Health Promotion: Change4life Program - Essay Example

"Health Promotion: Change4life Program" is an outstanding example of a paper on the health system.
Change4life program was developed in 2009.  Its main target was a parent in segments of the population with people who have attitudes and behavior that predisposes their children to become overweight (Anon, 2012). Although the program was developed by the government, it was meant to unite all stakeholders involved in promoting public health in the quest of getting a healthier population (Change4life, 2013). This program had an enormous impact in the year 2009 the first year after it was launched about 400 000 families joined the program and over a million mothers reported having made some behavioral changes in how they handled their children to avoid obesity. In the year 2010, the program recorded huge development as it garnered support from other non-governmental organizations such as businesses (Change4life, 2011). The campaign was accelerated by the use of social media and it was able to reach a greater audience. This year, the program was expanded to reach a greater audience of parents with younger children under the banner Start4life (Whitacre & Annina, 2010). In the same year, a different program that targeted adults in midlife was launched.

In 2011, as a way of trying to adapt to the changes in the lifestyle of the people, Change4life changes its strategy where it reached the audience as a whole through social media (Kemm, 2013). The new strategy involves reaching the targeted population at the community level through the local authorities and local health practitioners. In the last few years, the strategy employed by change4life has changed from behavioral intervention to more psychological intervention (Anon, 2010). Research has however not shown helped this change in terms of strategy has any effects on accelerating lifestyle changes that deal with obesity.

Model of Health promotion applied

The health promotion model applied in the change4life health promotion is the Theory of reasoned action. In this case, the causes and consequences of obesity are explained (Downie, 1990). The patients then choose to participate in the programs depending on how useful they find the programs to be crucial to their general well being.

Evaluation

Since the program was started, many people have joined chnage4life sports clubs. For instance, from the year 2011, 225, 000 children have joined the clubs and have shown an interest in leading an active life as a way of dealing with obesity. The number of adults who have joined the program from 2009 to 2014 has been over 500, 000 million people (Kemm,2009). This program has helped in improving the health of the general population. This is because it has helped the families involved to promote not only good health but also promote health in general. Their strategy is holistic and the campaign has incorporated messages such as the detrimental effects of taking too much alcohol, benefits of physical activity, and not just weight maintenance and provide all information on proper nutrition including reduction of salt intake. Research has also shown that there is a reduction in the rate of child obesity. This is promising since obesity is a major risk factor for different diseases. The program target for the coming years is to ensure that there is a downward trend in the rate of obesity in all populations.

Conclusion

Health promotion has proved to be quite beneficial in dealing with health issues especially ones related to obesity. Obesity is a major risk factor for many terminal diseases such as stroke and high blood pressure. It also causes complications in other related diseases and generally deteriorates the health of a person and increases the risk of contracting a wide array of diseases. Dealing with obesity can thus lead to a great improvement in the health status of the general population (Anon, 2011). Change4life has created the awareness of creating lifestyle changes that will result in better health for the population today and tomorrow. It also provides tools and products that are necessary to make lifestyle changes.