Role of Leadership and Change Management in Addressing Cancer Among African Americans

Role of Leadership and Change Management in Addressing Cancer Among African Americans

Role of Leadership and Change Management in Addressing Cancer Among African Americans

Leadership plays a crucial role in addressing population health concerns, while change management enhances a smooth transition after implementing the solutions, leading to sustainable change. Using appropriate leadership strategies in developing and implementing an intervention promotes success since the leaders support it. In addition, it attracts buy-in from leaders and the population in which the intervention is being implemented, thus promoting intervention acceptance and sustainability.

Different leadership strategies influenced the development of the population education intervention. These strategies include having a clear vision and employing a collaborative approach. Cummings et al. (2021) note that having a clear vision and sharing it with the team are essential leadership strategies that enhance success since they know what they aim to achieve. In this case, the vision addressed the cancer concern among African Americans. All players in cancer care were informed of the vision, thus enabling them to work together towards achieving it.

Furthermore, using a collaborative leadership approach influenced the intervention’s development. According to De Brún et al. (2019), collaborative leadership entails developing an environment whereby stakeholders work together towards achieving similar outcomes. The collaborative leadership approach was appropriate since cancer care entails different stakeholders. The relevant stakeholders in this intervention include the cancer patients from the focus population, healthcare providers (nurses, physicians, oncologists, pharmacists), community health workers, and social workers. The collaborative approach enabled the collection of data and perspectives of different stakeholders, thus incorporating them into the intervention to strengthen it and enhance its acceptability.

The change management strategies influencing the intervention’s development include open communication and active stakeholder engagement. Open and effective communication enables team members to effectively implement an intervention by providing feedback and seeking clarifications (McCarthy & Eastman, 2021). In addition, open communication encourages stakeholder participation. In this case, active stakeholder engagement was employed to involve stakeholders in decision-making.

For instance, the population members were asked what they would want to learn about cancer, informing the population of the educational content developed. Nursing ethics also informed the intervention since nursing ethical principles of beneficence and respect for humans. The intervention was developed to benefit the African Americans, who were asked to participate freely.

Strategies for Communicating and Collaborating with the Population to Improve Cancer Care Outcomes

As mentioned earlier, the population group of focus is African Americans. The overall goal of the intervention is to improve care outcomes for African American adults with cancer by educating them on appropriate cancer management and prevention of progression through early detection. Thus, involving them actively through communication and collaboration was vital in the intervention’s development. According to Penedo et al. (2020), gathering the patients’ input in cancer care intervention is important to ensure the intervention captures the actual needs.

Information was gathered from the population group, revealing that they know that cancer is a serious issue among them. In addition, the population members expressed interest in finding a solution to improve cancer care outcomes and thus would participate actively in the educational program. The other benefit of gathering patient information is that it enhanced an understanding of the problem from their perspective, thus informing the intervention in addressing the particular needs included in the patients’ concerns.

Communication and collaboration strategies to improve cancer care outcomes among African Americans include two-way communication, regular updates, meetings, and acknowledging stakeholder contributions. Two-way communication and regular updates promote communication since the team can give and provide feedback. According to Ueda et al. (2020), holding regular meetings with the stakeholders enhances collaboration as the team can exchange perspectives and get updates on the intervention’s progress. In addition, respecting and recognizing each stakeholder’s role in the intervention motivates the stakeholders, thus encouraging active participation.

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