Health Promotion in Singapore

This assignment delves into the landscape of health promotion in Singapore. It examines various initiatives including self-care training for elderly individuals, diabetes management programs, and workplace lifestyle change interventions aimed at reducing cardiovascular disease risk. The analysis draws upon research studies and publications highlighting the effectiveness of these programs and their impact on public health outcomes within the Singaporean context.

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAM IN SINGAPORE
HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAM IN SINGAPORE
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Author note:

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Introduction:
Diabetes is one of the most significant chronic disorders which had been affecting the
lives of people of different ages all over the world. It has taken the form of an epidemic and has
been affecting both the develop countries and developing countries altogether. Singapore has not
been an exception as individuals of this nation are also found to be affected. The old aged cohort
of this nation is the most vulnerable group as the tendencies to develop the disorder increases
with age. Diabetes is a condition where the body system produces insufficient insulin. Insulin
mainly produced by the beta cells of the islets of langerhans help in making the body cells absorb
the glucose form the blood to gain energy after respiration (Eldredge et al., 2016). In case of
diabetes the body either produces low level of insulin or the body cell does not respond to
insulin. These increase sugar level in blood that disrupts normal physiological system of the
body and often becomes life threatening. Therefore it is extremely important for development of
health promotion program which will address the issue and take steps that will reduce the burden
of diabetes on such cohort in the population. It is found that diabetes was the 4th and the 8th most
common condition which had caused the patients to visit the clinics and hospital admissions
respectively in 2014 (Tucker et al., 2014). The cost burden for diabetes in Singapore for the older
citizens is found to be beyond 940 million in 2014 to that of 1.8 billion to 2050. Of the different
age cohorts, it is seen that the patients of the age groups 60 to 69 are more prone to poor quality
life due to diabetes. This can be supported with the help of a statistical study as follows:

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Source: (Sallis et al., 2015)
It has been also stated by the researchers that although diabetes is not fatal in short term but
undiagnosed as well as poorly controlled diabetes ultimately lead to different disabilities and
diseases. These ultimately compromise the life of the elderly people as well as their caregivers.
Progression of the different complications becomes rapid once the symptoms of diabetes are
poorly managed. It has been found that every year in Singapore about 2 in 3 of the kidney
failures are found in patients; suffering from diabetes (Sharma, 2016). Moreover 1 in every 2
people who had a heart attack have coexisting disease burden of diabetes and also 2 in 5 people
who suffered stroke also had diabetes. Hence it is extremely important for the old people to be
aware of the complication of the disease.
The health promotion will mainly have two important goals:
 The first will be to educate the patients of diabetes about how to manage their symptoms
effectively.

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 The second goals would be to take preliminary initiatives by the aging individuals in a
way so that they can reduce their chances of developing the disorder in their lifetime.
The main health promotion model that would be used in order to establish the program
successfully would be the health belief model. This model usually contain five important steps
which of followed successfully may help in bringing a behavioral change in the concerned
population showing benefitting effects:
The first step would be to gather information by conducting a health assessment for the
concerned disorder in the selected patient group. This assessment would then help in the
identification of the cohort of the population who is at risk so that the correct cohort can be
targeted. The health promotion will be conducted at first by sending close ended survey forms to
every household of the community instructing only members above year’s age to be eligible for
fill up (Basak, Chinar and Chou, 2014). The responses which will return to the centre will help in
identifying the number of old aged people suffering from diabetes. The survey questions will
also help in understand in the health conditions of the diabetic patients, how their conditions are
maintained, wherever they are well aware of the risk factors, whether they take in medications
properly, whether they are educated or not on the health issue. All these would help the members
of the health promotion program to develop an all over idea about the patients and accordingly
they will plan the entire project (Lerner et al., 2013). These need to be completed within fourteen
days of the initiation of the program so that one can proceed with the next step in the fifteenth
day.

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The second steps of the health promotion program according to their model is the
development of knowledge in the individuals regarding the health consequences of diabetes
along with making them know the risk factors that lead to the occurrence of the disorders. This
should be done in a clear as well as the unambiguous fashion in order to develop an
understanding of the concerned cohort’s perceived severity. The old people suffering from
diabetes or who are vulnerable to the diseases can be well benefitted from the circulation of
brochures and leaflets which would have information of the pathophysiology of the diseases in
simple languages as well as with larger fonts and with illustrations (Kramer et al., 2015). Thee
member who will develop the brochures should make sure that they are written with simple
language of the level of standard six s that it does not become complicated of them to
understand. Moreover no jargons or scientific terms should be used. These brochures should be
colorful and all the information would about risk factors and consequences will be written in dot
points so that they can relate them easily with their personal issues and help them to understand
easily without developing stress to read unnecessary information in paragraphs (Chan et al.,
2015). The circulation of the brochures and pamphlet will be done within the fifteenth to twenty-
fifth day.
The third step of the health promotion program will be based on communicating the
target population about the different steps that they should take to develop knowledge and alter
their lifestyles to reduce the chances of getting affected with the disorder. They would be
educated about the recommended actions which they would take and also at the same time the
members should highlight the benefits of the taken actions. The communication classes as well
as the education programs will be conducted every day for one hour in the community hall by
experienced trainers. The classes should not extend for more than one hour as it may become

