Modifying Individual Behavior - Assignment Example

POPULATION HEALTH and EPIDEMIOLOGY XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Modifying Individual Behavior XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Name XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Course XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Course instructor XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Date submitted Introduction Despite the substantial efforts aimed at the reduction of injuries, it has been identified as the main cause of death in people under the age of 45 in Australia. It is a high cause for increasing health costs as well as permanent physical, mental and psychosomatic disabilities that affect individual life quality. However, most injuries are avertable as most are caused by inadequate behaviors or negligence. There still exists the challenge to creating awareness to the adoption of preventive behaviors that are aimed at the reduction of injuries (Henley & Harrison 2009, p.34). The effective use of theoretically based behavior change approaches that are a challenge can be useful in the elimination of most injuries. There is need to identify the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of individuals that are pathways to injuries. In addition, there is need to identify the right lifestyle that is aimed at reduction and elimination of injuries. In some cases, the use of rules and regulations to instill change among the populous has proved to be effective. The paper will aim at identifying the impact of injury to the health of the Australian population in respect to young adults. In addition, the paper will identify appropriate interventions that are aimed at addressing the problem in Australia with the aim of modifying individual behavior (Henley & Harrison 2009, p.254). Q1. Impact of injury on the population health. It is recorded that 9,775 deaths resulted from injury occurred in Australia in 2004-2005 of this, 62% of the victims were male. This translates to a total of 63.9 deaths in every 100,000 male population compared to 30.3 of every 100,000 female population. Of this deaths, over a quarter were as a result of some type of fracture. Two thirds of the reported deaths were as a result of hip fracture while the head injury accounted for 17%. Some of the reported death victims sustained intracranial injury. Among the reported cases, the most common injury deaths were as a result of unintentional falls. This accounted for 295 of the reported cases. However, most of the accounted cases were reported of persons of 70 years and over. Other reported causes of injury deaths were as a result of suicide and transport which accounted for 24% and 18% respectively (Henley & Harrison 2009, p.231). . Most of these cases were prominent in men than women. The information is well represented in the figures below. Indicator Multiple causes of death Underlying causes of death Males Females Persons Males Males Females Cases 6,096 3,679 9,775 5,220 2,569 7,789 % of all injury deaths 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Crude rate/ 100,000 60.6 36.2 48.4 51.9 25.3 38.5 Adj rate (direct) 63.9 30.3 46.7 53.8 22.0 37.6 Rate ratio 1.37 0.65 1.43 0.59 Mean YPLL Read More