Health Promotion Plan for Preschoolers

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
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HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
Introduction:
One of the most important contributing factors for the childhood obesity is unhealthy
eating style of most of the families in the communities within the nation that result in calorie
gain and subsequently situations of obesity and overweight (1). Hence, it becomes extremely
important for the healthcare professionals to develop a health promotion plan that would educate
families to help their children develop better food consuming habits. The preschoolers might face
high blood pressure as well as cholesterol along with increased risk of impaired glucose
tolerance, type-2 diabetes as well as insulin resistance. They are also seen to suffer from
breathing problems like that of asthma and sleep apnea along with joint problems and
musculoskeletal discomfort (2). Therefore, health promotion planning is extremely important for
making the children develop nutritious diets that would help them to be fit and also safe from
any chronic ailments, stigmatization, bullying and discrimination.
Studies are of the opinion that healthy eating can help children in huge number of
aspects. It helps in stabilizing their energy as well as improving their minds. It also helps in
evening out their moods and also helping them in maintaining a healthy weight. It also helps in
preventing different mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and ADHD. In the
preschoolers, calcium and vitamin D is found to be essential for the normal growth and
development of the bones in the children. Good diets contain iron which supports the normal
cognitive development of the children (3). Vitamin d helps supporting the immune system and
omega-3 DHA helps supporting normal brain functioning. This assignment will mainly describe
about the different important aspects of health eating that needs to be known by the families of
the preschoolers and would be represented in the detailed planning methods in health promotion.

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HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
Evidence based session plans:
Key influences on eating behavior that are relevant to the target audience and how these would
be addressed:
Children are observational learners. Observational learning helps in describing the
procedures of learning through watching others as well as retaining information and then
replicating the behaviors that were observed by them. Studies have found that preschool children
are found to vulnerable observational learners who develop knowledge from the individuals who
remain around them for most of the time and tend to pick up their habits. People who belong to
low socio-economic profile are seen to suffer from higher chances of poverty along with low
levels of income and lack of employments (4). They are also found to be low on educational
attainment for which they do not have high health literacy. Therefore, they remain unaware of
the negative outcomes of unhealthy foods on their own health and on their children. They are
seen to rely more on the fast foods and take-away foods which are cheaper but calorie dense.
Lack of option of buying costly healthy foods and also lack of knowledge about the risks
associated with unhealthy foods make them provide calorie-dense fast foods to children and they
also consume such foods themselves. Observational learning teaches the children to rely on such
foods and develop an inclination to these types of foods only. Hence, the food promotion
program should be targeting the parents of the preschoolers to change their eating habits and to
adopt healthy behaviors so that children also learn them (5).
A relevant behavior change theory and the way it would inform the session plan:
One of the best health behavior change theory is the Trans-theoretical Model. It contains
five important stages. The first one is the pre-contemplation stage where people do not intend to

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HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
take any action in the foreseeable future. In the initial step, the parents would not be aware of the
requirement to change their diets and eating behaviors and hence, there would be no intention in
talking any new action. Another stage is called the contemplation stage where people develop the
intention to start a healthy behavior in the foreseeable future (6). Here, the first two health
education sessions would be conducted where the parents would be discussed about the risks of
unhealthy eating habits and the various consequences that the eating habits would have on their
children. This education would make them feel motivated to undertake healthy eating habits for
themselves as well as their children. The next stage is called the preparation stage where people
are ready to take actions within the next 30 days. The health educators should be developing
motivation among the parents so that they stick to their goal of developing healthy eating habits
that can lead them to the healthier lives. This can take place through motivational interviewing
sessions and discussion sessions with the parents. The next stage is called the action stage. In this
stage, people are seen to have recently changed their behaviors and intend to do so in the near
future. The health education sessions would focus on the extensive discussion of the strategies by
which the parents can develop good food habits in the children and make them consume more
nutrients (7). The sessions should be concluded with pamphlets and brochures that can help the
parents to follow the dos and don’ts for developing good food habits in the children. The next
stage is called the maintenance stage where people have sustained the behavior change for a
while and intend to maintain the behavior forward. In this step, the monitoring committee should
be implementing evaluation strategies on a frequent basis to find out whether the strategies had
been implemented and that whether the parents are following the guidelines provided to them.
Learning principles relevant to the target audience and ways the session plan incorporates
these: