Health Promotion Essay: Decreasing The Anxiety Rate Among Youth

Question

Task: The introduction of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986 signalled the beginning of change in the way that health professionals educate and empower individuals and populations. Using the 6 action areas of the Ottawa Charter, investigate an existing health promotion program that is currently addressing YOUR chosen target population. Explain how the existing program is addressing the concepts of Health Literacy, Health Education and Health Promotion in relation to empowering this vulnerable group. What is the nurse’s role in regards to this program?

Answer

In this health promotion essay, it is presented that Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was introduced in the year 1986 and since then it is trying relentlessly to make drastic changes in the manner in which healthcare professionals carry out the tasks of educating and empowering the individuals as well as the populations. In the following health promotion essay, efforts will be streamlined in utilizing the six action areas of the Ottawa Charter to investigate an existing health promotion program that is in place for addressing and mitigating issues related to anxiety among the chosen target population of youth. The Ottawa Health Promotion action directs towards building health public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, reorienting health services and moving into the future (Thompson et al., 2018; Fry & Zask, 2017). Explanations will be provided with respect to the existing program for addressing the concepts of Health Literacy, Health Education and Health Promotion in relation to empowerment of the vulnerable group of youth. Furthermore, emphasis will be laid on explaining the role of nurses in relation to this program. The existing health program as developed and curate by Bagnell et al., (2011) will be critically analyzed and investigated to understand how it is addressing the key Ottawa Charter actions in youth.

Building Healthy Public Policy
As far as a Package for First Contact Health Providers is concerned through Identification, Diagnosis & Treatment of Adolescent Anxiety Disorders, this particular health program makes use of effective, clinically relevant and best available evidences. Thus, it has been suggested herein health promotion essay on the part of the healthcare providers to be aware of the healthcare consequences with respect to their decisions and hold accountability of their responsibilities performed. It caters to the selection of the healthier and safer choice for practice in case of both the healthcare workers as well as the healthcare recipients. In the present policy the safety and contingency planning pays adequate heed to the safety concerns of the patients through mention about the varied mental health consultations. Moreover, the specific conditions as may arise for referrals of the teens suffering from anxiety disorders to specialty mental health services have also been enunciated. Thus, it is noted in the health promotion essay that the concept of health education through education driven voluntary behavior changes has been suggested that in turn is conducive to the emancipation of skills, knowledge and positive attitudes regarding health for the healthcare practitioners. Research reveals that school-based prevention programs have the ability to lessen the burden of mental health in children and adolescents (Werner-Seidler et al., 2017). Thus, health education may be utilized as an effective tool to curb anxiety in youth as well.

Creating Supportive Environments
The vital link between health and environment discussed in the health promotion essay is established through fulfillment of the global responsibility of conserving the natural resources and protecting both natural as well as built environments. It has been suggested that the changing patterns of life must not succumb to the daily trivialities and workload. Instead, a significant impact on health is felt through establishment of equilibrium by means of interaction of work and leisure. Work conditions must be such that they are safe, satisfying, stimulating and at the same time enjoyable. In order to procure benefits of health promotion, systematic assessment in view of the health impact for a rapidly changing environment is indispensable. In the existing program, for addressing such issue, identification of youth at risk for anxiety disorders is a major step whereby amongst the historical factors, individual history as reported by parents, family history and parental history have been taken into consideration besides evaluation of the current situation through screening by valid questionnaire. Insightful evidences highlight the use of questionnaire in the form of semi-structured interview to investigate the experience of anxiety (Joyce et al., 2017). Thus, all these measures may be assessed on the light of health empowerment whereby inclusive participation of the stakeholders such as youth in this case may drive positive healthcare changes.

Strengthening Community Actions
In the present health promotion essay it is presented that in order to achieve better health; certain strategies such as, setting of priorities, making the decisions, improvisation of measures and their implementation need to be encouraged through effective and definite community actions. Further, this may be derived through ensuring health empowerment whereby the communities are to take control and ownership for their own actions thereby their destinies. In the present program, following the diagnosis of anxiety disorders in the youth, it has been suggested to follow rigorous monitoring process for ensuring success of the treatment modality chosen. In this regard, the role of family and engaging the school as part of the collaborative team for treating the victim has been advised to ensure better outcomes for the concerned person. Pressing evidences have brought to the forefront that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions apart from Parent management Training reaped positive benefits in treating youth suffering from anxiety disorders thereby proving the positive role of family in management of anxiety (Ollendick et al., 2016). Other relevant literature used to prepare this health promotion essay has shown that school-based cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in treating anxiety disorders among youth (Drmic et al., 2017). Therefore, fundamentally health literacy should be prioritized in the respective settings so that appropriate health decisions may be taken through processing of relevant information and following of instructions meant for treatment.

Developing Personal Skills
Another crucial aspect of health promotion outlined in the context of health promotion essay relies on development in both personal and social front, through provision of adequate and relevant information, education for health supported by enhancement of life skills. In the current program, as part of the treatment regime to manage anxiety in youth, medications and structured psychotherapies have been suggested apart from supportive psychological interventions and non-specific interventions such as sleep, exercise, social support, nutrition, music and movement and others. These adoptions might deem effective in curbing the menace of anxiety in youth thereby increasing the options available for exercising better control over their own health as well as their environments. Hence, better choices may be made that uphold health. Evidence provided in the health promotion essay support the fact that systematic application and adherence to treatment guidelines of major depressive disorder is of significance to youth (MacQueen et al., 2016). Thus, clinicians and other healthcare experts such as psychiatric nurses must make adequate efforts for health education and health empowerment thereby paving ways for overall wellbeing and optimal health of the youth undergoing treatment related to anxiety disorders. In order to facilitate such measures, school, work, home and community settings need to work in tandem through definite well-coordinated actions from healthcare experts.

