Ethical Considerations and Dilemmas in Advocacy Campaigns

Developing an Advocacy Campaign that Addresses Obesity
Ethical Considerations
Ethics is essential in the advocacy campaign about people with obesity. Nurses have specific ethical standards that help to regulate their practice. These ethical standards can also be used in their advocacy campaign. One of the ethical standards includes the fact that the nurses should maintain a high level of collaboration. Since the advocacy campaign incorporates the relationship among the nurses, the patients, and the society, they should be careful not to divulge personal information of the patients with diabetes. Therefore, enhancing their social understanding would enable them to address the issues affecting people with obesity uniformly. The advocacy campaign also involves contact with the people who suffer from obesity. It is essential to communicate with these people so that the nurses can understand the issues that affect them. These practices make it essential for the nurses to understand the aspect of collaboration as emphasized by the ethical principle of beneficence (Zahedi et al. 2013). They should be able to work together as nurses who are committed to addressing the challenges that face the people living with obesity.
The concept of collaboration can also help them in ensuring that the message succeeds in reaching as many people as possible. The advocacy campaign adopted involves the consideration of many other factors such as existing regulations and lobby groups. Collaborating with the community can help the nurses to understand the perceptions of other individuals about the issues that affect people with obesity. The nurses must also adhere to the ethics of respect for confidentiality and the rights of privacy. In the course of the campaign, the nurses would be required to access information about some of the people suffering from obesity. In the course of popularizing their efforts, they should maintain the privacy of such information (American Nurses Association, 2014).
Ethical Dilemmas
Eventually, various ethical dilemmas are likely to emerge in the course of the advocacy campaign. For instances, since the campaign would involve changing some of the existing regulations about people with obesity, there is a possibility that it will affect the initial implications of the regulations. Seemingly, different groups of people suffer from obesity with the prevalence in age and gender proving to be diverse. Nonetheless, they can be characterized based on their economic status and their social life. Changing the existing laws would make it difficult to reconcile the needs of the people categorized in all these groups. Although it would change a lot about the sustainability of the people with obesity, it might also cause a significant effect on some of the victims. Therefore, it would be essential to evaluate the nature of the regulations to be changed. This will help to identify the exact parts of the regulations, which can be modified.
Another ethical dilemma would involve the provisions of the law and the expectations of the nurses. The advocacy campaign involves many stakeholders such as the lobbyists and the nurses. All the stakeholders approach the advocacy campaign from a different perspective. This is based on their understanding of the factors that would be effec6ive for the sustainability of the people living with obesity. However, it would be controversial in case the provisions of different stakeholder groups differ. For instance, the nurses are in charge of handling the patients. It would mean that they are aware of the challenges that face the patients and how best they can be addressed. However, the legislators focus on a broader spectrum such as the availability of the resources that are required to promote the campaign.
Applicable Ethics and Lobbying Laws
Lobbyists are important in advocacy campaigns. They mostly act as intermediaries between the legislators and other stakeholders. The lobbyists try to convince the legislators and the other members of the community about the legitimacy of the amendments in the regulations. However, various laws are used to regulate the activities of the lobbyists. One of the regulations is the law against the use of public funds for their lobbying activities. With obesity as a sensitive issue in the society, the lobbyists champion for the rights of the people with obesity makes people focus on their positive efforts. However, some of the lobbyists can take this opportunity to misuse public funds (Johnson, 2006). The law prohibits such behavior exhibited by professional lobbyists.
Lobbyists exist in all societies and different sectors. However, some of the people who champion for the rights of minority groups may not be certified. Such individuals are volatile since they can be easily compromised in the course of their activities. The law, therefore, requires that all lobbyists must conform to the standard registration requirements. Different states have different requirements for the registration of the lobbyist. However, the essential thing is to ensure that all of them are certified to act as lobbyists. This will ensure that people who are involved in the advocacy campaign are experienced people with adequate knowledge of their responsibilities. Many other laws regulate the activities of lobbyists. The law about reporting helps to ensure that the lobbyists report the progress of their campaigns (Johnson, 2006). Therefore, it establishes a formality in the process, which could be used to evaluate the progress of all stakeholders in the campaign.
Summary
The advocacy campaign for people with obesity involves a long process. The process also incorporates different stakeholders. Some of the stakeholders include the members of the community, lobbyists, and nurses. Each of the stakeholders has unique responsibilities to ensure that the advocacy campaign is successful. However, the activities of the stakeholders are regulated by various ethical standards. The ethical standards help to create a cohesive relationship between the stakeholder groups. All the ethical standards also help to ensure that the people involved in the campaign follow the outlined regulations. They also help to ensure that these individuals have a high self – esteem to interact with other people and get involved in regular activities.
The advocacy campaign champions for the change in the existing regulations about the people living with obesity. In most cases, the premises of the advocacy campaign have been highlighted in the existing laws. Instead of formulating new laws, it would be essential to make changes to the existing laws. This would help to accommodate all the groups of people living with obesity. However, the advocacy could also encounter various challenges. One of the challenges is the possibility of ethical dilemmas in the course of the campaign. Due to the involvement of many stakeholders, their inability to agree on some of the issues can derail the campaign. Another ethical dilemma would involve the outcomes of changing the existing laws. Apparently, this would affect the current situation about some of the groups of people living with obesity. The new changes might make it difficult for some of the individuals with obesity to cope.


References
American Nurses Association. (2014). The Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/simon/Downloads/CodeofEthicswInterpretiveStatements20141.pdf
Johnson, V.R. (2006). Regulating Lobbyists: Law, Ethics, and Public Policy. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy: Vol. 16: Iss. 1, Article 1.
Zahedi, F., Sanjari, M., Aala, M., Peymani, M., Aramesh, K., Parsapour, A … Dastgerdi, M. V. (2013). The Code of Ethics for Nurses. Iranian Journal of Public Health, 42(Supple1), 1–8.