Sample HAGE20005 Health Promotion For Healthy Ageing

HAGE20005 Health Promotion For Healthy Ageing Assignment Sample

Assignment Brief

Due date:5.00pm (AEST) Wednesday, 26 May 2021 (Week 11)
Weighting: 50%
Length: 2500 words plus or minus 10% (excluding references)
Unit Coordinator: Ainslie Monson

Learning Outcomes Assessed

1.Evaluate the suitability of a current health promotion strategy to meet the needs of older people using evidence-based research.

2. Assess a current health promotion campaign related to health ageing and devise a health promotion plan to optimize well-being in older people.

Aim

The aim of this assessment is to prepare you to make a high-level contribution to health promotion policy and practice for the older person throughout the health care system.

Instructions

You are writing a critical analysis of a health promotion strategy and related campaign aimed at older persons. Choose a targeted area such as physical activity, smoking cessation, obesity, mental health, or some other focus area requiring health promotion in the community of older persons.

This involves, firstly, choosing a current health promotion strategy and related campaign aimed at older persons.

Your task is to:

• critically evaluate the strategy and
• assess the campaign and
• devise a health promotion plan for the older person related to the strategy and campaign.

Please follow the steps below to complete your assessment task:

1. Introduction (250 words) – Introduce your topic. The introduction outlines the key points of your essay. It will inform the reader what you are writing about – why you are writing about it and how you will discuss this topic.

2. The main body of the essay (2000 words) identify and explain the health promotion strategy and campaign selected. Justify the selection of your strategy and campaign and how it relates to the care of older person. Critically analyze and assess the strategy and campaign selected and its relevance to the older person. Devise a health promotion plan for a local level related to the strategy and campaign. The main body of the essay should be substantiated with reference to the peer reviewed literature (no less than 10 peer reviewed articles).

3. Conclusion (250 words) – no references in this section. The conclusion should summaries the key areas that address the set task. No new information should be included.

Literature and references

In this assessment use at least 15 contemporary references (<10 years) to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as from government, university, or peak national bodies: for example,

Requirements for assignment help

• Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, with 1.5-line spacing and 2.54cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).

• Include page numbers on each page in a header.

• Write in the third-person perspective.

• Use formal academic language.

• Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The University Academic Learning Centre has an online APA

Referencing Style Guide.

• The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Submission

Submit your assessment via the unit Moodle site in Microsoft Word format only.

Marking Criteria

Refer to the marking rubric on the Moodle site for more detail on how marks will be

Solution

Introduction

The current report covers the subject of health promotion for aged Australians, who are prone to vulnerable health conditions, including both mental and physical. The essay will specifically focus on the subject of mental health promotion for the older people in Australia to reduce the effects of stigma, followed by prevention of depression and suicidal tendencies. The essay will outline the fundamentals of mental health stability for older people in Australia, through the implementation of the National Mental Health Policy 2008. It aspires to capture the core intent of the subject by enabling the older people to come up with self-manageable ways to deal with the associated issues of a disturbed mental health. The survey report of the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health, conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that people belonging to the age group of 16-85 years are subject to the highest percentage of mental health issues with an increasing percentage of 6% to 7% on an average for the age group of 75-85 years (aihw.gov.au). This figure shows the presence and risks of mental health among the older people in Australia, causing significant mental health damages (Awaworyi Churchillet al.2019).

Mental health issues sorted by age group in Australia in the year 2007
(Source: aihw.gov.au)

This is obviously a cause of concern as it essentially affects the process of healthy aging in the country, leading to a possible rise in the number of mental health cases. The structure of the essay follows the standard structure and explains the selected health promotion strategy, along with a critical evaluation of the same, followed by a theoretical interpretation and a proposal for a Health promotion plan for the local aged people in the country.

Discussion

Explanation of the health strategy and campaign: National Mental Health Policy 2008

In order to explain the details of the National Mental Health Policy 2008, it is important to understand the aims and objectives of the policy (Milner, Smith & LaMontagne, 2015). The National Mental Health Policy 2008 aims at reducing the number of cases of mental health issues among the Australians, including the younger and the aged population (aihw.gov.au). The policy design is developed to support enabling recovery, along with prevention of mental health issues, by conducting early detection and avoiding occurrences of severe cases, including depression and suicides (Edwardet al.2015).