Reorienting Health Services
Health promotion does not come through any individual effort of a single professional, but a consolidate effort is required through shared responsibilities from individuals, health professionals, community groups, governments and health service institutions. Transcending the general jurisdiction of healthcare services, these efforts must ensure towards the pursuit of health in a manner that is also sensitive and respective towards cultural needs. The program bears the testimony to a wide array of frameworks for the healthcare professionals that may be applied in definite clinical settings. Thus, the readings prepared in the health promotion essay signifies that treatment for young persons with anxiety may be navigated through adoption of definite, comprehensive, sequential and rational options out of the available treatment modalities. For treating youth with anxiety, a stepped care and a single empirically validated program were found to have similar efficacy thus proving the effectiveness of both these interventions to act upon the anxiety suffering youth (Rapee et al., 2017). However, unlike any policy driven changes, healthcare reorientation must resort to paying enough attention to healthcare education and health research in a continuous way. 

Moving into the Future
The holistic attainment of health may only be driven through caring for one and others, having the ability to take decisions and exerting control over one’s own life circumstances through existence and sustenance of a suitable environment that is conducive to wellbeing of an individual. Creation of the suitable environment that ensures the wellbeing and health of a person is of utmost importance here by undertaking action and measures that include all the stakeholders. The present health promotion essay ensures participation of all concerned that include family care teams, educationists, healthcare providers comprising of the clinician, nurse and other healthcare experts for functioning of healthcare practices in mitigating issues of anxiety among youth. Screening, diagnostic and treatment approaches to treat anxiety issues in youth have been laid down in fair details for aiding in management of the disorder. This is in compliance with other studies where modular and multi-focus approach that includes monitoring and feedback has been found to be effective in treating youth with anxiety (Chorpita et al., 2017). In cases where these measures are abided by, health empowerment may be achieved for the concerned population of youth suffering from anxiety disorders.

After so many years of introduction of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, it still remains relevant across healthcare sectors to offer respite to certain vulnerable population. In case of health promotion essay of the youth suffering from issues related to anxiety, adoption of a definite health program that caters to all the six action areas of the Charter might be beneficial through multidisciplinary approach that include involvement of multiple stakeholders in achieving the common goal of holistic care and health for the affected population.

References
Bagnell, A., Kutcher, S., Garcia-Ortega, I., Basi, A., Blackwood, C., Southey, C., ... & Huska, J. (2011). Health promotion essay Identification, Diagnosis & Treatment of Adolescent Anxiety Disorders A Package for First Contact Health Providers.

Chorpita, B. F., Daleiden, E. L., Park, A. L., Ward, A. M., Levy, M. C., Cromley, T., ... & Krull, J. L. (2017). Child STEPs in California: A cluster randomized effectiveness trial comparing modular treatment with community implemented treatment for youth with anxiety, depression, conduct problems, or traumatic stress. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(1), 13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000133

Drmic, I. E., Aljunied, M., & Reaven, J. (2017). Feasibility, acceptability and preliminary treatment outcomes in a school-based CBT intervention program for adolescents with ASD and anxiety in Singapore. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 47(12), 3909-3929. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-3007-y

Fry, D., & Zask, A. (2017). Applying the Ottawa Charter to inform health promotion programme design. Health promotion international, 32(5), 901-912. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daw022

Joyce, C., Honey, E., Leekam, S. R., Barrett, S. L., & Rodgers, J. (2017). Anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and restricted and repetitive behaviour: Insights directly from young people with ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(12), 3789-3802. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3027-2

MacQueen, G. M., Frey, B. N., Ismail, Z., Jaworska, N., Steiner, M., Lieshout, R. J. V., ... & Ravindran, A. V. (2016). Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 clinical guidelines for the management of adults with major depressive disorder: section 6. Special populations: youth, women, and the elderly. Health promotion essay The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(9), 588-603. doi: 10.1177/0706743716659276

Ollendick, T. H., Greene, R. W., Austin, K. E., Fraire, M. G., Halldorsdottir, T., Allen, K. B., ... & Noguchi, R. J. (2016). Parent management training and collaborative & proactive solutions: A randomized control trial for oppositional youth. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 45(5), 591-604. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2015.1004681

Rapee, R. M., Lyneham, H. J., Wuthrich, V., Chatterton, M. L., Hudson, J. L., Kangas, M., & Mihalopoulos, C. (2017). Comparison of stepped care delivery against a single, empirically validated cognitive-behavioral therapy program for youth with anxiety: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(10), 841-848. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.08.001

Thompson, S. R., Watson, M. C., & Tilford, S. (2018). The Ottawa Charter 30 years on: still an important standard for health promotion. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 56(2), 73-84. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2017.1415765

Werner-Seidler, A., Perry, Y., Calear, A. L., Newby, J. M., & Christensen, H. (2017). School-based depression and anxiety prevention programs for young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review, 51, 30-47. Health promotion essay doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.005