Health Promotion Activity Of The Good For Kids †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Health Promotion Activity Of The Good For Kids. Answer: Introduction: Obesity in children and adolescents is considered a public health problem in both developed and developing countries, due to the increase in prevalence and the consequences on the health of the population. Excess weight increases the risk of chronic non- communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, in addition to causing a great health cost (Flegal, Panagiotou Graubard, 2015). The problem of obesity is now widely seen in early childhood and this has become a major public health burden both in Australia and worldwide. More than 42 million children under five are reported to be overweight and suffering from obesity worldwide. The prevalence of child obesity in Australia is also high compared to other developing countries as one in every five children in Australia become overweight by the time they start their schooling. There are about 5% children between 2-4 years who have been classified with obesity and obesity related behaviors are establ ished in early childhood (Brown et al., 2017). Many programs or initiative implemented by state and local organization play a role in creating supportive environment to promote healthy living behaviors in people and prevent obesity (Cdc.gov, 2018). The main purpose of this report is to evaluate the health promotion activity of The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program implemented for preventing obesity in Australia and discuss the activities of the program in relation to the action areas of the Ottawa Charter. Need for selected health promotion activity: The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program was one of the largest childhood obesity prevention trial that was implemented in Australia for the prevention and treatment of obesity. The five year obesity prevention trial was implemented in the Hunter New England area service from 2006-2011 and the main purpose was to prevent obesity and overweight in children from 0-15 years of age. It was part of NSWs Live Life Well initiative and influenced services and programs to prevent obesity (Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au. 2018). The need for such kind of health promotion activity arose after the acceleration of the rate of obesity in children with time. The rate of child obesity in Australia increased from 5% in 1995 to 8% in 2007-2008 and the Australian government also announced the need to develop health promotion activities related to healthy eating and physical activity guideline (Abs.gov.au. 2009). Changes in lifestyle and sedentary living have been the main reason for teenagers and youths in Austra lia to become obese. Evident also suggest that diet, physical activity and sedentary behavior are modifiable determinants of obesity and these factors interact in a complex way and contribute to overweight and obesity (Leech, McNaughton Timperio, 2014). Hence, The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program was implemented to change eating habits of children and promote physical activity and create opportunities for children and families to lead a healthy life. Obesity is a systemic, chronic and multifactorial disease involving genetic susceptibility and lifestyles and the environment, influenced by various underlying determinants, such as globalization, culture, economic condition, education, urbanization and the political and social environments. Obesity can reduce the life expectancy of people in up to 8 years and in 19 years of life without diseases, according to a study published today in the medical journal. It is considered that a BMI below 18.5 indicates malnutrition or some health problem, while one over 25 indicates overweight. Above 30 there is mild obesity, and above 40 there is high obesity (Barbour, 2011). The review of current statistics for obesity in children and youth revealed that one in every four Australian children were overweight or obesity in 2014-2017 and overweight and obesity was attributable for 5% of the burden of disease in 2011 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). Hence, the need for urgent gove rnment and public health agency is clear from such prevalence rate. The number of children who are overweight or obese has doubled in Australia currently and the main cause for this trend are inappropriate eating habits, lack of physical activity and unhealthy food choices. The importance of health promotion activity to prevent obesity is recognized because of the rise in health problems due to obesity as well as social problems like teasing by peers and issues of low-esteem in children. Apart from the burden on the health system, obesity also increases psychological consequences for children at an early age. Obesity has an impact on self-esteem of children and results in emotional problem, depression, anxiety. It ultimately has an impact on quality of life and protective factors of children (Russell-Mayhew et al., 2012). Therefore, public health policy and health promotion campaign in the area of obesity are necessary to improve population health. The effectiveness of The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program in modifying lifestyle, eating habits and physical activity level of youths and children is discussed in the next section. Potential impact of the selected health promotion activity: The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program was implemented by the NSW Government for the people living in Hunter, New England and Lower Middle North Coast of Australia. The main goal of the program was to reduce the problem of overweight and obesity in children up to 15 years and contribute to the development of appropriate policies and practice to curb rate of childhood obesity (Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au., 2018). The action implemented to fulfill the goal of the program is also related to some of the action areas mentioned in the Ottawa Charter for health promotion. The Ottawa Charter for health promotion developed on 21st November, 1986 provided five action areas to guide health promotion activities. These included building public health policy, creating supportive environment, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills and reorienting health care services towards the prevention of illness and promotion of health (Gagn Lapalme, 2017). By reviewing the specific action of the program, it is understood that the program worked towards building public health policy to prevent obesity in Australia. For example, developing programs for schools and child care setting that target policy development, parent engagement and education in the area of nutrition and physical activity was one of the specific intervention of the The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program (Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au., 2018). Building policies related to health issue is an important part of health promotion as policies and guideline influence dietary guideline, regulates food marketing and ultimately influence the food choices made by people (Zhang et al., 2014). Parallel with The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program goal, several activities were implemented in Hunter, New England area to promote the health of kids and modify their lifestyle. For instance, training programs were implemented for child care staffs regarding healthy menus, lunch boxes and physical activity level in children (Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au., 2018). This action is related to the Ottawa Charter action area of strengthening community action as the action of educating child care staffs regarding healthy diet and physical activity paved way for empowering the people interacting with children and strengthening their participation for the health and well-being of children (Gagn Lapalme, 2017). By providing training to health care staffs, the program had the potential to raise awareness of children and their parents regarding healthy food habits and lifestyle. By this action, the people directly involved with children such as parents and school staffs could advocate for primary p revention of obesity (Flynn, 2015). Hence, by adapting the action area of strengthening community action as mentioned in the Ottawa Charter, the The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program enabled better planning and targeting of resource to prevent childhood obesity in Australia. The similarity of the action implemented as part of the The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program to the action areas of the Ottawa Charter is also understood from the fact that collaboration with health care providers were done to identify children at risk of weight problem. Sports clubs were also given the opportunity to motivate children to participate in physical activity and learn about healthier menu options (Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au., 2018. This paved way fulfilling the action area of developing personal skills and reorienting the health service in the region. By giving special attention to children at high risk of obesity, the needs of the target population was fulfilled. It resulted in development of healthy eating guideline. The program also had the potential to reorient health services as by identifying vulnerable people, new system to help target group know about healthy weight, nutrition and physical activity became possible (Kumar Preetha, 2012). In low income parents, lack of nutrition knowledge among parents also contribute to overweight and obesity related problem and community based effort to create awareness about healthy diet promote obesity prevention (Wintrup, 2010). In this way, the program had the potential to control all risk factors that contribute to obesity during childhood. Implementation of selected health promotion activity: The manner in which any healthy promotion activity is implemented determines the success of the program in reducing health issue of concern to public health. The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program worked by involving health care providers, school staffs, child care services and support staffs in care. To deliver primary prevention services related to obesity, the programs first prioritized building the capacity of seven community settings such as primary schools, child care services, general practitioners, nurse practitioners, Junior Community Sports Club, Community Service Organisation, Aboriginal Health Service Staff and the HNE health services (Health.nsw.gov.au. 2018). By following this approach during the implementation phase of the program, the Ottawa Charters principle of developing personal skill was fulfilled. Capacity building is an important aspect of health promotion activities as it promotes advocacy and increase involvement of organizations, communities or system in p reventive efforts. Other benefits of working across different community sector for realization of health promotion goal are such actions has the potential to empower organization and strengthen community action to empower sustainable health behavior in the community. The manner in which partnership is created between different agencies determines the success of any health promotion activity (Todd et al., 2017). To favor implementation of The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program in target setting, the goals and action of the plan were translated at the state and regional level. By adapting the capacity building approach, the health promotion activity informed implementation of the National Preventive Partnership Health Children Initiative. At the regional level, the gaols of the programs has been translated to action by development of innovative child obesity prevention services at school and promoting development of new services like smoking cessation services in clinical care setting (Health.nsw.gov.au., 2018). It is a challenging process to translate and disseminate health promotion intervention in real setting, however when competing priorities are addressed and agencies are involved in the process, the process of translating the goals in real setting becomes easier (Page-Reeves et al., 2015). From the review of the process by which the program is implemented, it can be concluded communi ty participation and capacity building is an essential tenet for empowering population group to change health behavior and persists with healthy habits. Apart from the implementation process, the success or failure of The Good for Kids, Good for Life Program is also understood from the outcome of the program and its effectiveness in reducing the rate of overweight or obese children in Australia. Effectiveness of the selected health promotion activity: Health promotion campaigns develop specific goals after assessment of health risk and prioritization of health needs of population group and the effectiveness of the implementation process is understood from improvement in health outcome of specific group. In case of five year prvenetion trial the Good for Kids, Good for Life Program implemented in Australia, the effectiveness of the trial is understood from the review of figures on participation of community agencies, improvement in healthy eating and physical activity behaviors of children and weight status of the target group at the start and end of the program. The review of the outcome revealed that by adapting the capacity building approach, about 80% of the community settings were engaged in the program. High level of engagement of Hunter New England schools and child care services in the obesity prevention program were seen compared to rest of the state (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2018). Considering such high rate of participation, i t is evident the impact on health behavior of children would be huge too. Jones et al. (2015) also confirmed that after the implementation of the Good for Kids, Good for Life Program, the number of services implementing written nutrition and physical activity policy increased. Hence, the programs fulfilled its vision of developing more policies in the area of childhood obesity prevention. The programs improved provision for adult guided activities to physical activity and healthy diet for children. The most vital outcome measure for the success of the Good for Kids, Good for Life Program was the improvement in prevalence rate for overweight and obesity and improvement in healthy behavior of Australian children. The improvement in health activity behavior was assessed by the rate of consumption of soft drinks, water, fruits and vegetable intake in children, whereas the improvement in physical activity behavior was measured by the time spent inn children activity. In all these parameters, positive improvement were seen in children in the year 2010 compared to 2010. In addition, while calculation the reduction in overweight and obesity for Hunter New England children, it was found that the prevalence rate of obesity reduced by 1% every year and for girls, the reduction in prevalence rate was 7.4% (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2018). This result suggests that statistically significant improvement in health behavior were found. From this result, it can be concluded that Good for Kids, Good fo r Life Program was successful in getting many positive outcome. By employing community agencies, the programs strengthened capacity for healthy eating and physical activity. Secondly, the program was effective in influencing service delivery both locally and nationally and getting positive changes in number of obesity related behavior too. The program is also renowned for the developing succession of state plans and policies to reduce child obesity and obesity related determinants. Conclusion: The report looked at the issue of increasing prevalence of childhood obesity in Australia. Since, obesity is an issue that increases the risk of chronic disease, mental health consequence and social issues for children and youth in the community, evaluating the role of health promotion activity to address the issue for important. The report evaluated the Good for Kids, Good for Life Program to understand how the campaign followed the actions areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and took appropriate steps to reduce the steep rise in prevalence of overweight and obesity among Australian children. After the critical review of the goals, implementation process and outcomes of the program, it can be concluded that that the Good for Kids, Good for Life Program was an innovative approach to reduce obesity in Hunter New England region and build evidence for framing more policies to prevent obesity. By taking multi-setting community building approach, it was successful in addressi ng behavioral determinant of childhood obesity and improving health behavior of children. In future, health promotion activities should focus on capacity building to empower community and strengthen their participation in preventive work. References: Abs.gov.au. (2009). 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 200910. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1301.0Chapter11062009%E2%80%9310 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017).Overweight obesity Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/behaviours-risk-factors/overweight-obesity/overview Barbour, S. (2011).Obesity. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press(P. 36). Brown, V., Moodie, M., Baur, L., Wen, L. M., Hayes, A. (2017). The high cost of obesity in Australian pre?schoolers.Australian and New Zealand journal of public health,41(3), 323-324. Cdc.gov (2018). Strategies to Prevent Obesity | Overweight Obesity | CDC. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/strategies/index.html Flegal, K. M., Panagiotou, O. A., Graubard, B. I. (2015). Estimating population attributable fractions to quantify the health burden of obesity.Annals of epidemiology,25(3), 201-207. Flynn, M. A. (2015). Empowering people to be healthier: public health nutrition through the Ottawa Charter.Proceedings of the Nutrition Society,74(3), 303-312. Gagn, T., Lapalme, J. (2017). 1986: Ottawa and onwards.The Lancet Public Health,2(2), e71. Health.nsw.gov.au. (2018). Good for Kids. Good for Life. Child Obesity Prevention Program Healthy Living Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/innovation/2013awards/Documents/good-for-kids-good-for-life-child-obesity-prevention-web-22.pdf Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au. (2018). Good for kids. Good for Life. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/hneph/Nutrition/Pages/Good-for-kids--Good-for-Life.aspx Hnehealth.nsw.gov.au. (2018). Good for kids. Good for Life. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/hneph/Nutrition/Documents/GoodForKidsProgramOverview.pdf Jones, J., Wyse, R., Finch, M., Lecathelinais, C., Wiggers, J., Marshall, J., ... Fielding, A. (2015). Effectiveness of an intervention to facilitate the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices in childcare services: a randomised controlled trial.Implementation Science,10(1), 147. Kumar, S., Preetha, G. S. (2012). Health promotion: an effective tool for global health.Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive Social Medicine,37(1), 5. Leech, R. M., McNaughton, S. A., Timperio, A. (2014). The clustering of diet, physical activity and sedentary behavior in children and adolescents: a review.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,11(1), 4. Page-Reeves, J., Davis, S., Romero, C., Chrisp, E. (2015). Understanding agency in the translation of a health promotion program.Prevention Science,16(1), 11-20. Russell-Mayhew, S., McVey, G., Bardick, A. and Ireland, A., 2012. Mental health, wellness, and childhood overweight/obesity.Journal of obesity,2012. Todd, A., Todd, A., Thomson, K., Hillier-Brown, F., McNamara, C., Huijits, T., Bambra, C. (2017). Key messages: Inheriting from the diffusion of innovations theory, recent health promotion capacity-building literature has mostly focused on community capacity-building. Other distinctive traits in the literature include global-level.European Journal of Public Health,27, 3. Wintrup, H. M. (2010). The Parents' Role in Childhood Obesity, Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/psycdsp/15/ Zhang, Q., Liu, S., Liu, R., Xue, H., Wang, Y. (2014). Food policy approaches to obesity prevention: An international perspective.Current obesity reports,3(2), 171-182.