The policy has a strategic vision of promoting the mental health and well-being of the Australian community and develops programs to support the cause of mental health issues and enable the individuals to fight social stigmas (apo.org.au). The mental health patient, in every country in the world suffer from social disconnect and are treated differently. This policy ensures a comprehensive check and monitoring of the patients, pertaining to the security of mental health problems and enable participation of the patients in the society, with equal opportunities (Barryet al.2019).

The strategy skilfully aims at maximizing the ability of the children, the teenagers and aged people to cope up, with the normal stresses and encourage the people to participate in enhancing the emotional resilience and reducing vulnerability to mental health (Van Spijkeret al.2019). This strategy encourages in have focused on delivering the coordinated programs, both at the individual , community and system levels and focus on enhancing the security of the mental health patients to ensure that they are able to participate in the functions of securing mental health (Askell-Williams& Murray-Harvey, 2016).

The campaigns under the strategy include de-stigmatisation targeted at the whole community, identifying the populations, which is at the highest risk, ensuring an access to care at the right time, prevent suicidal tendencies by encouraging the people to participate in community activities and even assign carers to them, as and when needed (Slewa-Younan et al.2017).

Justification behind the selected strategy and campaign

Mental health is a serious problem in the world and people of all ages succumb to this condition. From a survey conducted by the Black Dog institute, it has been found that one in every five of the Australians suffer from mental health issues (Mokitimiet al.2018). Approximately 20% of the Australian aged between 16-85 years are affected by mental health issues, which include depression, dementia, self-isolation and the repeated suicidal attempts (aihw.gov.au). Out of the 20% of the Australian suffering, the mental health blockage shows 11.5% of the total count having a single disorder, while the rest 8.5% have multiple mental health disorders (health.gov.au).

The findings from Mission Australia’s Youth Survey in the year, 2014 showed that the onset of mental health issues in Australians occur at the age of 18-24 years, with a significant segment having the teenagers and the aged people in the list (health.gov.au). Therefore, the most affected population in mental health issues in Australia comprise the teenagers and the aged people (Milne ret al.2015).

It has been further found that the second leading cause of death in Australia is that of suicide due to depression or self-isolation, which could be a possible outcome of mental health issues. therefore, the focus is laid on the reducing the number of deaths , along with educating the aged people to refrain from engaging in any sort of mental health issues and self-isolation, caused due to depression and social disconnect (Gupta&Sagar, 2018).

The justification behind the selected strategy is established through its possible implications of enabling recovery and preventing and detecting the mental illness, at an early stage, to prevent all sorts of possible occurrences of such condition (Astell-Burt&Feng, 2019). The policy engages in developing interventions for reducing mental health, which includes both clinical and psychological (Ho&Mussap, 2017). The plan has also been effective in helping the mental health patients, fight the social stigmas, and be a part of healthy community environment.

Therefore, the justification behind the selection of the National Mental Health Policy 2008 is developed through its patient-centric approach and its ability to take care of the mental health patients, by applying the Multi-disciplinary model of care. This Multi-disciplinary model of care caters to the implementation of both the clinical and psychological intervention pertaining to the challenges of mental health, faced by the aged population in Australia (Hashmi et al.2020).

However, critics have pointed out the loopholes in the strategy in terms of the absence of a holistic approach, and integration of an evidence-based program, which may include, use of digital tools like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data to map the exact number, Ginger and Silver Cloud to offer self-help resources and tele-therapy.

Critical analysis and assessment of the strategy

In order to conduct a critical assessment of a health promotion policy or strategy, it is important to evaluate the ratio of accomplishment with the set objectives. According to Zhou et al.(2018), the success ratio of a health promotion policy or strategy is dependent on the development and application of policy levers over time (Coates& Howe, 2015). These policy levers map the percentage of success of a health promotion policy or strategy in compliance with the set objectives (Graceet al.2015). While conducting an evaluation of a health promotion policy or strategy, it is often evident that the key focus is placed on the outcome or impact measures, which draws on the balance sheet of the selected indicators, representing the interventions, control measures and success of the interventions.

