Ruiz-Mirazo, Lopez-Yarto, and McDonald (2012) assert that the fundamental reason for pre-natal care is to prevent any complications that may arise in the process of giving birth. It is concerned with keeping both the baby and the mom in a fit and healthy condition and henceforth reduce the strains that may accompany the pregnancy. It is recommendable for all pregnant women to take maximum care and precaution during the pregnancy period so as to positively influence the outcome of their pregnancy (Perry, et al., 2014). The aim of this teaching plan is to guide Fayola who is experiencing some pregnancy strains such as insufficient care and even gestational diabetes. Although Fayola is married to a medic and has been visiting a dietician, she is not in a fit condition as it would be recommended during the pregnancy period. This may be attributed to lack of personal guidance on the benefits of prenatal care. However, this may be as a result of the changes experienced normally in the development of a person. The epigenic principle may be one of the fundamental elements that is negatively impacting on Fayola’s behavior during her pregnancy. Erik Erikson pointed out that the personality of an individual develops in a set order (Austrian, 2013; Sharf, 2015). Each of the levels builds on the previous level, thus, Fayola’s reaction to her pregnancy condition might be as a result of intimacy versus isolation which is one of the stages in the Erik Erikson development theory. Therefore, this exposition majors on guiding evaluating the impact of the intimacy vs isolation level of development on Fayola’s life. The advantages of prenatal care and ensuring that she makes good choices during her pregnancy which will influence her during gestation and after giving birth are also among the core issues reflected on in this exposition.
Client’s Stage of Growth and Development
As described in the case study, Fayola is a young Nigerian immigrant whose English is not good, and she is shy. Her condition attributes to the assertion that she is not much free to interact with people who can give her guidance on prenatal care. Besides, her husband is well acquainted with medicine thus can offer her the necessary information towards antenatal care but this is not the case since he works long hours leaving Fayola alone. Due to perhaps lack of the ideal monitoring and information, the client has strains in regards to gestational diabetes and has been missing some of her weekly blood glucose entries. An issue of concern in this plan is whether the behavioral response of Fayola is intertwined with her age or it is just but a mere character that she possesses.
Austrian (2013) explains that Erikson’s theory of psychosocial growth and development possess eight varying stages. Each of this stages are accompanied by crisis that are different from the other stages. These crises need the psychological needs of an individual, hence, result with the shaping of psychological nature of the persons (Kail, & Cavanaugh, 2014). As it has been mentioned in the case study, Fayola is twenty-three years of age. The Erik Erikson intimacy vs isolation development stage is common in between the age of 18 to 40 years (Kail, & Cavanaugh, 2014). Therefore, there is a high probability that the behavior evidenced by Fayola is as a result of this new stage of life that she is experiencing. Since the husband or the family of the lady do not have enough time to establish a sense of intimacy, negative consequences are experienced by Fayola. The possible repercussions that are experienced from this development theory include the fear of commitment and the relationships are at a possibility of facing much loneliness, depression or isolation. The conditions of Fayola are evidently the same pointed out in the Erik Erikson development theory. However, the successful completion of this stage will possibly lead the Fayola and her husband building a healthier relationship since she will have acquired distinct virtues from this development stage.
Learning Objectives
Fayola should be entitled to intense physical health education so as to regain a healthy state during her pregnancy period. The importance of good nutrition and disease prevention should be among the core issues that the client should be educated about. Perry, et al. (2014) state that the gestation diabetes may negatively impact on the client health thus she should be informed of the consequences of her condition to her pregnancy. Otherwise, the ideal nutrition and medication should be recommended and reinforced as pointed out in the learning theory so as to overcome this development stage of the client (Perry, et al., 2014). Similarly, the client should be exposed to psychological education aimed at doing away with the shyness of the customer and ensuring that she can associate freely with other people regardless of her little eloquence in English.
The primary objective intended is to inform Fayola on how to avoid the strains experienced during her pregnancy. Similarly, she should be guided on associating with people and seeking guidance and advice in regards to her condition. This is based on the case study where it is evident that she is lonely since she has no mentioned friends because of her poor language command and her shyness. Similarly, her husband has less time to interact with her thus she should be advised on how to interact and make new friends. The advancement of the client founded on the objectives can be measured through monitoring her blood glucose level on whether it is as expected or not. These objectives can be achievable through directing the client to the ideal expertise to deal with her condition. A psychologist would be one of the best people to recommend the client to so as to overcome her shyness and raise her esteem even though she is not eloquent in English. On the other hand, a medical service provider is necessary to guide the client on the benefits of adhering to the prenatal health care recommendations such as good diet and taking the appropriate medication. These objectives should be set within a maximum time limit of two weeks so as to ensure the blood glucose of the client drops to at least 11.1 mmol/l, which is recommendable.
