Mental Health Promotion Strategies

This assignment delves into the field of mental health promotion. It examines different strategies employed to foster positive mental well-being and prevent mental health issues. The analysis includes evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies and considering crucial factors for successful implementation in various contexts.

Student name: Shang-Chi Lin
Student number: 215314262
Assignment Tittle: HNN301 Assignment Task 2
Word counts: words

Risk and protective factors for alcohol use in adolescents
Introduction
Recently there has been increased recognition of the significance of social and emotional
health for the wellbeing of the development of the youths (Eldredge et al, 2016). The
government of Australia has been on the frontline in providing support for mental health policy
and programs. The Australian government has established a program that identifies the
promotion and prevention and early intervention’ for positive mental health (Rowland et al,
2016). Mental health disorders associated with alcohol include stress, suicidal attempts,
depression and anxiety (Jones, Fitzpatrick & Rogers, 2017). There are varied costs involved with
mental disorders like; educational personal, economic, social and occupational. Problematic
alcohol use is influenced by several factors: culture, which contains the attitudes and values of a
people, societal commitment, placing the wellbeing and health of children first, resources that a
country uses to prevent and create awareness of alcohol use (Murphy et al, 2016). It is medically
proven that alcohol is a depressant that acts an inhibitor, it reduces anxiety in small does but may
lead to death in large doses, and it is a large cause of hospitalization and drug related deaths in
Australia (Schmitt et al, 2014). Alcohol use leads to dependence and also causes problems like
depression, anxiety and cognitive problems (Murphy et al. 2016)
Adolescents and alcohol use
It is noted that in Australia adolescence stage is the time when most people indulge in
alcohol use (Waller, 2013). Early intervention for children has a great potential is preventing
alcohol abuse when they grow older. Intervention of children’s development in the early stages is
paramount in ensuring that children do not end up being drunkards when they grow up
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(Littlefield et al, 2017). Schools provide a learning environment for students and also ways that
influence their social wellbeing. Ideally, children at their tender age are exposed to the
environment that has many people taking alcohol such as their family members, neighbors, and
friend. The basis of all this is the emotional needs that a child undergoes at the adolescent stage
and thereby may be easily influenced by the particular group that takes alcohol (Rowland et al,
2016). Although the school environment promotes healthy behaviors for students it is also at
some point a breeding ground for negative behaviors as students may influence each other from
what they learn back at home or what they see their parents do. There have been many
campaigns to create self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills and
responsible decision making youths that have alcoholic problems have been noted to be stressed,
this can be from social setting, relationship issues or academic issues, this in many cases leads to
suicide attempts (Littlefield et al, 2017). Low self-esteem among the youths leads to alcoholic
problems, it has been discovered that youths express a feeling of high self-esteem when they are
intoxicated, therefore a dependence on alcohol happens since it helps them face the society, peers
and life (Hildebrand et al, 2013). Various research have found that most parents introduce
children to alcohol in early stage so as to teach them safe drinking habits, this in most cases end
up making the youths addicts to alcohol (Scholes-Balog et al, 2014).
Risks associated with alcohol.
There is increased diversification of alcohol products that are mostly supported by the
marketing and advertisements programs with appealing ads that compel the youths to drink
alcohol (Jones, Fitzpatrick & Rogers, 2017). Practically, adolescents’ stage is the stage that is
characterized by physical and emotional changes, the tolerance in parenting which is evident
among the Australian has played a very great role in the drinking habit of the youths below 18
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years (Littlefield et al, 2017). It is ideal for both the state and the concerned parties to initiate
programs that are primarily aimed at educating the youths on the dangers of taking alcohol at the
tender age. This program would be very instrumental in shaping the character of the young
people into a better adult (Lam & Riba, 2016). Prolonged taking of alcohol among the
adolescents may pose a very significant threat to their lives since it affects major organs of their
bodies. Similarly, discrimination, race, culture, and poverty may also create a path for this kind
of behaviors to take place in Australia. This too goes in contributing to anxiety disorder which is
majorly attributed to the personality pattern of an individual youth (Thomas & Morris, 2016).
The consumption rate of alcohol is at eighty percent in Australia, and this situation contributes to
the youths finding themselves in alcoholism as the situation is dominant in the country
(Bradshaw & Mairs, 2017). There is also the belief among parents that alcohol is not bad
therefore most parents take alcohol in front of their children influencing them negatively. There
is also laxity on the part of Australian Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) to regulate
the usage of drug and alcohol. They have not come up with the clear framework to protect these
vulnerable group from taking of liquor and thus allowing them the chance to further continue
with the habit (Bartel, Gradisar, & Williamson, 2015). The results from the analysis proof that
the kind of neighborhood the youths live in and the culture surrounding them have tremendously
affected how most of them use alcohol (Taliaferro & Muehlenkamp, 2014).
Morbidity and mortality rate
In Australia, alcohol has been used so much and therefore it is seen as the second cause
of death and other health and mental complications (Bartel, Gradisar, & Williamson, 2015).
Excessive use of alcohol has led to numerous cases of loss of lives, injuries and acute effects,
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like depression that the authorities do overlook but they are a concern to the causes of deaths in
the country.
Solution to alcoholism among the adolescents
Lyssenko et al. (2016) asserts that it high time for the parents and other concerned parties
to have a concerted effort in dealing with this issue among the youths to have a responsible
future generation. The parents ought to be the good role model to their children for them to learn
being emulated their good trait. Parents are not expected to encourage their children in taking of
alcohol as this puts them at a very significant risk of experimenting on the same at an early age
