Problem of Aging Health Care

The report discusses about the problem of aged health care services that is being faced by people across Australia and the problem has come up due to inaccessibility. Read about the health promotion plan, evaluation of health promotion plan and more at Desklib.

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Running Head: Health Care
Problem of Aging Health Care

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Target Audience.........................................................................................................................4
Health Promotion Plan...............................................................................................................5
Evaluation of Health Promotion Plan........................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Reference..................................................................................................................................10
Appendices...............................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The report discusses about the problem of aged health care services that is being faced by
people across Australia and the problem has come up due to inaccessibility. Government as
well as people are aware that population is aging rapidly and a large sum of people will soon
fall into category of aging population. The problem has come to life because Australia has
observed a fall in number of birth rates and Australian government has not been taking
actions for ailment of health care services for aging population. If we want ourselves to age
healthy, free of chronic illness then health awareness programmes as well as basic knowledge
over health care facilities should be provided especially to people who live in rural areas as
they are not facilitated and informed about the modern health care centres and the aids
services provided by them in order to control the illness and provide a better life to aging
population.("4430.0 - Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2015",
2016) Healthy aging is achievable when the population is ready for active participation in
regards to physical fitness, healthy eating. It not only will improve the health of aging people
but also will help in boosting lifestyle of young generation and helps them to have a good
growth and development. Population that acknowledges the importance of healthy aging has
several merits. Population that has healthy benefits sees lower occurrence of preventable
diseases. Along with it the population that gets ill can be restored to normal life without
expenditure of extreme health care services (Smith, Jancey & Binns, 2017) This lays two
benefits, one is population needs to spend less of their money on health care services and the
health care organizations also record good performance and less economic burden. Among
aging population in Australia there is a list of factors that lead to disability and bad health.
(Abed NA, PM & LD, 2013)

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They are preventable diseases, alcohol consumption, non-communicable diseases,
substance use and abuse, bad diet, lack of physical activities, lack of socialization. The risk of
development of chronic illness increases with age, and the population that is most susceptible
to them belongs to age group 45-65 years. It has been observed that the pattern of such
chronic illness changes with the age group, the people who are beyond 65 years of age get
affected by cardiovascular diseases or cancer and that counts for 60% of the total burden on
the health sector of the country. (Smith et al., 2018)Respiratory diseases in aging population
imposes the second threat and often leads to brain aging, loss in senses.
Target Audience
Recently it has been recorded that the mortality rate has fallen drastically across
Australia and the life expectancy has increases. The fall in numbers of mortality rate across
the country has brought up the burden of health care challenges among a large population of
aging people. Apart from that, fall in birth rates has also added to the concern where the
aging population is required to be healthy in order to participate as an active work force for
the welfare of the economy. According to a study conducted in 2015, one in every seven
persons is old and that accounts for 15% of the total population of the country. The
percentage of old people or aging population is increasing every year, where in 2009 it was
13%, rose to 14% in 2012 and 15% in 2015. According to numbers, there are approximately
3.5 million people that comes under aging population. (Ruth, Lixia & Grace, 2001) With such
rise, there has been development of no revolutionary health care policies and awareness
program that may aid to the control and regulation of poor health. A continuous challenge has
developed in front of health care organizations, social workers, government. There are
several reasons that contemplate that why aging population needs help and attention
regarding health care services, knowledge and awareness. The first reason is the rise in
numbers of aging population of old people, they need to make aware of lifestyle

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modifications in order to have healthy life. The second reason for keeping aging population
as target is they are highly susceptible to chronic illness. One of the most prevalent chronic
illnesses is cardio vascular diseases. Cardio vascular diseases arise from more than one factor
and they are lack of physical activities, intake of food with high lipid content, lack of
roughage in diet, intake of carbohydrates in large amount. Such illness does not always needs
critical health care but can also be managed by making modifications in the lifestyle of
people and that is why it is important to make people aware of the self-help that they can
provide to themselves in order to keep themselves healthy and make themselves free from the
long term health care treatment as it imposes both economic and health burden over the life
of them. According to one study by Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted in 2015 it has
been found that almost 95% of aging population live inside their living space and do not
make social interactions. The data is of great significance because social interaction and
community involvement increases awareness among people and sometimes it leads to
lifestyle modification just by getting aware through talking. It can also be inferred that lack of
social interaction makes the person isolated; depressed ad that effects sleeping, eating and
other life cycles that disturb the normal metabolism and functioning of body and this may
lead to development of serious chronic illness. The literature work is required to be studied
thoroughly in order to understand the significance of choosing aging population as target for
conducting health awareness programmes so that they can be provided with healthy aging.
Another important subject that one must consider while conducting health awareness
programmes is medium that is used for the process of communication. The media or medium
used for creating awareness should be compatible with the target audience and it should
belong to their level and terms of understanding. While choosing the target audience many a
time professionals fail to address the significance of media used and this leads to failure of
the awareness programme that has been run (World health report on ageing and health, 2015).

