Theories Advanced Forth By Abraham Maslow And Bradshaw (Essay Sample)

Health Needs Assessment
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Introduction
In informing health service planning, a Health Needs Assessment is important. It is a systematic means of showing health care needs that have not been met in the society or among people. After identifying the needs, necessary actions are taken to meet them so as to have a society that lives comfortably. A Health Needs Assessment is important because it increases sustainability, helps in better planning and targets resources within the target population.
This essay will discuss human needs theories advanced forth by Abraham Maslow and Bradshaw and also talk about the three health concepts. The essay will also touch on health care management approaches and point out some of their strengths and weaknesses. After discussing the above named concepts, the essay will establish a relation between the discussion and a report titled Essex Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) by giving examples on how certain specific approaches are applied in the documented report. Finally the report will be critically reviewed by looking at the strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness of the approaches used.
Concepts behind health needs
According to Abraham Maslow, human needs can be classified into five broad categories, (Dean 2014). Firstly, there are physiological needs which are the fundamental human needs and consist of food, clothing, shelter, air, sleep and water. These needs have a biological nature as they help to keep the human body healthy and fit. If these needs are not met, then human survival will be difficult. Secondly there are safety needs that include job security, compensation on retirement and a pension and insurance plan among others. This safety needs arise only after all the physiological needs have been considerably met.
Thirdly, there are self actualization needs that are about advancement and self development. They make one assume a certain level of control and responsibility over the aspects of their own life. Then there are esteem needs that deal with the concepts of confidence, approval, self appreciation, self respect, status and recognition. Finally there are social needs. Since man is naturally a social being, he feels the need to be loved, to be accepted and to be shown affection and friendship.
According to the JSNA report of 2013, the hierarchy of needs advanced by Maslow shows the urge of patients to read and understand the directives set by doctors on the effective ways to deal with their ailments. These shows that the research conducted on the implementation of health assessment techniques and the desired outcomes have a possible deviation. When conducting screening and assessments, it is challenging to bring people to participate, especially target groups such as alcoholics because of the fear of discrimination or denial, which is characterized by most addicts.
The report also cites that it is challenging for medical personnel to administer the same level of healthy living among the millennial generation than it is to the baby boomers as a result of the former’s lower educational levels, thus identifying the need for academic acheivement.
Bradshaw’s theory of needs mainly focuses on social needs and puts those needs into four categories. There are normative needs that can only be defined by professionals and there standards depend on the professional stating them. Then there are felt needs that basically depend on an individual’s knowledge and perception. Thirdly, there are expressed needs that are normally needs that are turned into deeds. Finally, there are comparative needs that occur when there are individuals with personalities that compare to those receiving help.
The JSNA 2013 assessment report focuses on normative needs as detailed in the justification report. The establishment of innovative assessment and screening programs has led to the establishment of programs such as the Health Check Program and the alcohol Identification and Brief Advice that aim to mitigate alcoholism prevalence and advocate for healthy living. The programs single out people who need help to pursue healthier lifestyles and assist them.
It is important to note that there are three health concepts. The positive concept that aims to better the health of a person, the negative concept which stipulates that health is the absence of illness and the holistic concept that generalizes all the aspect that determine the health of an individual, that is the physical, social and mental factors.
Approaches in Health Needs Assessment
A health needs assessment helps with information that brings positive health change. There are three approaches that can be used to conduct the assessment. The first approach is the epidemiological approach that gives a clear statement of a disease affected group and whose needs are to be evaluated. For example in the case of cancer, the approach could include persons who have not yet been diagnosed. This is followed by subcategorizing the affected population for example, identifying individuals using chemotherapy drugs and potential users. The frequency of each subgroup is indicted and services for the specific want identified. And finally the cost effectiveness is studied. The main limitation of the approach is that there is no control over how the original data is collected unless the researcher does it, thus bias of the data cannot be determined, (Issel, 2012).
The epidemiological approach was evident in the 2013 JSNA report where dissimilarities between high mortality and morbidity rates and life expectancy among different demographic groups were explored. It was evident that the older generation was more susceptible especially the mentally ill that were not properly taken care of and in most cases, the resultant cause of death.
Secondly we have the corporate approach that is a systematic way of using informants to collect data on health services and needs. Informants may include clinicians, managerial staff and general medical practitioners. However the method is limited when it comes to the blurry difference between science and vested interest and that between a demand and a want. However, the approach finds its importance when set rules and regulations are to be receptive to the state of affairs. In the JSNA 2013 report, the approach is used in the assessment of the transportation service needs to health facilities within Essex.
Lastly we have the comparative approach that compares services obtained from a certain populace in one region to that obtained from another region. This approach is a reliable instrument of health investigation. For example, the need to raise renal dialysis and transplantation levels to 80 per million from 20 per million in the 1960s resulted from a comparative study with countries in Europe. According to Dean 2014, this method is advantageous in giving deficiency points in health service provision but has a limitation of requiring sensitive interpretation.
When assessing the health needs of different demographics in the 2013 JSNA report, this approach was used. Many young people had not enrolled for chances of employment or education as of 2013. There was a significant reduction...