Changes to Promote Health and Wellbeing in the Community

This article discusses the changes that can promote health and wellbeing in the community, specifically focusing on changing eating habits and lifestyle behaviors. It highlights the prevalence of obesity and its associated health risks in the community, and the impact of these changes on reducing healthcare costs. The article also explores the role of health promotion in enacting these changes, including the development of health policies, creating a supportive environment, strengthening community action, and reorienting health services.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Name of the student;
Name of the university:
Author’s note :

1HEALTHCARE
Reflective practice:
Describe the changes that promote health and wellbeing:
The increasing health costs and risk factors that are associated with obesity are well
documented. The high prevalence of obesity is well documented in the community setting
where the population adopted a sedentary lifestyle (1). One in four Australian adults were
obese in 2009 and one-third of the population was overweight. Hence, in the community
setting changing the lifestyle and health behaviour, especially eating habits would promote
the wellbeing and health of the community (3). In the community, different individuals with
different socioeconomic status, race, age, and culture are living. Consequently, the eating
habits and health behaviours are shaped by these factors which affected the wellbeing.
Therefore, changing eating habits and lifestyle behaviour will promote wellbeing and health
in the community.
This change is important in the community setting since in 2017 -2018 Australian
Bureau of Statistics' National Health Survey showed that two-third Australians of the
communities were overweight where the majority of the individuals belongs to 32 years to
60years (4). Childhood obesity was also observed in the community, an estimated 26% of
children aged 5 to 17years were overweight (4). A significant number of individuals in the
community are suffering from at least one chronic disease associated with obesity such as
cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease and diabetes which result in an
increase in health care cost (2). Changing lifestyle by adopting healthy eating habits and
physical exercise would reduce the prevalence of obesity in the community setting and health
care cost.

2HEALTHCARE
Plan of enacting this change with the help of health promotion:
Health promotion is defined as an initiative which enables the population to increase
the control over their own health. It covers a wide range of social as well as environmental
interventions in order to reduce the prevalence of disease and promote the wellbeing of the
population. The health promotion follows three key pillars such as enable, mediate and
advocate. By following these three pillars, it incorporates five key actions areas such as
health policy, creates a supportive environment, strengthens community action for health, and
develops personal skills and re-orient health services (1).
Taking an insight into the situation in order to promote the wellbeing and enacted the
changes, health policies are required to develop regarding healthy eating. The relevant
stakeholders would be local government, health care sectors and policymakers who would
participate in making policies (2). The policies regarding the taxes of junk food are required
to amend so that community eliminates the habit of eating junk food. In order to create a safe
environment, with the assistance of local government, the health care facilities along with
additional health literacy are required to provide so that each individual gain a detailed
understanding of the obesity (4). The community is required to provide the vegetables and
low carbohydrate food and physical exercise programs in order to support the wellbeing. To
strengthen community actions, it is required to encourage other members of the community to
join health literacy classes (3) In order to reorient health care services, it is required to
develop advocacy against the proper screening of obesity associated disease. It will enact the
change and reduce the obesity rate in the community.

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Reference:
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game development as a strategy for health promotion and tackling childhood obesity.
Revista latino-americana de enfermagem. 2016;24.
2. • National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council, 2013.
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/n55_australian_dietary_gui
delines.pd
3. Subica AM, Grills CT, Douglas JA, Villanueva S. Communities of color creating
healthy environments to combat childhood obesity. American journal of public health.
2016 Jan;106(1):79-86.
4. O’Hara L, Taylor J, Barnes M. The extent to which the public health ‘war on
obesity’reflects the ethical values and principles of critical health promotion: a
multimedia critical discourse analysis. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 2016
Jan 23;26(3):246-54.
5. Messiah SE, Lebron C, Moise R, Mathew MS, Sardinas K, Chang C, Palenzuela J,
Walsh J, Shelnutt KP, Spector R, Altare F. Healthy caregivers-healthy children (HC2)
phase 2: Integrating culturally sensitive childhood obesity prevention strategies into
childcare center policies. Contemporary clinical trials. 2017 Feb 1;53:60-7.