Hence, in order to assess the success and failure of the National Mental Health Policy 2008, it is important to understand the kind of interventions that had been implemented by the policy with the objectives and the loopholes. The policy shows that although the agenda behind the designing of the National Mental Health Policy 2008 had been strategic, yet it lacked the holistic approach (van Rensburg&Fourie, 2016). The strategy did focus on early detection of mental health issues among the people in Australia, including the Aged population with allocations of separate carers for them to look after, however, the holistic approach is missing.
The strategy mainly focused on external interventions like psychological and clinical, by assigning doctors to the earliest rescue. However, the emphasis on individual participation and self-education is missing in the strategy along with the absence of an evidence-based program, to continuously monitor the progress of the intervention and apply digital integration for better evaluation.

Health promotion plan for the local people

In relation to the above explanation of the selected health promotion strategy for prevention of mental health issues for the aged people in Australia, it needs to be stated that the percentage of affected people in mental health are much more among the aged compared to the teenagers (blackdoginstitute.org.au,2021). The teenagers have the support from their family members and often engaged in early interventions, likely counseling sessions, active community engagement, social communication and psychologist interventions (Syed& McLean, 2017).

The aged people on the other hand are more prone to mental health issues, as they are mostly aged , may be at the age of 70+ years wherein either of the partners have expired and the children also do not stay with them. Multiple incidents can happen, which could be the possible causes behind the mental health issues of the aged people in Australia (apo.org.au, 2021). This aged population in turn takes to clinical depression, abstinence from taking medicine and even engage in isolation and social disassociation. The eighth stage in Erikson’s model of psychosocial development shows the presence of ego integrity in war with despair. This stage comes to a person, who is above the 65 years of age, until his/her demise.

Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development
(Source: Syed& McLean, 2017)

At this stage, an individual invests a lot of time in thinking about the accomplishments and failures in life. It is these failures, which often push them towards mental health issues, causing depression and unprecedented suicidal attempts. Hence, this section of the population needs to be targeted to avoid unprecedented suicidal cases and depressive deaths. Therefore, from the above explanation of the selected National Mental Health Policy 2008 policy, it is obvious that although the policy had been effective in the beginning stages, yet there has been an unequal ratio between the objectives met with the policy levers.

Therefore, a separate plan needs to be developed, which will focus on the aged people of the locality and educate them to deal with mental health issues in a stronger and more self-managed manner. The plan is inspired from the National Mental Health Policy 2008 and aims at reducing the occurrence of mental health issues among the older people, at the local level.

Goal 1: To encourage the local aged people to enrol in the nearby yoga classes, ballroom dance practices and physical exercising centres

Goal 2: Select two days in a week by the community centres to encourage the older people in community interaction through casual group meets and cultivate friendship

Goal 3: Conduct weekly community centre weekly activities like painting, cooking, walking pets and encourage the aged people to participate in them

Conclusion

In consideration to the above literature, it is obvious that mental health issues happen to be one of the biggest issues in Australia. The highest percentages of the affected group include the aged and the teenagers. However, the findings show that the recovery rates among the teenagers are more compared to the aged population. Therefore, the selection of the aged population for the study is justified. The teenagers are said to receive quicker interventions and participations from the family guardians to help them stabilize, while the aged people mostly subside to isolation and suicidal attempts.

Therefore, the selected National Mental Health Policy 2008 ¸aimed at reducing the number of depression and suicidal cases among the older people in the country, and induce a conducive ambiance to support healthy aging in the country. The selected strategy rationalizes the inclusion of plans and actions to ensure that the mental health promotion of the aged population of the country is secured. The critical analysis of the National Mental Health Policy 2008,policy showed that the primary assessment of the success and failure rate of the National Mental Health Policy 2008 was dependent on the percentage of the objectives met, subsiding with the percentage of the intervention from policy levers.

The study showed that although the plan had been successful in the beginning, yet few areas were left untreated, which automatically questioned the overall credibility of the plan. Hence, the application of the Multi-disciplinary models of care has identified the strategy to have a holistic approach. Nonetheless, the strategy needs to be more robust with a continued focus on using the methods to monitor the mental health conditions of the older people and apply an evidence-based approach. Additionally, a recommended health promotion plan for the local aged people to combat mental health issues has been developed.