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Health Promotion Plan
Health promotion has been counted as a tool of greater value in recent years across
Australia, especially to fight with the uncontrolled problem of public health. While making a
promotion plan there are several things that are to be considered and they leave a long lasting
effect on efficiency of the programme. First is the organization with capacity, it means that
the organization having enough professional capacity should be held responsible for
conducting health promotion activities. It is relevant because there are possibilities that the
organization loses their focus due to lack of experience, knowledge and that leads to failure
of the programme. The second factor is quality material, it stands for the literature work that
is intended to be used for conducting the programmes and that are to be circulated among
public for future reference. It is to be noticed and taken care that the literature should be
highly informative, rich in statistics, should address the problems and future problems. The
content should also talk about how to deal with the consequences that may come and how to
deal with the problem by bringing small changes in the lifestyle. (Roussy& Livingstone,
2018) Third is competent work force, it is important that how the content is being delivered
and addressed. As it has been discussed earlier that target audience plays an important role in
not only developing the content but also it helps in determining how the content should be
delivered in order to make the strategy more effective. A competent work force understands
the agenda and resonates with the aim of the promotion plan and thus they deliver the best
they can. The fourth is population health, it stands for the current trends in the health
condition of the population. The seriousness of the current trends should be understood and
according to that suggestion, education and facilities should be provided so that if the
population is suffering from serious illness then it can recover itself or if it is not suffering
from serious illness then can protect itself from development of such illness. For effective
delivery of health promotion and awareness programme, the promoters should possess

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knowledge in the subject and they must also be trained with proper skills. Apart from that the
promoters should understand the aim and values behind it because it greatly affects the
outcome. When the promotion takes place within a community then it asks for values and
ethics as each community has their own way of interpreting values and care. So promoter
needs to understand the importance and also should be flexible enough to bring modifications
in himself when they shift from one community to another. This not only personalizes the
message and lesson that the agency is conveying but also it develops a deeper understanding
among the promoter regarding different perspectives and beliefs. Another important factor
that underlines all of the above discussed factors is funding. There is no action and execution
unless and until the organization has funding. A lot of challenges have been faced regarding
funding of such health promotion programmes as government doesn’t shows its support in
the context. For making a budget first step is to consult a person that has experience in
making the budget and then evaluate that whether the projected cost will be sufficient for
running the program. The money is required in mainly three segments of any programme
which is administration, staff expenses and resource development. To cover all expenses that
come under these segments, it is important that organization has sufficient funding.
In order to develop a promotion plan, sharp set of ideas should be put on to work and
they are discussed in brief manner. The promotion plan needs an assessment where
identification of resources should be done along with the organizations and partners that can
be regarded as the first hand in delivery of the promotion plan. Next step is to prioritize the
actions according to their relevance and develop plans according to needs. The third step is to
intervene the possible outcomes that may come as the effect of the plan and the fourth is
implementation of the plan. The final step is developing tools that may help in evaluation of
the plan, its effectiveness and how well did it go into the minds of people.

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The long term objectives involve checking the number of aging people getting
admitted to health centres due to chronic illness. The number should fall over time and that
will denote that population is aging healthy. The short term objective involves making sure
that target audience is getting the benefit of promotion plan and they are also participating
with cooperation.
STEPS IN HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
Identification of the resources
Prioritization of actions and development of plans
Intervene the possible outcomes from the plan
Implementation of the plan
Evaluation tools for assessment
In order to develop the plan, one should diagnose the community that is to be
undertaken for the health promotion programme. The community should be looked upon for
population ratio, number of people who fall in different age groups, percentage of old people,
number of people who are healthy, number of people who are suffering with chronic illness
and several other factors are to be considered. After the diagnosis of the community the
people should be educated and promoted to adopt healthy lifestyle and they should also be
demanded to build an environment where they not only can motivate themselves but motivate
each other in order to get adapted to the change in lifestyle. The resources should be properly
mobilized among the community and it should be organized such that it is available to each
and every possible audience with ease. The community can also be divided into several
groups that can be asked to work together with trained promoters. This would not only
increase the participation of the community people but it would also help the target audience
to understand that they are important and a lot of people who belong to them are making
efforts in order to make their life and health better. In cognitive mind, it removes the feeling

