Benefit of the health promotion for COPD

Introduction

Health promotion is referred to the process of allowing people to enhance control on their health and its determinants to ensure improvement in health. The five approaches to make health promotion include educational, societal, medical and behavioural change along with client-centred care. In Australia, it is found that effective health promotion regarding the awareness and prevention of risk factors regarding chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) is needed. This is because COPD in Australia has currently become the fifth common cause of death among the population (AIHW, 2020). In this respect, the study is going to inform the aim, objectives and target group for the health promotion regarding COPD in Australia. Moreover, the benefit of executing the health promotion along with the way it is to be executed through health promotion activity is to be discussed.

1. Target Group

The target group for health promotion to create awareness and prevention of risk factors related to COPD includes indigenous and non-indigenous people of Australia who are 45 years and above. The people of 45 years and above are targeted for the health promotion because it is found that in Australia, COPD commonly occurs among the specific middle-aged group of people and is occasionally found among younger age groups (AIHW, 2019).

2. Benefit of the health promotion for COPD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) is referred to preventable and treatable lung disorder that is characterised by obstructive airflow through the lungs, in turn, interfering with the normal breathing process and causing symptoms of breathless, cough, dyspnoea and others (Suhaj et al., 2016). In Australia, 4005 men and 3513 women were reported to die from COPD in 2017 which led to consider the disease as the fifth leading cause of death in the country after coronary heart disease, dementia, cerebrovascular disorder and lung cancer (AIHW, 2019). Moreover, in 2017-18, it is reported that 1 in 20 Australians who are 45 years and above have COPD (AIHW, 2019a). It indicates that COPD has created risky and fatal health consequences among many in Australia. Thus, effective health promotion that aware about the risk factors causing the disease and their prevention. This is beneficial because it would educate the people about the actions to be avoided that are creating risk for them to get affected by COPD, in turn, assisting to control the spread of the disease and its deteriorated health impact on people.

The presence of COPD is seen to adversely affect the daily life of the individuals. This is evident as presence of COPD causes disruptive sleep patterns, inability to exercise, produce increased sputum, extensive coughing and wheezing, breathlessness and others (Jung et al., 2018). In 2017-18, 20% of the people who are 45 years and above in Australia with diagnosed COPD reported their health to be poor compared to 5.4% of healthy individuals without COPD who are 45 years and above (AIHW, 2020). Thus, health promotion regarding COPD is important because it would help Australian people understand and get educated about the actions and factors that are creating risk for them to get affected by the disease and face poor health condition compared to others.

3. Aim and SMART Goals for health promotion

The health promotion aims to educate about the awareness and promote prevention of the risk factors that are causing COPD among Australian people who are 45 years and above.

Goal 1:

To promote awareness about the risk factors related to COPD among Australians of 45 years and above

Specific:

The goal is specific because it would lead to control the spread of COPD among middle-aged and over Australians by making them avoid involving in risky actions that promote the cause of the disease.

Measurable:

The goal is measurable because target individuals are to be asked through survey before and after the health promotion regarding their extent of knowledge about risk factors about COPD.

Attainable:

The goal is attainable because the probable risks of COPD are widely known by the health professionals who are going to inform them with evidence in the health promotion to the target individuals.

Reliable:

The goal is reliable because it would create control of spread of COPD.

Time Period:

2-3 months

Goal 2:

To promote prevention of risk factors influencing the cause of COPD among Australians of 45 years and above

Specific:

The goal is specific because it would help to prevent Australians to get affected by COPD.

Measurable:

The goal is measurable because survey of the target population before and after the health promotion is to be made to determine to what actions are been taken by them to prevent the influence of risk factors of COPD in everyday life.

Attainable:

The goal is attainable because effective and simple actions are available to prevent influence of the determined risk factors of COD in everyday life.

Reliable:

The goal is reliable because it would create control of spread of COPD.

Time Period:

4-6 months

4. Health Promotion Management perspectives

According to the Health Promotion Management perspective, the current health promotion action regarding COPD is primary prevention. According to Binns et al. (2016), primary prevention aims to lower the incidence of the disease by eliminating or reducing the influence of the risk factors that are promoting the progression of the disease. This is because actions at the initial level to reduce influence of the risk factors causing the disease help to resolve the health issue from the root along with lower chances of getting affected by the disease among unaffected individuals. In the case of COPD among the middle-aged and over Australians, it is found that various risk factors and their hindered prevention are mainly responsible for making the population face the disease. Thus, through the heath promotion, effective actions to make people aware of the risk factors of COPD and way to prevent it are to be made. This is to avoid new people get affected by the disease and to avoid worsening of health of already affected COPD patients. For this purpose, it is determined that