References

Aihw.gov.au . (2021). Mental Health of Older Australians. Retrieved from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/c2ff6c58-e05e-49ed-afd7-43bd21eef4e2/AW15-6-4-Mental-health-of-older-Australians.pdf.aspx#:~:text=From%20the%202007%20National%20Survey,85%20age%20group%20(Figure%206.4.

Apo.org.au . (2021). National Mental Health Policy 2008. Retrieved from: https://apo.org.au/node/30315

Askell-Williams, H., & Murray-Harvey, R. (2016). Sustainable professional learning for early childhood educators: Lessons from an Australia-wide mental health promotion initiative. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 14(2), 196-210.

Astell-Burt, T., &Feng, X. (2019).Association of urban green space with mental health and general health among adults in Australia. JAMA network open, 2(7), e198209-e198209.

Awaworyi Churchill, S., Farrell, L., & Smyth, R. (2019).Neighbourhood ethnic diversity and mental health in Australia. Health Economics, 28(9), 1075-1087.

Barry, M. M., Clarke, A. M., Petersen, I., & Jenkins, R. (Eds.). (2019). Implementing mental health promotion. Springer Nature.

blackdoginstitute.org.au . 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1-facts_figures.pdf

Coates, D. D., & Howe, D. (2015). The design and development of staff wellbeing initiatives: staff stressors, burnout and emotional exhaustion at children and young people’s mental health in Australia. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(6), 655-663.

Edward, K. L., Warelow, P., Hemingway, S., Hercelinskyj, G., Welch, A., McAndrew, S., & Stephenson, J. (2015). Motivations of nursing students regarding their educational preparation for mental health nursing in Australia and the United Kingdom: a survey evaluation. BMC nursing, 14(1), 1-5.

Grace, F. C., Meurk, C. S., Head, B. W., Hall, W. D., Carstensen, G., Harris, M. G., &Whiteford, H. A. (2015). An analysis of policy levers used to implement mental health reform in Australia 1992-2012. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1), 1-11.

Gupta, S., &Sagar, R. (2018). National Mental Health Programme-optimism and caution: A narrative review. Indian journal of psychological medicine, 40(6), 509-516.

Hashmi, R., Alam, K., &Gow, J. (2020). Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in Australia: Explaining life shock exposure. Health Policy, 124(1), 97-105.

Health.gov.au . (2021). National Mental Health Policy 2008. Retrieved from: https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/11/national-mental-health-policy-2008.pdf

Health.gov.au. (2021). Mental Health Promotion. Retrieved from: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-n-pol08-toc~mental-pubs-n-pol08-2~mental-pubs-n-pol08-2-2

Ho, F., &Mussap, A. J. (2017). Transgender mental health in Australia: Satisfaction with practitioners and the standards of care. Australian Psychologist, 52(3), 209-218.

Milner, A., Smith, P., &LaMontagne, A. D. (2015).Working hours and mental health in Australia: evidence from an Australian population-based cohort, 2001–2012. Occupational and environmental medicine, 72(8), 573-579.

Mokitimi, S., Schneider, M., & de Vries, P. J. (2018). Child and adolescent mental health policy in South Africa: history, current policy development and implementation, and policy analysis. International journal of mental health systems, 12(1), 1-15.

Slewa-Younan, S., Yaser, A., Guajardo, M. G. U., Mannan, H., Smith, C. A., &Mond, J. M. (2017).The mental health and help-seeking behaviour of resettled Afghan refugees in Australia. International journal of mental health systems, 11(1), 1-8.

Syed, M., & McLean, K. C. (2017).Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.

Van Spijker, B. A., Salinas-Perez, J. A., Mendoza, J., Bell, T., Bagheri, N., Furst, M. A., ...& Salvador-Carulla, L. (2019). Service availability and capacity in rural mental health in Australia: Analysing gaps using an Integrated Mental Health Atlas. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 53(10), 1000-1012.

vanRensburg, A. J., &Fourie, P. (2016). Health policy and integrated mental health care in the SADC region: strategic clarification using the Rainbow Model. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 10(1), 1-13.

Zhou, W., Yu, Y., Yang, M., Chen, L., & Xiao, S. (2018). Policy development and challenges of global mental health: a systematic review of published studies of national-level mental health policies. BMC psychiatry, 18(1), 1-9.