part of their lives, living norms, cultural sensitivity, stigma, and shared language. 

The motivation to bring a change in their quality of life (QoL) is expected to increase with educational intervention about drug abuse for FSWs so that learning new life skills proves beneficial for them. The educational refusal would be low based on the learning that their subjective norms are the early determinants of their perceived control behavior. 

Use of Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior for Designing an Educational Intervention

The theory of reasoned action or planned behavior is influenced by the notion that a person’s action could be changed with behavioral intentions based on the subjective norms or attitudes towards them (Moeini et al., 2016). The intention could alter perceived control over one’s behavior (National Cancer Institute, 2005, p. 16). The decision by a person comes from this alteration influenced by behavioral intention. 

Project Nova is an evidence-based effective educational intervention for reducing drug abuse among female sex workers in Kazakhstan (Mergenova et al., 2019). The current educational intervention has been based on this Project so that drug usage is reduced for better health of the target population. The educational intervention involves two 60-minutes sessions in a week among the selected target population (Mergenova et al., 2019). The project would be based on four to six weeks’ time duration, depending on the final results. 

The program also encompasses the awareness about using condoms while having sex and vocational training so that less reliance on sex work could be induced with more financial reliability on sewing and other occupations (Mergenova et al., 2019). The training and educational training produced positive results for female sex workers in Kazakhstan, expecting the same outcomes for the current target population (Mergenova et al., 2019). Regular safety planning and coping strategies would be taught to the FSWs to maximize their confidence in having sex and reduce the health risks. With lesser dependency on the drug, there would be a lower probability of intimate partner violence and better harm-reduction tactics learned by the target females. 

Further, it is expected that Project Nova would induce perceived controlled behavior as the subjective norms might not be strong enough not to trigger them to change their lives. As mentioned above, FSWs are stressed and use drugs to relieve their suffering. They might be waiting for such an educational intervention to come out of the problematic way of living and up their living standards. Their subjective norms might be changed with the planned change in behavior so that they are convinced to perform a certain action (Taghdisi et al., 2016, p. 198). FSWs would be eager to create advantageous opportunities in their lives by learning new information about sexual health, safe sex, and less enslavement of drugs.