Priority Education Content
The gestation diabetes is one of the conditions that the client should be guided on doing away with to have good pregnancy outcomes (Perry, et al., 2014). The intent of treating blood glucose levels is to keep the levels of blood sugar within a normal range. As per the case study, the client blood glucose readings over the weekend were between 16-18 mmol, which are not recommendable. Therefore, the priority education content should be based on reinforcing the nutritionist’s recommendation to the client which possibly was taking diabetes medicine, balancing food with activities and living a healthy lifestyle (Perry et al., 2014). Maintaining the blood glucose at a medium level is necessary for the prevention of development of further complications that may arise with the condition (Perry, et al., 2014). The content should include the importance of filling all the blood glucose diary entries as a way of monitoring the progress of the client’s health.
Teaching Strategies
There are a variety of ways to stimulate discussion with the client. However, using a friendly approach would be the best way to understand the status of the client and the reason as to why she is not adhering to the expected prenatal care (Perry, et al., 2014). It is important to utilize the active learning strategy to ensure that the client learns and puts into practice what has been taught. The active learning strategy allows the learner to actively participate in the education process through talking and listening while reflecting on their real life situation so as to apply the learned aspects (Perry, et al., 2014). Integrating technology is another strategy that I would use in teaching the client on the importance of prenatal care.
As per the case study, it is indisputable that the client does not have friends or people to talk about her condition. Her spouse spends most of his time at the job, and the client’s shyness and poor eloquence in English reduce her chances of opening up to people about her condition. Active learning is an ideal strategy to use in this situation since as it has been previously pointed out in the development theory, associating with other people and reinforcement are the core ways of improving the status of the client (Keengwe & Onchwari, 2015). Since the client needs a person to talk to openly, this strategy will give me an ample time to interact with the customer and ensure that she applies what she has been taught to her prenatal situation. Similarly, use of integration of technology will likely work since the client is shy and does not have good language command (Keengwe & Onchwari, 2015). Therefore, the socio-cultural environment of the client allows the use of this strategy since most of the time she is alone. This approach will overcome these challenges, hence, positive progress is likely to be achieved. The progress of the client’s general health regarding achieving a recommendable blood glucose level will be one of the ways of evaluating whether the client has understood the education content presented. Adhering to the dietician’s recommendations and frequently visiting the clinic would be another way of evaluating whether the training material directed at the client has made any positive changes (Ruiz-Mirazo, Lopez-Yarto, & McDonald, 2012).
Conclusion
In essence, establishing a close contact with the client is the best way of understanding her challenges and recommending the new direction for her to take. As from the case study, the client is facing prenatal challenges due to lack of the ideal attention from her husband and other medical service providers. However, the client condition is tied to the intimacy vs isolation Erik Erikson’s development stage thus proper guidance from counsellors and psychologists may be necessary for ensuring that she recovers fast and successfully form this development stage of life. Reinforcement of the teaching content will be of the essence in ensuring the positive progress of the client. However, the education plan may face limitations such as an unexpected response from the client. It is vital to ensure that the active learning strategy used in this case goes a long way in ensuring a successful outcome for the patient and improved care.
References
Austrian, S. G. (Ed.). (2013). Developmental theories through the life cycle (2nd ed.). New York. Columbia University Press.
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2014). Essentials of human development: A life-span view (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Keengwe, J., & Onchwari, G. (2015). Handbook of research on active learning and the flipped classroom model in the digital age (1st ed.). Hershey, PA: Information science reference.
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Perry, S.E., Hockenberry M.J., Lowdermilk, D. L., & Wilson, D. (2014). Maternal Child Nursing Care in Canada (1st ed.). Toronto: Elsevier.
Peet, R., & Hartwick, E. (2015). Theories of development: Contentions, arguments, alternatives (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford Publications.
Ruiz-Mirazo, E., Lopez-Yarto, M., & McDonald, S. D. (2012). Group prenatal care versus individual prenatal care: a systematic review and meta-analyses. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 34(3), 223-229.
Sharf, R. S. (2015). Theories of psychotherapy & counseling: Concepts and cases (6th ed.) Boston. Cengage Learning.
