Community Health and Disease Prevention

This article discusses strategies for community health and disease prevention, focusing on lung cancer. It explores the key domains of capacity building and models of health promotion. The Health Belief Model is also examined as a tool for motivating and educating the community.

Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
Name of the student
Name of the university
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Introduction
Community is termed as a place where people with different culture, different abilities,
different health status and socio-economic status lives together and forms a heterogeneous
mixture of culture (Lanier et al., 2014). It is important for the healthcare professionals to
perceive the concept of society beyond the customary view and focus on each domain so that
community based concepts could be applied upon the communities so they health and wellbeing
could be improved (Bahraminejad et al., 2014). In combination with the community
empowerment, community based concepts helps to develop, implement and evaluate health
promotional programs (Qui & Huang, 2015). Further, these concepts help to achieve community
development, by increasing the capacity of the community, enhancing its controlling abilities and
therefore, empowerment of the entire community’s health process is achieved (Lanier et al.,
2014).
This paper would provide a detail of key strategies to engage with a community to
implement the health promotional program for lung cancer. Further, it would discuss the core
domains of capacity building and model and approaches of health promotion in detail.
Part 1
Prior to apply any health promotional program within communities, it is important for the
professionals to understand the way in which, communities and community based interaction
functions (Murphy, 2014). This would help to plan, implement and evaluate the promotional
programs depending on the level of competencies, primary concerns and broader determinants
and readiness of the community (Bahraminejad et al., 2014). As per Laverack’s ladder of
community-based interaction, there are 11 stages with the help of which, community and its

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ability of participation and the resultant action id predetermined so that efficiency of the could be
increased (Owusu-Addo & Owusu-Addo, 2014). The 11 stages of Laverack’s ladder of
community-based interaction are community readiness, participation and its engagement
and communication processes. Further, need assessment and partnerships are conducted to
organize and develop community capacity so that with proper action, community
empowerment could be achieved (Herens & Wagemakers, 2017).
While working for the community based interaction of lung cancer affected community,
it would be crucial to select three strategies so that through the 11 steps of Laverack’s ladder,
empowerment of the community could be achieved, and they could take part in the community
health promotional activities (Owusu-Addo & Owusu-Addo, 2014). The first strategy would be
followed from assessing community readiness to community organization so that it becomes
ready to take part in the process. Second strategy would lead them to developing their self-
goals through community development to lead them community control (Bahraminejad et
al., 2014). Finally, the third strategy would determine the action of community and would
bring community empowerment by meeting their healthcare needs (Herens & Wagemakers,
2017). The following section would provide detail of Laverack’s ladder of community-based
interaction for lung cancer.
Steps of Laverack’s ladder Detail of the step Strategies for community
with lung cancer
Community readiness Care professionals would
engage with the community
affected with lung cancer and
organize educational sessions,
provide them details of the
adverse effects of lung
associated risk factors so that
they could be aware of the
The first stage of the
Laverack’s ladder would
utilize the Socio-ecological
strategy (Porter, 2016). This
is an effective strategy to

3COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
negative aspects and become
ready to take part in care plan.
achieve compliance with the
first step of Laverack’s ladder.
The primary role of this
strategy would be to develop
awareness regarding lung
cancer among the people and
through awareness,
community participation, need
assessment, participation
engagement and organization
of public health program
would be achieved (Mehtälä et
al., 2014). To achieve this, the
entire community would be
asked to attend the community
educational sessions, so that
information could be
circulated (Porter, 2016). To
reach the awareness of the
community, mass media
would be used for the
information, education and
communication aspects that
would eventually develop the
community to accept the
health promotional program
for their growth and
development. Further, it
would be also help the
community to develop
competence, involvement so
Community participation Professionals would develop
and implement strategies so
that majority of the
community members could
join the promotional program
for the holistic development of
health.
Community engagement Severe aspects of lung cancer
that affects the community
would be chosen so that
majority of the individuals
could engage to the goal and
objectives of the health
promotional plan.
Community communication Communities would be
provided with complete details
of lung cancer and associated
complications so that with
informed care, effective
communication could be
developed.
Need assessment All the participants would be
provided with a questionnaire
or means through which the
community and their
healthcare needs could be
assessed would be selected of
the need assessment of the
community
Community partnership After the informed and
effective communication
development, communities
would be introduced to the
public and private
organizations, individuals with
whom, they would work in
partnership to develop
effective care.
Community organization After developing knowledge

4COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
base about lung cancer within
the community and
understanding the best way to
provide information and
communication, understanding
the preventive and control
measures, community would
be united to develop shared
goals with effective shared
decisions as well as their
problem solving skills would
also be assessed.
that health outcomes for the
community affected with lung
cancer could be achieved
(Mehtälä et al., 2014).
Community development Healthcare professionals
associated in the process
would work with
organizations so that
community and their financial,
political, health and individual
literacy and ability could be
developed so that through
these, effective health could
be achieved.
For this aspect of community
based interaction, the
behavioral strategy would be
implemented. After
application of the socio-
ecological strategy people
with lung cancer, people with
higher risk of lung cancer and
people with minimal risk of
lung cancer would be
identified (Baum & Fisher,
2014). Hence, in this strategy,
each of these groups would be
provided with diet, nutrients,
life style hacks and
development of health
behavior (Sallis et al., 2015).
Further, patients of lung
cancer would be asked to join
physical activity sessions,
educational sessions, and their
diet would be reviewed. This
would henceforth, determine
development of the capacity
for community affected with
lung cancer (Baum & Fisher,
2014).
Community capacity This step would help to
increase the capacity of the
community as all the above
stages has increased the
knowledge, participation,
communication and
interaction capacities of the
community affected with lung
cancer
Action This would implement the
determined health promotional
events as community has
already become capable to
implement the strategies
effectively with increased
This step of Laverack’s ladder
would include medical
strategies for lung cancer. In
this aspect, a community care
center, healthcare professional
and counsellor would be

5COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
efficiency so that overall
health achievement could be
obtained.
included in the healthcare
promotional program
(Meshefedjian, 2019). Further,
it would assess the community
and their adherence to the care
process (Lueddeke, 2015).
Community empowerment Finally, after all the steps and
interventions, holistic progress
of the community would be
achieved and they would be
empowered so that they could
themselves bring change if
any further disorder affects
them.
Part 2
In the article by Liberato et al. (2011), nine core domains of capacity building of
communities affected with chronic diseases were identified so that their empowerment could be
achieved by developing their prevention knowledge. While application of these domains in the
community affected with lung cancer, the first domain would be applied on the community,
which would increase their learning opportunities and would develop their skills to acquire the
knowledge related to lung cancer prevention and control (Rifkin, 2014). The second domain
would cover the mobilization of resources such as educational sessions, promotional events for
lung cancer prevention so that stagnant learning could be mobilized. For this purpose, it would
be important to develop partnership and networking with several public and private healthcare
organizations so that effective program could be developed for lung cancer in the community
(George et al., 2015). Therefore, leadership and participatory decision making would be two
domains of Davis, Spaniol and Somerset (2015), which would be complied with so that effective
leadership and developed decision making of participants, improved public health program could
be developed. Further, which developing the lung care public healthcare program in the

6COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
community, the assets of the community, such as its readability, its connectivity, its awareness
level and ability to conduct the interventions would be assessed (Bahraminejad et al., 2014).
Further, in this approach, the sense of community as well as the communication method would
also m=be finalized for maximum compliance with community based interaction. Finally, a
developmental pathway would be selected for the development of the community capacity to
achieve community empowerment (Liberato et al., 2011). It should be mentioned in this aspect
that without these nine aspects development and implementation of community based activities
are difficult as it would require financial, manpower and ideological resources, and without
shared decision making and goals, it would not be possible to achieve them (Rifkin, 2014).
Further, utilizing this approach would help the lung cancer affected community to achieve the
process in greater extent and resources would be used properly to achieve maximum
improvement for patients and higher compliance level would also be achieved (Liberato et al.,
2011). Besides, it would enable to participants to take their own health decisions and help them
to develop their healthcare knowledge (George et al., 2015).
Part 3
The chosen model for this health promotional program would be the Health Belief
Model which would be used to motivate and educate the lung cancer affected community. This
health belief model is consist of four domains such as the perceived susceptibility, perceived
threat, perceived benefit, and the barriers associated to it (Skinner, Tiro & Champion, 2015).
This would be selected for educating the community affected with lung cancer because of its
ability to connect to majority of the people. Lung cancer is a lifestyle associated disorder, and
before onset of this, people consider themselves healthy (Green & Murphy, 2014). Hence, as per
this model, the healthcare data would be collected and then application of educational approach

7COMMUNITY HEALTH AND DISEASE PREVENTION
on the affected individuals would be done so that the target audience with lung cancer could be
targeted for the intervention (Skinner, Tiro & Champion, 2015). Further, as per this model, the
health promotional interventions would be communicated to the target population and
community so that benefit of the promotional program could be provided to each member of the
community (Green & Murphy, 2014). The last steps of this belied model would be achieving the
maximum compliance and reducing the barriers of the process so that while conducting the care
process in the health promotional event the self-efficacy and confidence of the community to
overcome the cancer could be increased and they could effectively take part in the promotional
event (Skinner, Tiro & Champion, 2015).
The advantage of this model would be achieving maximum involvement of community
in the process and conducting the health promotional program for lung cancer. Further, using this
process, optimum usage of resources, higher competency to the promotional plan related
policies, and complete commitment and dedication for the target population would be achieved
(Jones, Smith & Llewellyn, 2014). Therefore, to increase the community competency, capacity
and ultimately would increase the ability of the community to address their lung cancer
associated concerns, hence empowerment would be achieved (Skinner, Tiro & Champion, 2015).
On the other hand, the disadvantages of this model would be the lack of social
acceptance of this model, as it challenges the deep routed beliefs of the society and uses
interventions to remove these beliefs (Green & Murphy, 2014). Further, as per this model, each
individual in the society is equally equipped with lung cancer related knowledge which is
practically not accepted (Jones, Smith & Llewellyn, 2014). Hence, for the community members,
it becomes difficult to believe this process. On the other hand, it is predetermined depending on
the theory of this model that heart hos the top priority of the community, however, if it is not, the

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application of theory sounds vague. Hence, application of health belief model is done after
conducting complete assessment of the need and requirement of the community (Skinner, Tiro &
Champion, 2015).
Conclusion
While concluding the assignment, it should be mentioned that community based
interaction forms the base, depending on which health promotional programs are developed in
the community. In this paper, with Lung cancer as the primary topic, strategies related to
Laverack’s ladder has been mentioned for the health promotion for the specific community.
Further using the Liberato et al. (2011), nine steps of capacity building has also been mentioned
in this core domain. Hence, this paper has been able to develop community involvement and
community participation so that shared goals and shared decision making for lung cancer could
be achieved.

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