Planning a Health Promotion Campaign

Planning a health promotion campaign

Now that you have given the community health nurses enough information on health promotion, plan a health promotion campaign they can be implement in their local communities.

Scenario 2 – Nutrition education in schools

You want to introduce better nutrition education into all schools in your district, possibly followed by a more general Health Promoting Schools project. How will you do this?  Who do you think the key stakeholders would be? What would you do with the schools and the communities themselves? How will you evaluate the project?

AC 4.1 Plan of a health promotion campaign to meet specific objectives (4.1).  Your plan should show a critical reflection on the proposed activities to identify potential challenges and formulate appropriate solutions (D1)

More Fresh Air – Nutrition Health Promotion Campaign

AC 4.2 An explanation of how the health promotion campaign supports health promotion strategies

Irrespective of age, one sure way of ‘getting’ people ‘to follow you’ is to educate them with the knowledge you know they should have, and them empower them to make the ‘right’ decision which, if your strategies are effective, will be the same decision you would have made on their behalf, had you imposed a behavioural health promotion strategies, for example. The ‘More Fresh Air’ campaign is to alert parents and children to the overall benefit of nutritious meals, through a nutritional programme.  Considering the promotional plan it can be seen that purpose of each food group, for the functioning of the body, will be explained and explored.  Linking the value of nutritious food to physical activity will prove more advantageous, than simply telling children that healthy food is ‘good for them’.  Understanding how nutritious food helps them to function physically, will offer an association between what they eat and what they do.  Ensuring that all the children can participate, in the fresh air, in one physical activity with ensuring a reinforcement of knowledge, through the actual understanding pursued in a physical activity.

A pub-like quiz for those children who are not inclined to be physically active, when left to their own devices, serves to validate the ‘More Fresh Air’ Campaign when the quiz is conducted outside.  In this way, the ‘outside’ does not become the domain of the ‘sporty’ children, but becomes, rather, a shared space for mentally activity too, which in itself requires healthy nourishment for the nourishment of brain cells. Overall, food is necessary to fuel both physical and mental activity, and in this way children and parents are educated not to simply associate food with weight issues per se, although the education will support the empowerment of a behavioural pattern which will be reflected in weight appropriate to height and structure; thus killing two birds with one stone -improvement in healthy eating and a decrease in levels of obesity. The reduction in the level of obesity falls under the remit of the national health promotion strategies Fit4Life, and the health promotional models of education and empowerment will assist in pupils benefiting from this health promotional strategy.

In preparing to plan for the introduction of better nutrition education in schools, assessing health needs were essential, as health needs not only differ across the district funded schools, but within schools as well.  Speaking with and asking for advice from the senior management team ensured that specific needs were not overlooked in any school.  Not wishing to disrupt the school timetable, this health promotion was incorporated into the school routine, in the main, with the community being invited to participate in circuit training, if they were medically able to do so, and parents and carers being encouraged to support the educational programme on nutrition by attending either the school assembly, or the specific parent assembly.

Working with those who knew the both the pupils and their parents, it was possible to avoid any religious or cultural slights by being made aware of festivals and cultural practices.  Hence, the programme was planned for the week before Easter, and not the week before the Whitsun bank holiday as we did not wish to exclude the Muslim pupils who would be fasting in observance of Ramadan.

Legislation was taken into consideration, as the safety of pupils was paramount. All outside contractors, such as those from the farms responsible for the fruit and vegetable 5-day display, were vetted and underwent DBS checks, if they had not done so before, in line with the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003.  A risk assessment, particular with respect to the outdoor activities involving parents too, was undertaken in keeping with the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.  As note before, plans included how to ensure that the programme was accessible to pupils with special educational needs, and parents with any form of physical disability, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

In the planning a framework for evaluation was also factored in as it necessary to see what works and what does not work, if we wish to replicate this health promotion campaign again.  Efficiency, effectiveness and economy were pointers in the framework.  All public health campaigns resourced by public funds have to demonstrate value for money, and thus in the calculation we considered the cost to the NHS should the levels of obesity rise in the next two years.  Naturally if obesity levels in pupils did not rise, then the difference between the calculated amount, should it rise, and the amount of money spent on this campaign highlighted how much the NHS would save in not having to treat a new cohort of obese pupils; this would demonstrate the value for money aspect of the campaign.  The efficiency and the effectiveness of the campaign would also be reflected in the money that would not have to be spent on addressing the issue of a new cohort of obese children.

Further, in the planning the SMART acronym was included for the evaluation of the programme from beginning to end, considering our target audience, the goals and objectives we set for programme and the pupils.  The possible outcomes/goals were subjected to an examination to ascertain if they were Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely:

• Smart: goals well defined such that the youngest pupil could understand the intended outcome
  • Pupil engaging positively with food and making healthy choice selections at lunch; using food to fuel an agreed physical or mental activity

• Measurable: include parameters to ascertain if goal has been achieved
  • Levels of improvement which can be checked by a member of staff – personal goal of running faster between two fixed points (physical) or memorising specific quotes or passages from a set book with increasing difficulty

• Achievable: challenging, but realistic goal for those participating
  • Gradually increasing speed or number of quotes memorises each week

• Relevant: all goals consistent with each other in order to achieve long term goal
  • Pupils will be empowered by the knowledge of how food fuels the body to make healthy food choices when selecting because they wish for their body to operate at optimum level

• Timely: have a time frame in which it can be ascertained if goal achieved or not
  • Fitness level or rendition ability would have improved by the end of the school year, as the reinforcement of a physical fit body or being mentally agile is fuelled by healthy food selection.

In conclusion, whether pupils are aiming for physical or mental fitness the concept of ‘acquiring’ more fresh air could have a beneficial effect on both sub-groups of pupils, since being in the same spatial environment could encourage the pupils to explore the ‘other’ benefit of selecting healthy food to fuel the body.

Reference

Disablity Discrimation Act 2005 Available online at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228870/9780108508066.pdf accessed 27/02/2017

Health and Safety At Work ect Act 1974 Available online at

http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm accessed 27/02/2017

Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 Available online at

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/108/s342 accessed 27/02/2017

SMART example Available online at

http://urban-athletes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/SMART-Goals.jpg

accessed 27/02/2017