Health Promotion Strategies For Obesity

Introduction

Eldredge et al (2016) define health promotion as an activity aimed at helping a population improve their own health by sensitizing them on various aspects of a particular health issue and how they can address that issue to prevent being ill rather than just being focused on treatment. The main aim of this paper is to discuss health promotion on the issue of obesity by critically discussing how lifestyle choices impact the health and well-being of obese individuals and how health promotion can help change those lifestyle choices. The essay will evaluate the theoretical frameworks and concepts that can help promote the well-being of obese people or prevent obesity as a health issue. Furthermore, the essay will illustrate how inter-agency collaboration can be used as an effective tool for health promotion.

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition that occurs when an individual has an excess accumulation of body fats that they negatively affect health. According to the World Health Organization (2015), an individual is considered obese when their body mass index (BMI) exceeds 30kg/ m2. Obesity is considered among the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence has been on an increasing rate among children and adults (Encyclopedia of Mental Health 2015). Particularly, statistics by Afshin et al (2017) indicate that at least 600 million adults (i.e. 12% of the global population) were diagnosed with obesity worldwide, while at least 100 million had a similar diagnosis within 195 countries globally.

In the UK, the prevalence of obesity is alarming. In 2018, the World Health Organization revealed that 28.1% of adults in the UK were obese (WHO, 2018). This is in contrast to 2014 statistics which indicated that at least 62% of adults in England were obese (Boseley, 2016). Today, obesity is a leading cause of death globally (Aune et al 2016) with an increased mortality rate among smokers than non-smokers (Aune et al 2016). Public Health England (2017) estimates that obesity is responsible for at least 30,000 deaths annually, revealing the need for effective obesity health promotion in the UK.

Obesity is caused by a variety of factors. For example, according to WHO (2008), sedentary lifestyle – characterized by with little physical activity is a major cause of obesity. Furthermore, studies by Vioque et al (2000) indicate an association between television viewing and the risk of obesity among children. Meanwhile, Albuquerque et al (2017) observe that like any other health condition, obesity can be caused by the interplay between the environment and genetics. The author explains that an individual may have genes that control metabolism and appetite (i.e. polymorphism), thereby being more predisposed to obesity.

Health Promotion Resource

To address the issue of obesity, the study has chosen posters as the best health promotion resource for obesity. Particularly, posters have been chosen as the preferable health promotion resource considering the existing evidence on posters as effective knowledge transfer method. Even in this internet era, posters have scientifically been proven to be an effective health promotion resource for populations across all demographics. In a study by Ilic & Rowe (2013), posters were found to be among the most popular communication formants used in public health fields. Furthermore, the study found that posters are effective communication tools for increasing knowledge and promoting change in behavior and attitudes because the audience in hospitals, schools and recreational areas have an opportunity to view posters especially when they are presented in waiting areas, common rooms and open places respectively.

The effectiveness of posters as a knowledge transfer method has largely been evident in the medical community. In another study by Nishtar et al (2004), a majority of the respondents indicate that they understood the health message conveyed in the health poster, 86% of them admitting that they understood the message within the first 30 days of the poster presentation.

A critical advantage of posters is that they enable the message to be conveyed in a concise manner, ensuring that only the necessary information is passed (Raney et al, 2019). Furthermore, Redding et al (2019) observe that posters enable active learning as the information presented in the posters inspires the target audience to ask questions and find out more.

However, a notorious disadvantage of posters is that once the information is printed, it is difficult to make edits or corrections, which means it is less flexible compared to other modifiable methods (Anyebe et al, 2019).

Aim and objectives of the Poster

The main aim of the poster is to effectively pass information to the general public through hospitals schools and recreational activities on healthy eating behaviors that can help prevent or reduce the prevalence of obesity. To achieve this aim, the posters will be designed to achieve specific goals, namely:

1. To reach a large audience population
2. To attract and call the audience to action
3. To deliver a simple, precise and understandable message for all

Theoretical Concepts and Frameworks

The poster will use a behavioral change health promotion approach. In doing so, the poster will focus on the messages that can trigger behavioral change by highlighting information on the association of junk food and smoking with the risk of obesity. Using pictures and graphical content, the poster will appeal to the audience to reduce junk food diet, avoid smoking and engage in physical activity.

Behavioral change theory in health promotion has been under use for a while now. Believers in this theory suggest that people change to healthy behaviors through an elaborate process which begins with thinking about change through to maintenance and persisting with the behavior (El Sayed et al, 2019). Based on the five stages of the trans-theoretical model (i.e. pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance), believers in the behavioral change theory argue that a key factor determining whether an individual changes their behavior and makes progress is decisional balance (Rokhforouz et al, 2019). This relates to whether the positives outweigh the negatives of the changed behavior. Therefore, the poster will target to sensitize the general public on the positives of reducing junk food, avoiding smoking and engaging in more physical exercise – with regards to reducing or preventing obesity.

However, critics of the behavioral change theory claim that the theory focuses much on the individual without considering the environmental factors and how they influence behavior. To cure this critique, the poster will include an environmental sustainability aspect to its messaging by encouraging people to live in areas with jogging tracks, gyms and capacity to facilitate other physical activities such as cycling.

Health Promotion Message

The proposed health promotion message will be about obesity prevention through responsible eating behavior reduced smoking habits and increased physical exercise. It is common knowledge that obesity is associated with the consumption of unhealthy food i.e. foods with high cholesterol levels, sugary as well as highly processed food. According to Wadden et al (2018), the consumption of unhealthy dietary fats can contribute to obesity. The author also observes that individuals who eat more sugary and processed food (i.e. high in salt, sugar and fat) are at a higher risk of being obese because they encourage overeating. Here, the poster will encourage its audience to eat diets with healthier fats such as polyunsaturated fats and eat more servings of fruits and vegetables. Literature by GBD (2017) suggests that individuals who do not engage in regular physical activity because they expose their bodies to less aerobic activity. This exposes them to the risk of gaining weight. Therefore, the poster will encourage the audience to engage in at least 150 minutes of physical exercise daily (Heymsfield et al, 2017). An alternative would be to encourage the audience not to eat completely cholesterol-free food. However, this may be impossible to achieve because society is accustomed to cooking fat. This is why the poster encourages the audience to use healthy fats as opposed to not using fats at all.

Collaborative Team

The development and delivery of the poster will involve a variety of stakeholders to ensure that the messages reach the audience. For instance, a professional graphic designer will be contracted to identify suitable pictures for the poster. Afterwards, the change agent will contact the local hospital’s administration about the poster, its objectives and the size of space required in the waiting room to mount the poster. The change agent will similarly contact the administration of a local secondary school, conveying the same message and making a request for the same size of space at the school’s official notice board. Both authorities will play the role of authorizing the use of posters in their institutions and validating the message before letting it out through their respective institutions. However, there are specific challenges that the change agent might encounter during this multi-agency exercise. For instance, the hospital might be having its priority internal message that it might want to pass through posters. Therefore, the change agent’s posters might not get adequate space.

Evaluation

The impact of the poster will be identified by a reduced prevalence of obesity attributable to the health message passed through the poster. Evaluating the effectiveness of the poster project will be specifically important considering the amount of time and resources spent in developing and implementing the campaign. Furthermore, it is only through evaluation that the change agent will identify the need for any other promotion campaign.

Nonetheless, to evaluate the project, the targeted audience (i.e. patients and students) will be invited to participate in a questionnaire evaluating their attitudes towards the message and general feedback on the posters. The questionnaires will contain both open-ended and closed questions to collect as much information as possible on the effectiveness of the poster campaign.

In conclusion, this study has identified posters as effective resources for health promotion for obesity, which is a major health issue in the UK. The main aim of the poster is to reduce the prevalence of obesity by making an appeal of change of behaviour. Particularly, the poster seeks to encourage the audience to avoid unhealthy eating behaviour, avoid smoking and engage in physical activity. Upon implementation, the effectiveness campaign’s effectiveness will be evaluated through a questionnaire.

References

• Afshin et al (2017). "Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years". The New England Journal of Medicine. 377 (1): 13–27. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1614362
• Albuquerque D, Nóbrega C, Manco L, Padez C 2017. "The contribution of genetics and environment to obesity". British Medical Bulletin. 123 (1): 159–173. doi:10.1093/bmb/ldx022. PMID 28910990
• Anyebe, E.E., Garba, S.N., Afolayan, J.A., Umar, J.N. and Lawal, H., 2019. Utilization of heath posters and referral system for mental health in primary heath centres in northern Nigeria. Tropical Journal of Health Sciences, 26(2), pp.44-49.
• Boseley S. 2016. "The chicken shop mile and how Britain got fat". The Guardian.
• Eldredge, L.K.B., Markham, C.M., Ruiter, R.A., Fernández, M.E., Kok, G. and Parcel, G.S., 2016. Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.Eldredge, L.K.B., Markham, C.M., Ruiter, R.A., Fernández, M.E., Kok, G. and Parcel, G.S., 2016. Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.
• El Sayed, H.A.E., Ibrahim, H.A.F., Aboud, S.A.E.H. and Sarhan, A.E.M., 2019. The Effect of a Trans-Theoretical Model Based Intervention on Physical Exercises Behaviour among Postpartum Women at Benha City, Egypt. American Journal of Nursing, 7(3), pp.342-353.
• Encyclopedia of Mental Health 2015. Academic Press. p. 158.
• GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators, 2017. Health effects of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(1), pp.13-27.
• Heymsfield, S.B. and Wadden, T.A., 2017. Mechanisms, pathophysiology, and management of obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(3), pp.254-266.