The Purpose of a Health Needs Assessment - Dissertation Example

?Health Needs Assessment Introduction The purpose of a health needs assessment is to correctly identify health risks to the population and understandhow they may affect this group of people. It is there to help understand the resources that need to be available to people suffering from certain afflictions or illnesses within the target population to ensure that healthcare is being provided to certain qualities and to ensure that everyone has access to appropriate treatment. In the UK, health needs assessments are generally done with the purpose of informing the NHS, the main healthcare provider in the country. It is important that the NHS get these assessments right because it is an organization funded by taxpayers who may be unhappy with poor treatment. This essay will outline the problem of anorexia nervosa within the UK population and evaluate how best to undertake a health needs assessment for this illness. It is important, particularly with mental illness, that it is evaluated well, because there are so many different treatment options that may have different success rates with different types of sufferers. Anorexia nervosa is relevant to public health practice because, although it may not necessarily be considered as important as a physical disease to some, it has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness (Ha et al, 2003). Anorexia Nervosa Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness and eating disorder that has many different features, but predominant symptoms are a fear of weight gain (Ha et al, 2003) and the patient refusing to maintain a body weight in the healthy range (Eisler et al, 2007). It is generally accompanied by a poor self-image and an obsession with food, calorie counting and weight changes (Bulik et al, 2007). Anorexia predominantly affects females and usually begins to show symptoms in puberty (Papadopoulos et al, 2009), although it is important not to generalise and ignore the needs of male or older sufferers who may also need treatment. There are also links between anorexia and other eating disorders, as sufferers can exhibit symptoms of bulimia and binge-eating disorders at times. This leads to a complexity in diagnosis and treatment options. Other associated problems include depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, autism and ADHD (Bulik et al, 2006), which again may lead to a complexity in the diagnosis and treatment options for these individuals. Treatment for the disease is varied and depends on many different things, such as the weight of the individual, any co-existing disorders (such as autism [Bulik et al, 2006]), age and gender. Generally, sufferers are given a specialised diet to increase their weight, and are carefully watched for any signs of heart problems which can result from a sudden increase in calorific intake (Papadopoulos et al, 2009). This can happen in a specialised residential clinic or as an out-patient with parental or other supervisory guidance. There are also medications and therapies which can be used as in the treatment of many other mental illnesses, trying to address any underlying problems that may hinder recovery (Bulik et al, 2007). As previously mentioned, anorexia nervosa has the highest morbidity rate of any mental illness (Ha et al, 2003), and therefore it is highly important to undertake a correct health needs assessment. This, combined with the multitude of treatments needed to fully heal someone with anorexia, means that the health needs assessment can be quite complicated and lengthy but is definitely a worthwhile undertaking. Health Needs Assessment for Anorexia Nervosa There are certain steps that need to be undertaken for a health needs assessment, regardless of which illness they are trying to uncover the health needs for. These will be discussed below in the context of anorexia nervosa to show how a health needs assessment could be undertaken in these circumstances, focusing on the guidelines given by NICE (2011). The first of the five general steps suggested in undertaking a health needs assessment is known as 'getting started' (Coker et al, 2006). This involves getting to know the target population and the number of sufferers. In this case, the UK falls under the category of 'developed country' and therefore we can assume the general prevalence of anorexia nervosa to be around 1% (Ha et al, 2003). This is a huge percentage of the population and gives a huge incentive to correctly do the health needs assessment. The step also needs us to outline what should be achieved; in this case good provisioning of varied and suitable treatments for anorexia nervosa sufferers. This should be available in all areas to ensure the safety of the patients. Finally, the people and resources involved in planning the health needs assessment need to be identified. In the case of the UK, most, if not all, of the funding and research will probably come from NHS bodies who are experts in health needs asssessments. The second step is known as 'identifying health priorities' (Eddy et al, 2008). This involves gathering data about the population. In this case, the population data should be gathered primarily from the UK, although information about other countries could be useful in identifying problems in those who have recently moved to the UK and to understand how other countries have dealt with the problems of anorexia nervosa. A population profile should be undertaken to give details on the types and proportion of people suffering from anorexia nervosa and related mental illnesses (Coker et al, 2006). It would be useful to gather information on the perceptions of needs at this stage, so the health needs assessment can identify what further provisions need to be provided in this area. The third step is 'assessing a health priority for action' (Schaffer et al, 2010). This involves choosing conditions and factors that will have the most impact (in both size and severity [Schaffer et al, 2010]) on the healthcare problem identified. In this case, it could be useful to identify what has been seen to be the best treatment for anorexia nervosa and see how this could be used to impact the population and improve health needs. If, for example, research showed that residential clinics were the most effective, it would be useful to discuss how accessible these are to patients in the UK and if there are needs for any more of these to be provided for care. This is related to the second part of the step, which discusses the most effective interventions and actions for this aspect of healthcare (Schaffer et al, 2010). Step 4 is known as 'planning for change'. This is essentially working out all the problems that come with inputting change into the healthcare system, be they economic or social or bureaucratic. If we take the example from before, that anorexia nervosa sufferers may need more residential clinics, this step would involve informing the right healthcare authorities and finding funding and staff for these locations. It could also involve finding the most applicable locations within the UK for these clinics and perhaps providing transport options to and from the facility. There should also be a risk-management strategy to underline any potential risks in changing the healthcare provisions based on this assessment. Finally, there must be an evaluation and follow-up. This generally comes after the changes have been put in place, and will review how useful they have been in the community (Milliken et al, 2007). If it is felt that the movement has not been successful enough, then it could be an idea to complete another health needs assessment (Schaffer et al, 2010). The success or failure of the scheme is also likely to be published in a journal to illustrate the success or failure to others in the position of implementing the results of a health needs assessment in their area. It may also be useful to identify any small problems with the changes that could be ironed out to provide better healthcare facilities without the need for a complete overhaul. In the case of anorexia nervosa, for example, it could be found that the residential clinics have been so useful in treatment that the NHS may feel the need to implement more of them into the community to offer treatment to a wider range of people (Schaffer et al, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, it has been very useful to see the complexities of the health needs assessment when analysed for a certain disease (anorexia nervosa) for a certain population (that of the United Kingdom). Showing the various stages of the assessment has illustrated the complexities of providing healthcare to a population, and shows the necessary research and problem-solving involved. Anorexia nervosa is one of the most deadly (Ha et al, 2003) and prevalent (Bulik et al, 2007) mental illnesses of the 21st century, particularly in countries such as the UK, and this means that the healthcare needs should be assessed on a regular basis to try and help prevent deaths and serious health problems resulting from the disease. This means that continuous health needs assessments should be carried out on the UK population to ensure that the care being provided is the best possible. References Bulik, C.M. et al., 2007. Anorexia nervosa treatment: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40(4), pp.310–320. Bulik, C.M. et al., 2006. Prevalence, heritability, and prospective risk factors for anorexia nervosa. Archives of general psychiatry, 63(3), p.305. Carter, A.O. et al., 2011. Assessment of obesity, lifestyle, and reproductive health needs of female citizens of Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. JHPN, 22(1), pp.75–83. 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