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strenuous for the elderly people. The main actions that should be introduced in these classes and
workshop will be to prevent complications of Diabetes by optimal management of the different
problems (Le et al., 2016). The health promotion program should help in development as well as
implement programs with targets and goals for primary care as well as in the diabetes centers so
that they can focus on the prevention of different types of complications through a programmed
procedure which will include integration, coordinated as well as multidisciplinary care. Different
healthcare professionals will be handling symptoms like eye complication like retinopathy and
vision impairment, kidney complications like damage and dialysis, foot and limb complications
like lower limb amputations, cardiovascular complications like heart attacks and strokes. This
would also involve different mental health complications which include proper care for anxiety,
depression and distress. The other actions for achieving the goals would be to ensure early
detection of the silent as well as undiagnosed type2diabetes. The members’ should also introduce
structured self management education and support classes in the community halls on scheduled
days for one hour and so on. Moreover the members should also ensure that proper access of the
patients are provided to treatments and also different technologies which would help in the
supporting the prevention of complications and burden (Huff et al., 2014). Putting an end to
social stigma and discrimination of the people should also be taken interaction. The second goal
would be to prevent more people from developing diabetes and therefore a proper prevention
strategy should be proposed in a brochure and circulated via mail to every household. Moreover
community based weekly risk assessment or screening system should be done across the
community for identifying the presence of diabetes in an individual. This would help them in
being aware beforehand before situation becomes stressful for the patients to handle. Both the
initiatives should be taken to identify vulnerable population

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The next step would be the provision for better assistance for the identification of the
barriers as well as identifying and reducing the barriers to action. Often fund allocation may be a
barrier which needs to be handling with efficiency by approaching charitable organizations, local
government and state government with the vision of the care for elderly people (Phan et al.,
2014). Other barriers like social stigma may prevent many patients to take part in the
promotional program. Other barriers would include improper education about the need of
participation of the patients for which they might avoid coming in the classes. Care should be
taken that they are properly made to understand the importance of the program.
The last step of the health promotion would be to evaluate the results of the interventions
with the introductions of proper monitoring boards that would attend each of the classes and take
note of the response of the patients attending those (Matson et al., 2014). The members should
also analyses the quality of the education and training provided to patients and also note the
result of the demonstration of actions of the team members who are introducing the skill
development activities of the elderly people. They should also note the behavioral changes in
order to ensure that beneficial effects are reflecting or not from the interventions.
Conclusion:
Diabetes is one of the most harmful disorders that are affecting the quality lives of many
elder citizens of Singapore. Not only they are leading to large number physiological issues in
regular mechanisms of the body, they are also becoming the contributors of other chronic
ailments like cardiovascular diseases, kidney disorders, dental issues and many others.
Therefore, a proper community based health promotion program is required to address the
citizens and make proper arrangements so that they can gain health literacy. These would help

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them to reduce the chances of threatening situations in lives and thereby follow proper guidelines
to live better quality and maintained life.

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References:
Basak Cinar, A., & Schou, L. (2014). Health promotion for patients with diabetes: health
coaching or formal health education?. International dental journal, 64(1), 20-28.
Chan, A., Matchar, D. B., Tsao, M. A., Harding, S., Chiu, C. T., Tay, B., ... & Haldane, V. E.
(2015). Self-Care for Older People (SCOPE): A cluster randomized controlled trial of
self-care training and health outcomes in low-income elderly in
Singapore. Contemporary clinical trials, 41, 313-324.
Eldredge, L. K. B., Markham, C. M., Ruiter, R. A., Kok, G., & Parcel, G. S. (2016). Planning
health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Huff, R. M., Kline, M. V., & Peterson, D. V. (Eds.). (2014). Health promotion in multicultural
populations: A handbook for practitioners and students. SAGE publications.
Kramer, M., Molenaar, D., Arena, V., Venditti, E., Meehan, R., Miller, R., ... & Kriska, A. M.
(2015). Improving employee health: evaluation of a worksite lifestyle change program to
decrease risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Journal of occupational and
environmental medicine/American College of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, 57(3), 284.
Lee, V. Y., Seah, W. Y., Kang, A. W., Khoo, E. Y., Mooppil, N., & Griva, K. (2016). Managing
multiple chronic conditions in Singapore–Exploring the perspectives and experiences of
family caregivers of patients with diabetes and end stage renal disease on
haemodialysis. Psychology & health, 31(10), 1220-1236.

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Lerner, D., Rodday, A. M., Cohen, J. T., & Rogers, W. H. (2013). A systematic review of the
evidence concerning the economic impact of employee-focused health promotion and
wellness programs. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 55(2), 209-222.
Matson, C. C., Lake, J. L., Bradshaw, R. D., & Matson, D. O. (2014). The public health
leadership certificate: A public health and primary care interprofessional training
opportunity. Health promotion practice, 15(1_suppl), 64S-70S.
Phan, T. P., Alkema, L., Tai, E. S., Tan, K. H., Yang, Q., Lim, W. Y., ... & Chia, K. S. (2014).
Forecasting the burden of type 2 diabetes in Singapore using a demographic
epidemiological model of Singapore. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, 2(1),
e000012.
Sallis, J. F., Owen, N., & Fisher, E. (2015). Ecological models of health behavior. Health
behavior: theory, research, and practice. 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 43-64.
Sharma, M. (2016). Theoretical foundations of health education and health promotion. Jones &
Bartlett Publishers.
Tucker, C. M., Lopez, M. T., Campbell, K., Marsiske, M., Daly, K., Nghiem, K., ... & Patel, A.
(2014). The effects of a culturally sensitive, empowerment-focused, community-based
health promotion program on health outcomes of adults with type 2 diabetes. Journal of
health care for the poor and underserved, 25(1), 292.

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