Objectives of Health Promotion Plan in Australia - Assignment Example

? Health Promotion Plan Introduction The issue of mental illness is recognized to be a significant complication which is increasing rapidly. It has been observed that mental illness is one of the most crucial contributory factors, which has affected largely the women belonging to Australia. The main factors that have contributed for rise of mental illness especially in Australia are greater disability, dependence and gender differences that ultimately led towards causing mental illness rather than any other health problems. It has been viewed that the most general mental illnesses which are experienced especially by the women belonging to Australia are anxiety, bipolar disorder as well as depression. Among these sorts of various mental illnesses, depression is considered to be the most prevalent illness which is experienced by the Australian women. It is frequently observed especially in the central Goldfields region in Australia. The sources of occurrence of this particular type of illness i.e. depression are mainly the lack of social association, poor economic resources and occurrence of violence towards women among others (Women’s Health Loddon Mallee, 2006). In the paper, the objectives or goals in relation to developing the health conditions of the Australian women affected by mental illness has been presented. Moreover, the application of SMART objectives along with the rationale for each objective will also be taken into concern. Additionally, the execution of various strategies in order to accomplish the desired objectives related with the issue of mental illness and the consideration of various ethical issues while implementing a program will also be portrayed in the discussion. A Brief Analysis of the Goals and Objectives It is evident to the fact that the issue regarding the facet of mental illness is mounting rapidly among the Australian women. With this concern, the initial goal or objective of the program would be to initiate certain essential steps for the purpose of lowering the rate of mental illness among the Australia women. In this context, an organization named Women’s Health Loddon Mallee that deals with offering excellent health services effectively responded towards the different needs of the women and took certain initiatives in order to cope up with the situation regarding the issue of mental illness which has raised considerably especially in the Australian women. Women’s Health Loddon Mallee generally focuses upon generating awareness as well as finding the ultimate solutions in order to support the women suffering from mental illnesses (WHLM, 2006). The noteworthy goals or objectives of the program in relation to the issue regarding mental illness within the Australian women fundamentally include the prevention of violence towards the women, increasing the social connectedness and adopting gender equity approaches. In this regard, Women’s Health Loddon Mallee has been closely working with different organizations in order to develop a plan for the purpose of minimizing the issue of mental illness among the women belonging to Australia. It has been observed that the Australian women face various violence related activities and thus the prevalence of mental as well as behavioral difficulties is much present in women rather than the men. By considering this significant fact, the main purpose of Women’s Health Loddon Mallee in relation to the proposed plan would be to prevent the violence towards the women that greatly contributes in raising the issue of mental illness (Clarke, 2010). A graphical depiction of the occurrence of mental along with behavioral problems is provided hereunder. Source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006) On the basis of the above discussed grounds, the several important objectives in order to reduce the significant issue of mental illness would be to raise the communal connectedness, to implement gender equality approaches, to prevent violence towards women and to enhance the mental health literacy among the health workers (Clarke, 2010). In order to attain the goal of increasing the communal connectedness, the necessary strategies should be specific and clearly defined in such a way that the objective can be attained on a timely basis. Additionally, the objective of increasing social connectedness should be measured in order to manage it properly. This particular objective must be sensible as well relevant to the situation and also have to be attained within a fixed time period i.e. around 6 months. Moreover, the objective should be time-sensitive and must focus upon the time factor in order to fulfill as well as to attain the expected goal. In order to attain the other objective i.e. to implement the gender equality approaches, the focus would be quite specific in relation to the objective for the purpose of minimizing the vulnerable situation that arises from the issue of mental illness. Similarly, this particular objective must also be measured in order to manage it properly and must be attained within a certain time period. The execution of gender equity approaches should be relevant with the situation and must possess a time bound factor in order to attain the desired objective. For the purpose of preventing violence towards women, the objective should focus upon a specific subject matter i.e. to reduce gender-based violence. Besides, this