5. Stakeholders for Health Promotion

The stakeholders to be included in the mentioned health promotion project for COPD includes experienced health professionals, nurses and social care workers. The social care workers are individuals who provide practical and emotional support to wide range of people in the society for promoting their health and well-being (White et al., 2019). Thus, the social workers are considered to have effective ability in making connection and communication with people in the society. Therefore, their involvement in the health promotion is important as they would be able reach the information in the health promotion to each and every target individuals in the society by use of their effective professional skills. The experienced health professionals and nurses are the individuals who have enhanced knowledge and skills in determining cause of the diseases and its treatment (Schmid-Mohler et al., 2020). They are to be involved in the health promotion as the health professional and nurses by using their skills would be able to provide evidential information about risk factors and its prevention for COPD to target population. Moreover, the population considers health workers to be experienced people who know widely regarding health issue and therefore out of trust would abide by the actions being asked to be performed for avoiding risk of COPD. In Australia, it is seen that there is 2.3 times higher risk of COPD among the indigenous Australians compared to non-indigenous Australians (AIHW, 2020). Thus, the key focus of the health promotion would be on the indigenous Australian community but the non-indigenous Australian community is also to be included for the health promotion for creating a holistic health education regarding risk factors and prevention for COPD.

6. Health Promotion Message

The key message of the health promotion for COPD would be “Your smoking and exposure to air pollution is causing COPD”.

7. Health promotion activity

In the study by Olloquequi et al. (2018), it is mentioned that involving smoking tobacco is the key risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). This is because the harmful chemicals such as nicotine and others weaken the defence system of the lungs against infection, causes swelling of the air tubes, narrows the passage of airflow and destroy the air sacs which all contributes in causing COPD. In contrast, the study by López‐Campos, Tan & Soriano (2016) informed that secondary smoke taken by individuals result them to experience COPD. This is because the toxins in the tobacco smoke are indirectly taken inside the lungs that also damage the inner lining and air sacs causing the individuals experience COPD. The long-term exposure to air pollution leads individuals to develop risk of COPD. This is because various toxic chemicals along with dust particles are present in the polluted air which after entering the lungs causes irritation and disruption of the inner lining and air sacs. It leads individuals to face troubled breathing along with coughing which later deteriorates showing symptoms of chronic respiratory issues such as COPD (Riesco et al., 2017). Thus, in the health promotion of educating people about risk factors and its prevention to avoid COPD, the two key actions to be taken are discouraging uptake of smoking tobacco and discouraging exposure to air population.

The determined action of discouraging smoking to avoid COPD among people would be accomplished by educating target population through evidence about the way smoking causes risk of COPD among them. This is because evidential information influences people to understand the reason behind the action being asked to perform in turn making them execute the activity out of assurance of its beneficial effect (Molin et al., 2020). Moreover, actions are to be taken to inform people about the techniques to be taken by them to resolve early addiction towards smoking. The actions to be taken in controlling exposure to air pollution which is another risk for COPD includes educating target population about the way they are to maintain their surroundings to reduce pollution along with the way they are to wear protective mask in controlling influence of air pollution.

The mode of health promotion would be both online and offline. For this purpose, the actions for awareness of risk factors and its prevention for COPD are to be communicated through the use of offline media such as newspaper, leaflets and posters in and around the localities of Australia. In respect to online media, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are to be used for promoting the education of risk factors and actions to prevent COPD. Moreover, advertisement of risk factors of COPD and actions of their prevention for controlling COPD is to be made for the public. The funding for the health promotion regarding COPD is to be collected through crowdfunding along with donations from people and the government of Australia.

8. Evaluating the success of health promotion

The success of the mentioned health promotion for COPD in the study is to be evaluated by gathering feedback from target population. The feedback from individuals in healthcare involves valuable information about their satisfaction and awareness regarding any healthcare service or information (Velardo et al., 2017). Thus, through feedback from the target population, it can be determined to what extent they have developed awareness of risk factors of COPD and actions to control it, in turn, helping to determine the success of the campaign. As mentioned by Shields et al. (2016), survey is the research method to gather data from certain group of respondents for gaining insight into different aspect of the topic of interest. Thus, the use of survey is to be made in determining success of the mentioned health promotion campaign for COPD. This is because it would lead to understand the extent of the target population has developed change in their behaviour out of education of actions to avoid influence of risk factor of COPD. The target population are to be interviewed to derive their opinion about the influence of the mentioned health promotion campaign regarding COPD and identify its success. This is because positive opinions regarding the health promotion would indicate its success whereas negative opinions in the interview with narrative information would information about the further actions to be taken for ensuring the success of the health promotion campaign for COPD.

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that COPD is one of the leading causes of death in Australia. Thus, health promotion for the risk factors of COPD and its prevention is to be made so that the people in Australia can be avoided to get affected by the disease. The target group would be indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia who are 45 years and above in age. The stakeholders to be includes are social workers, experienced health professional and nurses. The health promotion for COPD would be made through the use of offline and online resources. The success of the health promotion is to be evaluated by accessing feedback from target population along with interviewing and surveying them.

References

AIHW 2019a, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Retrieved on 28 August 2020 from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-respiratory-conditions/copd/contents/copd

AIHW 2020, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Retrieved on 28 August 2020 from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-respiratory-conditions/copd/contents/copd

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