Issues of Modern Australian Families

Running head: Issues of modern Australian families
Issues of Modern Australian Families

Issues of modern Australian families 2
Table of Contents
Health issue faced by modern Australian families.......................................................................................3
Trends in coronary heart disease.............................................................................................................3
Impacts of coronary heart disease............................................................................................................4
Australian government strategy to address coronary heart disease issue..................................................4
1- Awareness strategy..............................................................................................................................4
2- Target audience of strategy.................................................................................................................5
3- Purpose of the strategy........................................................................................................................5
4- Identification of enablers and barriers to the success of this strategy..................................................6
Role of registered nurse in implementing the strategy and working with the family..................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Issues of modern Australian families 3
Health issue faced by modern Australian families
Australians are known to live longer than they did before. The question still persists on what
kind of a life a modern day Australian family is living. It is seen that half of the population in
Australia suffers from one or the other chronic diseases. Chronic conditions doesn’t just leave a
mark on the sufferer but also on the family, friends and carers who are deeply affected by the
suffering throughout the process of diagnosis, treatment and if all else fails, death (Colquhoun et
al. 2013). The one chronic condition that has affected half the population is coronary heart
disease. This disease among others like mental illness, muscular dystrophy has taken the leading
role in leaving victims and family devastated.
This chronic condition has not only been successful in being the leading cause of ill health in
Australia but also has had serious implications on other aspects of the country like the health
system. The root cause of this chronic condition has been identified and seems to have percolated
among half of the population through lifestyle changes. The lifestyle changes that seem to have
slowly but surely taken the form of chronic cardiac diseases are factors like being overweight,
obesity, tobacco smoking, less physical activity, alcohol use and other bad choices (Chow et al.
2015). As there are multiple generations that are affected by this particular chronic disease, it has
also been observed that the younger generation is slowly shifting from such lifestyle choices in
order to maintain good health.
Trends in coronary heart disease
In a 2016 report, it was observed that coronary heart disease played the role of leading cause of
death in men. It turned out to account for 13% of deaths, whereas it was seen that in the case of
women, Alzheimer and dementia played the same role and were responsible for 11% of the
deaths in women. That is not all; this leading cause of death in women was closely followed by
the second leading cause, which was that of the coronary heart diseases (Bray et al. 2014).
Leaving behind all other factors of death, coronary heart disease has turned out to be the leading
cause of death. It has been proven that coronary heart disease is one of the most vital factors in
adding to the total disease burden in Australia. This leading contributor to the total disease
burden is applicable to all ages and genders, varying only by a small difference in a few cases,
but grossly it can be said, from the reports of death due to coronary heart diseases, that is has in

Issues of modern Australian families 4
fact has affected a large population so far (Jones & Greene, 2013). Coronary heart disease as the
leading cause of death is followed by musculoskeletal conditions in women such as back pain,
arthritis, and osteoporosis and lung cancer in men. These chronic conditions have turned out to
be the leading contributors in Australia with respect to the disease burden of the country. Half of
the population, one out of every two Australians is known to have at least one of the eight
leading chronic conditions which includes coronary diseases, cancer, mental illness,
musculoskeletal problems, pulmonary chronic diseases (obstructive), diabetes and also asthma.
23% of the population that is one out of every 4 Australians is estimated to be affected by one or
more of these conditions (Banks et al. 2016).
Impacts of coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease and strokes are cardiovascular chronic conditions and the blood vessels.
Coronary heart diseases are caused when the supply of blood to the heart is partially or fully
blocked through the arteries. Strokes happen when the arteries that supply blood to the brain
suffers a blockage and ruptures affecting the entire blood supply system (Woodruffe et al. 2015).
Coronary heart diseases are solely responsible for 8% of the total disease burden in Australia. It
has impacted and affected one out of every thirty adults in the country, which almost amounts to
645,000 people. It has also affected one out of every six people belonging to the age range of 75
and above in Australia. Coronary heart disease is the leading single cause of death in Australia,
but the rate has definitely fallen from those before due to the choices in lifestyle that is being
made by the younger generation. Starting from 1980, the disease has fallen by seventy-nine
percent, in Australia, still existing as the leading cause of death (Simons & Chung, 2014).
Australian government strategy to address coronary heart disease issue
1- Awareness strategy
The government of Australia has taken the Coronary heart disease issue seriously and has
launched a large awareness program for the same. As known, it is one of the leading causes of
death in the country, the government has launched awareness programs, a large part of which
includes precautionary methods through lifestyle changes that would influence people to stay far
away from the disease, let alone develop a chronic condition over time (Redfern & Chow,
2013).. This is just a part of the entire awareness program. They have also focused on several
other parts of the entire condition like the diagnosis, measures to take during diagnosis, healthy