particular objective can be measured by evaluating the impact of violence towards women as compared with the early years. The most significant part is that the objective of preventing violence towards women should be attained in a proposed time frame and must be relevant with the situation. Moreover, the objective should possess the vital facet of being time bound through which the expected objective can be attained within a definite period. Finally, with the intention of attaining the objective of improving the mental health literacy among the health workers, the objective should emphasize upon a particular or a specific field of study regarding the promotion of several mental illness literacy related courses. In this similar context, the objective must be measured in terms of productivity and should be attained within a due course of time. The objective must be relevant with the subject matter and should be time bound in order to attain the objective in an organized way. A Brief Overview of the Evidence-Based Strategies to Achieve the Objectives For the purpose of accomplishing the intention of improving mental health literacy among the health workers, one of the effective strategies could be examining potential Mental Health Promotion Short Courses. Such courses in relation to mental health might be offered locally and can be delivered with utmost importance for better promotion of mental health literacy. The other strategy that might be applicable in this regard is concerned with facilitating a Mental Health Promotion Short Course in the locality or the region. For instance, in the year 2010, VicHealth which essentially makes partnership with different organizations in order to enhance the position of health in the daily lives of the individuals belonging to Australia enthusiastically participated in conducting Health Course particularly in Bendigo. Thus, the organization with the participation ultimately raised greater awareness regarding the promotion of mental illness in Bendigo Loddon that was attained through the attendance of the health workers at the Health Course. Moreover, the literacy regarding the aspect of mental health was improved amid the health workers in the region of Bendigo Loddon through performing various negotiations in order to share the costs of the participation of VicHealth particularly in the Health Course. In this regard, further planning was generally made towards delivering a substitute Mental Health Promotion Short Course in the year 2010-2011 in the locality of Bendigo Loddon. This particular objective can also be attained by introducing, examining as well as facilitating a Mental Health Promotion Short Courses especially in the central Goldfields region in Australia among the health workers where the burden of mental illness is quite higher within the Australian women (Bendigo Loddon PCP, 2010). With the aim to enhance as well as to raise the mental health literacy among the health workers, the strategy might also include the development of various established strategic partnerships comprising both government as well as non-government sectors. This particular strategy might facilitate to provide support towards improving the knowledge in relation to mental health or illness by a significant level. Moreover, the other potential strategies may include advanced as well as superior first aid training especially for the non-clinical related workers for raising community awareness regarding mental illness and actively promoting the execution of various innovative technologies towards mental illness promotional related activities. In addition, the other important strategy might involve taking the initiative in order to establish various cultural related programs for the purpose of raising mental health literacy in linguistically as well as culturally dissimilar communities belonging to the central Goldfields region in Australia (Queensland Government, 2008). In order to attain the objective of protecting the women from violence that contributes largely towards occurrence of mental illness among the women, there lie various effective strategies in order to cope up with the vulnerable situation. In this regard, one of the strategies may be regarding the formation of enhanced guidelines or framework that are based upon the aspect of ensuring gender equality as well as human rights which are to be followed by everybody including both men along with women. The guidelines should be based upon certain important facets that include gender equality, human rights and addressing the various requirements of the different groups of women. Apart from the establishment of the framework based upon above discussed significant aspects, the other strategy may be the introduction of legal instruments. The above discussed strategies were greatly executed by the European Commission in order to prevent the violence that was made towards women prevailing in the European nations (European Commission, 2010). The other significant strategy that can be executed for the purpose of attaining the objective of preventing violence against the women is the promotion of gender equality. The promotion of the idea of gender equality can play an imperative part in the prevention of violence occurring against women. The notion of gender equality facilitates to provide equal treatment towards both women along with men. Moreover, the practice of ensuring gender equality is also responsible