Program Plan Outline

                                              Program Plan Outline

The main focus for Kidney Knowledge for Care is understanding Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and its evolution to affecting African Americans (AAs) in a deadly manner. There are five stages of CKD and the fifth stage is End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).1 The disease begins with mild symptoms and progresses to severe symptoms leading to death if the patient does not receive a kidney transplant. Kidneys are a vital organ as they are responsible for “filtering waste and extra fluid out of the blood.”1 If there is not proper blood filtration, secondary conditions begin to develop contributing to a weaker immune system and non-functioning organs.2 Treatment and prevention methods can be used in the earlier stages of the disease but if a person is not aware of the signs and symptoms, they may not act accordingly. Kidney Knowledge for Care (KKC) provides that awareness factor for AAs because AAs suffer from kidney failure at a significantly higher rate than Caucasians.3 Teaching patients to become self-advocates for themselves and loved ones is the goal of the program. Knowing that the problem can be preventable and managed, it is KKC’s mission to provide African Americans with educational resources for success.

Main goal and objectives for KKC are:

Goal

African Americans will become advocates for themselves by using the kidney information provided by Kidney Knowledge for Care.

Objectives
a.       Within a year of using educational resources from Kidney Knowledge for Care (KKC), 25 people will provide testimonials of how their lives have changed by the implementing suggested behavioral health changes from KKC.
b.      Within the first year of launching the program, the program's blog will be seen by people in two or more states, as measured by the stats button on Blogger.
c.       By the end of 2025, the percent of African Americans suffering from CKD will decrease by 5 percent in Baltimore, Maryland according to the USRD statistics after more African Americans develop an understanding of preventing and managing CKD.

To achieve the goal and objectives for KKC, there need to be partnerships built. The sponsoring agency for Kidney Knowledge for Care is the National Kidney Foundation (NKF). The developed partnership between KKC and NKF will be a major resource for African Americans with chronic kidney disease. NKF is a well-known and established organization that has years of experience disseminating kidney health research findings, resources, and general, prevention and management information for KKC to share with those looking for help.

Primary target audience
The intended primary target audience is African Americans diagnosed with CKD. Especially, those who specifically fall under the characteristics listed below:
1.       Behavioral—African Americans who are diagnosed with CKD and are not engaging in any healthy lifestyle changes that will help manage their diagnosed CKD. (ex. Smoking, drinking, eating foods high in sugar and fat, no exercising or improper sleeping habits.)
2.       Cultural- Many African American families have church gatherings and family functions where hypertensive and diabetic foods that are not beneficial to CKD prevention or management are consumed.
3.       Demographic—Patients without access to health education resources. CKD is highly prevalent in patients who are in a lower SES. Mainly because of the absence of health care access or other resources to help cope with health conditions and life.
4.       Physical— African Americans with type 2 diabetes. “The most common type of diabetes in the African American population is type 2 diabetes.”1 The disease can be developed from family history, obesity and physical inactivity, and impaired glucose tolerance.
5.       Psychographic— Patients with End Stage Renal Disease. “ESRD, the last stage of CKD, is a contributing factor that greatly relates to depression in patients because of the inability to cope with health diagnosis.”2

Key strategies for African Americans trying to prevent or manage CKD include:

Action
To educate and communicate with the target audience. To share the details about CKD and why it affects AAs the most than other cultures. To provide an awareness for people to implement lifestyle behavioral changes.
Barriers
African Americans may feel targeted by another health statistic. Some individuals may be too sick to access the program. Feelings of despair because of diagnosis.
Benefits
Less AAs patients with CKD.
Credentials
National Kidney Foundation, evidence-based articles.
Channel
Online. This provides interaction around the country and world. Participants can share testimonials and exchange contact information with one another to develop support groups.

Pretest strategy
In disseminating the message of KKC to potential participants. We created a brochure that discusses the purpose of the program and what interventions could be done by African Americans to prevent or manage CKD. The brochure provided a succinct plan of how the program will help promote patients and others to become health advocates.

Theoretical Foundation
The health belief model (HBM) is an ideal theory to evaluate Kidney Knowledge for Care (KKC) because of what is included in the core components of the model. The core components address real-life perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, and actions that will prompt anyone to evaluate their own health status.4 African Americans who are in need of kidney treatment due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) may feel vulnerable and unsure about the entire process. However, KKC program leaders will know how to approach those who are looking for help by relating the core components of HBM to KKC’s communication efforts. HBM will guide program leaders on what kind of questions to ask those who are interested in seeking kidney health resources. Asking a simple question as, “did you know chronic kidney disease is manageable?” to address the core component of perceived susceptibility, can provide an understanding of the level of knowledge a person has about chronic kidney disease. Effective incorporation of HBM through communication techniques will evaluate whether the targeted population feels the program is beneficial to their kidney health needs. If not, further evaluation of the program will need to be performed.    
    
Management chart
Timetable
Tasks
Responsible persons
6 months- 1 year
Developing website
Website Developer
1 year- recurring
Review scholarly articles
Program Developer
6 months-2 years
Partnerships
Program Developer
Recurring
Develop Marketing Strategies
Marketing Team

Budget (annual expenses)
Estimate Cost
Resources
$2,000
Marketing (social media, television, etc.)
$1,200
Journal Subscriptions (6 journals @ $200/ea.)
$1,500
Events/Promotions
Total Budget: $4,700

KKC is currently an online based nonprofit program with hope to expand in the future. As for now, the program has volunteer workers that run the operations. The website is updated weekly with information provided by scholarly journals and live YouTube videos of healthy lifestyle behaviors are offered every two weeks on the website. The chat box is available every day for constant communication between participants and KKC developers.

Issues of concern/potential problems
            Being that the program is an online program, it can be a challenge for certain people to access if they do not have basic computer skills.

Evaluation strategies

In performing an outcome evaluation for Kidney Knowledge for Care (KKC), the first step to review is the reaction of the targeted audience. Being that the target population is the African American (AA) community, there must be cultural awareness displayed when sharing kidney knowledge. Addressing why AAs must alter certain behaviors in life to minimize or manage chronic kidney disease is needed but in delivering the message, it is necessary to not place blame on socioeconomic status or anything that could be perceived as offensive. Remembering to be culturally sensitive when promoting awareness of a particular population is important. The evaluation design that would work well with the goals of KKC would be to incorporate “before and after studies.”4 The main goal of KKC is to provide kidney health information for African Americans of all ages and this design will help determine if the knowledge learned was retained. The best way to note whether individuals retained this knowledge is to receive feedback. A few methods to perform this evaluation is to have individuals share testimonials of how the program has helped them with CKD and provide brief kidney health quizzes. This evaluation process can help participants to determine what they have to learn more about in order for them to receive the best health results. 


References

1.               Stage of Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Fund website.  http://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-ckd/stages-of-chronic-kidney-disease/. Accessed December 13, 2018.
2.               Abbasi MA, Chertow GM, Hall YN. End-stage renal disease. BMJ Clin Evid. 2010;2010:2002. Published 2010 Jul 19.
3.               African Americans and kidney disease. National Kidney Foundation website. https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/African-Americans-and-CKD. Published January 2016. Accessed December 14, 2018
4.               Making Health Communication Programs Work. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/health-communication/pink-book.pdf. Accessed December 14, 2018. 

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