Assessment 3: Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan Essay

Assessment 3: Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan Essay

Assessment 3 Instructions: Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan

Population health refers to the health outcomes of a group of people and the outcomes’ distribution within the group. Interventions on disease prevention and health promotion often focus on improving population health. Population health improvement programs should engage the community and identify assets, strengths, challenges, and barriers to health in the community (Haldane et al., 2019). The purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental and epidemiological data in our community and create a health improvement plan to address the identified population health problem.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Environmental and Epidemiological Data

Childhood obesity is a major population health issue in our community. Data reveals that 14.4% of persons below 18 years are overweight while 9.9% are obese. Overweight/obesity has resulted in adverse healthcare outcomes such as high rates of type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, gout, and cancers (dos Santos et al., 2019). Healthcare data shows that approximately 1200 children and adolescents had symptoms of obesity-related complications in the past three years. Environmental factors positively and negatively affect the health of the community residents. Those that positively affect the residents’ health include access to healthcare facilities, adequate supply of clean water, and availability of transportation systems, recreational centers, and safe neighborhoods. Environmental factors negatively affecting the residents include accessibility to numerous fast food joints and a low density of healthy food stores (dos Santos et al., 2019). Further information is needed on the children’s utilization of recreational centers to promote better health outcomes.

Population Health Improvement Plan

The health improvement plan to address obesity entails incorporating physical education and extracurricular activities in schools’ learning programs. The plan targets children and adolescents from 4-18 years. The plan’s goal is to foster physical activity as an effective intervention to prevent obesity among school-going children, adolescents, and youths. Children need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Physical activity is highly recommended to address obesity because the state’s educational curriculum acknowledges physical education as a critical element of holistic learning (Yuksel et al., 2020). The plan aligns with the established educational programs in the state and will be easy to implement if stakeholders in education are involved. Ring-Dimitriou et al. (2020) assert that physical activity is a major factor in preventing excessive body mass in the pediatric population. A considerable percentage of children and adolescents do not reach the public health recommendation for physical activity resulting in high percentages of childhood overweight and obesity. The health improvement plan is based on the assumption that all schools have physical education facilities, such as fields and qualified physical trainers.

Value and Relevance of Evidence

Evidence from Ring-Dimitriou et al. (2020) is valuable and relevant to the health improvement plan since it explains the role of physical activity in preventing excessive body weight. It also presents age-appropriate recommendations for physical activity and recommendations for school-based approaches, parents, and guardians. The article recommends increasing the amount of compulsory physical education; encouraging the involvement of all students in physical education classes regardless of disability; offering health education guided by the recommended physical activity levels. Evidence from Yuksel et al. (2020) is also valuable and relevant to the plan since it examines the impact of school-based strategies in supporting physical activity and physical fitness and preventing obesity. The study reveals that school-based approaches have important potential in preventing obesity and promoting physical activity and fitness if they focus on the content, duration, quality, and priority of physical activity. However, the articles do not explain how schools can develop successful strategies for increasing physical activity involvement among disabled children and adolescents.

Measuring Outcomes

The outcomes of the health improvement plan will be evaluated by assessing the number of children and adolescents’ BMI and physical activity levels. The number of overweight/obese children and adolescents after implementing the plan will be compared to the number before implementation. A decrease in this number will indicate achievement in reducing childhood obesity in the community. In addition, physical activity programs in schools will be evaluated to determine improvement in physical activity levels among school-going children and adolescents. A possible criterion is asking school-going children about their physical activity levels. However, the criterion was rejected because most children may not be aware of the amount of time they engage in physical exercises and the types of exercises they participate in school.

Communication Plan

Communication with community members will promote positive changes in attitudes and behaviors and empower the community to make healthier choices. Communication about incorporating physical education and extracurricular activities in schools will start by involving community leaders and enlightening them on the severity and impact of childhood obesity in the community. It is important to involve community leaders since they greatly influence community members’ decisions and understand the cultural beliefs and practices of the community (Haldane et al., 2019). Communication to other healthcare providers will be through face-to-face meetings and memos explaining the severity and prevalence of childhood obesity in the community and the proposed health improvement plan to address the issue. Potential challenges in these communication strategies include a lack of cooperation from leaders and providers (Haldane et al., 2019). However, they can be controlled by presenting facts about the health issue and explaining the potential benefits of the health improvement plan.