towards delivering fairness as well as justice in the dispersion of various opportunities as well as benefits to both women and men. It has been observed that the relation between violence and gender is quite complex in nature and possesses large as well as broad-ranging impact upon the society. Various theories as well as evidences have suggested that the factor of gender inequality has fundamentally increased the risk of violence against women. Thus, it is quite necessary to promote the aspect of gender equality in order to minimize or to cope up with the situation regarding the protection of the women from facing such violence. The evidences also suggested that the aspect of gender equality can be promoted by creating school and community or by having media interventions that ultimately prevent violent activities (WHO, 2009). A Brief Analysis of the Considerations for Implementation In order to implement the different strategies for the purpose of attaining the expected objectives, it is quite necessary to consider certain important aspects for conducting health awareness as well as promotion. It is obvious to the fact that certain ethical issues along with certain social responsibilities may generate in the context of social, economic or cultural aspect of health promotion. The different ethical issues that are linked with the aspect of health promotion are certainly recognized as complex as well as varied. However, there lie certain ethical issues that need to be considered while implementing a particular program in a community. The different ethical issues might include necessity, effectiveness and proportionality among others. From the viewpoint of the ethical issue regarding necessity, it has been viewed that the traditional treatment methods may not be adequate to deal with the significant complications that are viewed in today’s health related problems. Thus, once the issue of necessity has been formed, it is necessary to consider while implementing any sort of health program. In terms of the ethical issue regarding effectiveness, certain scientific evidences have revealed that a proposed health promotion plan may perform better rather than providing harm to others. In this context, it has been pointed out that the traditional based data analysis might prove inappropriate towards understanding the various outcomes in relation to health promotion related program. From the perspective of the ethical issue regarding proportionality, it has been observed that there lie certain health issues that might affect the weaker elements belonging to the society that include poor or homeless people among others. In such circumstances, there are many factors that create various difficulties which cannot be remedied by the aspect of health promotion. It may generate inequality among people from enjoying the benefits of attaining superior health (Corcoran, n.d.). Thus, these are certain important ethical issues that should be considered greatly while implementing any health related program in the community successfully. Conclusion The application of health promotion plan is quite necessary towards the development as well as the progression of the health related aspect which poses significant impact upon the society. In this context, in order to minimize or to cope up with the vulnerable condition relating with the issue of mental illness that mostly prevails in the central Goldfields region in Australia, certain important objectives as well as strategies have been designed. The strategies that include promoting the aspect of gender equality, establishing effective guidelines and legal instruments might support towards reducing the issue of mental illness by a significant level. It can also be stated that there lies certain ethical issues that need to be considered quite pertinently for the purpose of establishing any sort of health related program in the community. Moreover, the considerations toward the ethical issues might also provide support in order to make advancement in health promotion plan by a considerable extent. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Mental health. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4824.0.55.001 Bendigo Loddon PCP. (2010). Status update. Retrieved from http://www.blpcp.com.au/publications/Problem%20Gambling%20PCP%20Project%20Report%202009-10%20%282%29-Rvsd%20Final%201.pdf Clarke, J. (2010). The health impacts of change and drought on women in the Loddon Mallee region. Retrieved from http://www.whlm.org.au/pdfs/Women%20and%20Climate%20Change%20-%20Literature%20Review%20%20Pub%202.pdf Corcoran, E. (n.d.). Ethical aspects of health promotion. Retrieved from http://www.qub.ac.uk/methics/CorcoranE.pdf European Commission. (2010). Recommendations for the EU strategy. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/opinions_advisory_committee/2010_12_opinion_on_eu_strategy_on_violence_against_women_and_girls_en.pdf Queensland Government. (2008). Queensland plan for mental health 2007-2017. Retrieved from http://www.health.qld.gov.au/mentalhealth/abt_us/qpfmh/08132_qpfmh07.pdf WHO. (2009). Promoting gender equality to prevent violence against women. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241597883_eng.pdf Women’s Health Loddon Mallee. (2006). Women and mental health. Retrieved from http://www.whealth.com.au/documents/health/banner-mentalhealth.pdf WHLM. (2006). Services. 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