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of being unwanted especially among the old people. After the promotion activities are over,
the target audience in the community should be provided with regular counselling activities
in order to help them to channel how the change has been helping them and what all
symptoms cannot be changed by lifestyle modification and when do they need clinical care
for their betterment. Counselling also helps old people to freshen up what they have learnt
because they are too much susceptible to being forgetful as most of them either suffer from
partial dementia, or have developed full Alzheimer’s over time. The plan should also promote
mobilization of old people among the community by being invited to central common parks
for refreshments, community centre for general vital check-up, or other attractive events
where they get driven by themselves and start considering the importance of mobilization.
Evaluation of Health Promotion Plan
It is significant to record how a plan has been functioning because a lot of force has
been invested in it. Different steps and methods that can be used for evaluation of promotion
plans are discussed briefly. The plan should be executed in different communities to solve the
problems associated with public health and observe how operational it is when it is subjected
to different niche. The evaluation can also be done by identifying the change in patterns and
activities of people with respect to management of their health and illness. The people can
also be observed to notice their social interaction and mobilization. As it has been discussed
mobilization helps in spreading general awareness. ("Health Promotion Strategy Unit -
Department of Health", 2018) In old people, mobilization also helps them to do physical
activities that involve movement of their hands and legs. Most of the chronic illness develops
because aged people stop mobility and their limbs become dysfunctional and lose flexibility.
The evaluation process can also be done by allowing different health agencies to evaluate the
plan and also produce the merits and demerits that the plan has in order to make
modifications and make plan more efficient. Collaborations are always the best tool for

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evaluation because they recruit a variety of perspectives that a single organization either fails
to notice or ignores in order to make the plan look ideal and simple. (Jancey, Barnett, Smith,
Binns& Howat, 2016)
EVALUATION STARTEGIES
Execution of plan in different niche for different health problems
Identification of change in patterns and activities of people in management of health and
illness
Identification of change in mobilization frequency
Collaboration with different agencies for evaluation
Conclusion
With the provided literature, tools and discussion it can be concluded that health
promotion programmes hold the ability to make people understand the importance of lifestyle
modification to their general health and fitness. Especially in old people, where several daily
activities put to hold because of age and they lose their physical activity that result in
development of chronic illness. Though old people are not a great human resource to the
country but it is right of each and every citizen to age without chronic illness and health
promotion activity can prove to be the cheapest means for induction of the goal.

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Reference
4430.0 - Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2015. (2016).
Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4430.0
Abed NA, A., PM, D., & LD, H. (2013). Healthcare needs of older Arab migrants: a
systematic review. - PubMed - NCBI. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24329783
Health Promotion Strategy Unit - Department of Health. (2018). Retrieved from
https://health.nt.gov.au/professionals/health-promotion/health-promotion
Jancey, J., Barnett, L., Smith, J., Binns, C., & Howat, P. (2016). We need a comprehensive
approachto health promotion. Health Promotion Journal Of Australia, 27(1), 1- 3.
Roussy, V., & Livingstone, C. (2018). Surviving neoliberalism, maintaining values:
Community health mergers in Victoria, Australia. The International Journal Of
Health Planning And Management, 33(2),
Smith, J., Jancey, J., &Binns, C. (2017). System reform in the human services: what role can
health promotion play?. Health Promotion Journal Of Australia, 28(1), 1-4.

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Smith, J., Griffiths, K., Judd, J., Crawford, G., D'Antoine, H., & Fisher, M. et al. (2018). Ten
years on from the World Health Organization Commission of Social
Determinants of Health: Progress or procrastination?. Health Promotion Journal
Of Australia, 29(1), 3-7.
World health report on ageing and health. (2015). Geneva: World Health Organisation.
Retrieved from
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/186463/9789240694811_eng.pdf;jsess
ionid=
Appendices
1. A Proposed Teaching Plan

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2. One Example of an evaluation strategy
Collaboration can be done with different national and international agencies that can help
to evaluate the efficiency of the strategy. It is relevant because it delivers the unbiased
evaluation that might come from the home organization if self-evaluation is one. The
international agency can conduct the survey to identify the change in health management
patterns among target audience and they can also conduct a survey to evaluate the general
impact of teaching and health promotion upon natives of community.
Questionnaire of the Survey
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Name of the Participant
Age
Gender

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Chronic illness if any?
Do you practice exercises for physical
fitness?
Are you dependent on junk foods in your
diet?
Do you invest your time in preparing healthy
diet chart for yourself and follow it
accordingly?
Do you check your mobility rate?
Do you perform your daily chorus without
any trouble?
Has your health improved after following
lifestyle modification strategies taught during
teaching?
3. PowerPoint (Attached)