Epidemiological Issues in Windshield Survey Epidemiological Triangle

Epidemiological Issues in Windshield Survey

Epidemiological Triangle Emphasis

The two most important parts of the epidemiological triangle in relation to sexually transmitted disease would be the host element and the environment element and the least important would be the pathogen element. That is because sexually transmitted diseases rely on human behavior for transmission rather than inherent aspects of the diseases themselves.

Unlike airborne pathogens and other diseases whose capacity to infect patients is substantially a function of the pathogens themselves, sexually transmitted diseases cannot infect victims outside of circumstances initiated by the potential victims. Therefore, prevention efforts should focus on addressing human behaviors that are capable of being changed. That part of the epidemiological triangle relates to individual awareness, behavioral choices, and situational awareness of individuals.

However, because human behavior in individuals is so much a function of community values, beliefs, norms, and mores, the second part of the epidemiological triangle is also crucial to controlling sexually transmitted disease susceptibility in individuals. That is particularly true in connection with the behaviors of patients within certain populations, such as young people. Younger populations are by far the most susceptible to the influence of their peers and to general messages absorbed through the external environment. That makes the role of nurses as patient educators and counselors in the community health services extremely important to reducing the risks of sexually transmitted diseases because that role allows the health care practitioner to have the greatest beneficial influence on changing the behaviors linked to disease transmission.

Community Influences on Middle School and High School Students

Adolescents are extremely influenced by their social environments and by messages absorbed in society more generally. Typical avenues of such influence include community values as promoted by their parents, schools, religious institutions, and coaches. Adolescents are also heavily influenced by popular culture, such as in connection with musical and sports entertainment icons, perhaps more so than by their primary communities.

In either case, values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations are primarily transmitted and maintained by the process of group norms and peer associations that determine what behaviors are considered desirable or "cool." Naturally, peer pressure is a tremendous factor with respect to whether adolescents accept and internalize messages in general, but especially with respect to what behaviors are considered appropriate and respectable in one another.