Conclusion

Childhood obesity is a major population health concern in our community, evidenced by a high prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents. It is associated with environmental factors such as numerous fast food joints and a low density of healthy food stores. The proposed plan incorporates physical education and extracurricular activities in schools’ learning programs. The plan seeks to increase the physical activity of school-going children, thus preventing excessive body mass in children. Evaluation of the plan will entail assessing children’s BMI and physical activity programs in schools.

References

dos Santos, H., Reis, W. P., Ghamsary, M., Jackson, A., & Herring, P. (2019). Lifestyle and environmental factors associated with predictors of childhood obesity. Int J Adv Nutr Health Sci, 7(1), 313-324. https://doi.org/10.23953/cloud.ijanhs.413

Haldane, V., Chuah, F., Srivastava, A., Singh, S. R., Koh, G., Seng, C. K., & Legido-Quigley, H. (2019). Community participation in health services development, implementation, and evaluation: A systematic review of empowerment, health, community, and process outcomes. PloS one, 14(5), e0216112. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216112

Ring-Dimitriou, S., Thivel, D., Weghuber, D., Hadjipanayis, A., Grossman, Z., & Ross-Russell, R. (2020). Dere n, K. Mazur, A. Physical Activity in the Prevention of Childhood Obesity: The Position of the European Childhood Obesity Group and the European Academy of Pediatrics. Front. Pediatr, 8, 662. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2020.535705

Yuksel, H. S., Şahin, F. N., Maksimovic, N., Drid, P., & Bianco, A. (2020). School-based intervention programs for preventing obesity and promoting physical activity and fitness: A systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(1), 347. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010347

BUY A CUSTOM- PAPER HERE

Guiding Questions
Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan
This document is designed to give you questions to consider and additional guidance to help you successfully complete the Evidence-Based Population Health Improvement Plan assessment. You may find it useful to use this document as a pre-writing exercise or as a final check to ensure that you have sufficiently addressed all the grading criteria for this assessment. This document is a resource to help you complete the assessment. Do not turn in this document as your assessment submission.
Evaluate the environmental and epidemiological data about your community so that you can illustrate and diagnose widespread population health issues.
• What is the relevant demographic data for your community?
• What does the epidemiological data about your community suggest are its biggest health concerns?
• How do environmental factors in the community contribute or pose challenges to the health of residents?
Develop an ethical health improvement plan that addresses the population health issue you have identified in your evaluation. The plan should be based upon the best available evidence and meet the cultural and environmental needs of your community.
• Did you use a minimum of 3–5 sources of professional and scholarly evidence to support your health improvement plan?
• Does your health improvement plan consider the environmental realities and challenges that exist in your community?
• Does your health improvement plan address potential barriers or misunderstandings related to the various cultures prevalent in your community?
• Does your plan effectively address the needs of the community around a specific health concern?
o Will your plan likely lead to some improvement in the community’s health related to this health concern?
Justify the value and relevance of the evidence you used as the basis for your population health improvement plan.
• Have you noted why the evidence you have presented in your health improvement plan is valuable and relevant to the health issue and community you are addressing?
• Have you explained why each particular piece of evidence is appropriate and informs the goal of improving the health of the community?
Propose criteria that can be used to evaluate the achievement of your health improvement plan’s outcomes.
• Are the criteria that you proposed measurable?
• Are the criteria you proposed relevant to your desired outcomes?
• Have you at least noted how the criteria can be used as an evaluative tool?
Explain how you plan to apply strategies for communicating with community members and colleagues in the health care profession in an ethical, culturally sensitive, and inclusive way about the development and implementation of your health improvement plan.
• Do you have clear strategies for communicating with colleagues?
o Are they mindful of cultural and ethical expectations for data privacy?
• Do you have clear strategies for communicating with the community or community stakeholders?
o Are they mindful of cultural and ethical expectations for data privacy?
 Are these strategies inclusive?
 In other words, will they allow you to make complex medical terms and concepts understandable to members of your community, regardless of language, disabilities, or level of education?
Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.
• Did you use 3–5 sources?
• Are they cited in APA format throughout the plan?
• Have you included an attached reference list?