and thus resulting in addiction. The worst case is taking of hard, drugs which are very
detrimental to their health condition and being the causative of high morbidity rate (Jones,
Fitzpatrick, & Rogers, 2017). The government should come up with some restrictions to govern
on the alcohol advertisements, which encourages the youth to indulge in taking of it through
numerous appealing advertisements. It is the prudent for the state to use the available resources
at its disposal to promote healthy living of the youths (Lyssenko et al. 2017).
Additionally, it would be prudent for the parents to teach them about the effects of
alcohol as they would get the precise information about its detrimental effects to avoid it at such
age. Education is essential for the teenagers, this calls for concerted effort from even the non-
governmental agencies in the bid of controlling the use of alcoholism among this teenage group.
This group needs to be talked to on a regular basis to encourage them to completely abstain from
using liquor due to the far reaching implications it may have in their life. Some of the tactical
skills that may be very helpful to the youths like teaching them to be assertive in case one wants
to persuade them to take alcohol (Modecki, Barber, & Eccles, 2014).
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A supportive home is likely to deal with this situation in an excellent way as compared to
those parents who are not supportive when it comes to matters (Schmitt et al, 2014). Parents
should start by recognizing their roles in upbringing of their children and therefore be more
vigilant in what their children do, in their absence and they are around.
Programs that address alcohol use and abuse
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)
FASD is a program that is primarily is aimed at reducing the level of taking of alcohol
among the expectant women (Bartel, Gradisar & Williamson, 2015). The program has further
diversified its activities and thus handling the youths in the bid of educating them on the dangers
posed by alcohols to one’ s life (Daley, 2016). This program has yielded a lot of positive results
for the country in combating alcoholic problems.
Danny Green’s Coward Punch Campaign
According to this program, the government has increased its effort in creating awareness
to the public and most importantly to the youths on the dangers caused by alcohol. The program
brings the audience to understanding that the cause of violence in most homes is alcohol since it
has occurred that to some level, that women are battered by their husbands due to alcoholism and
thus breaking families (Scholes-Balog et al, 2014). Therefore, this program is intended to
encourage one to drinking responsibly and for those who have not started drinking ought to
abstain from it due to the far reaching effects that have been enumerated.
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Good Sports Program
The government of Australia has funded the sporting program to encourage more youths
to take part in it (Lyssenko et al, 2016), and thus avoid the incidences of indulging in taking of
drugs or alcohol. The youths should be physically active through sporting activities so that they
do not have idle minds to provoke thoughts of consuming alcohol.
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The role of nurses in combating alcohol problems.
The Australian nursing federation (ANF) has come up with the following issues to help
combat the impact of alcohol and other drug use: the role of specialist registered nurses should
be promoted in the field of alcohol and substance abuse, the role of providing consultation and
support for other clinicians should be introduced and funded so as to care for the patients and
their families well, provision of scholarships for the nursing students to further their studies in
higher medicine fields, registered nurses practicing general service to people who require care
due to drug abuse should be allocated Medicare benefits schedule, and harm minimization
project should be funded to ensure fair distribution of health professionals among the patients
with drug abuse problems (Linsley, Kane, & Owen, 2011). Nurses should be provided with
financial support to help them carry out their extension services to all patients, there should be
clear guidelines and policy statements and should be put in place for the nurses taking care of the
people with alcoholic problems. The Ottawa charter for health promotion (WHO 1986) (Linsley,
Kane, & Owen, 2011) has been the guiding steps for the development of the concept of health
promotion and shaping public health practice. For many Australians alcohol drinking is an
everyday activity (Lang, Stengård, & Wynne, 2016). The long term and short term consequences
of high alcohol consumption include negative physical, emotional and social consequences
(Eldredge et al, 2014). Healthcare is important in alcoholic patients, nurses have a great role in
fostering collaboration between the health sector, police, education, adolescents and parents.
Workplace area
Nurses are high level thinkers with exceptional skills and considerable ability to
coordinate, negotiate, communicate, and collaborate in order to deliver care (Lam & Riba, 2016).
Nurses are qualified health practitioners who are skilled in the assessment planning and
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individual healthcare. Nurses need to emphasize on the importance of a healthy public policy to
the people so that the people will understand the importance of nurses in the society. The
workplace should be conducive to the nurses and also to the patients, the patients should be
secure in the areas where they are being cared for. Nurses should ensure minimal noise and
interruptions for the patients to focus on the healing process. The work area should be fitted with
the necessary equipment’s that do not provoke the patients’ minds into wanting to drink again or
make them feel useless and trigger suicide. Nurses need to maintain a workplace that is both
welcoming and accommodative to the patients.
Physical care
Nurses have a one to one connection with the alcoholic patients, they are able to know
the causes of alcohol abuse and to what extent to which the patient is affected by the drugs.
Nurses should involve the families of those suffering from alcoholic problems in the recovery
journey, it’s not an easy journey therefore the nurses should assure the patients of their
availability any time they need them. The whole society should be involved in ensuring the
patients feel welcomed and not judged for their misconducts (Taliaferro & Muehlenkamp, 2014).
This will encourage faster healing and self-acceptance of the victims and a new beginning to
their journey towards transformation.
Mental health counselling
Alcoholic patients have a high risk of developing mental disorders like depression and
suicidal attempts. The nurses provide the needed counseling or refer the patients to specialist to
seek help can both help them overcome their disorders. Nurses know that withdraw symptoms
causes pain to the patients and therefore the patients need all the emotional and physical support
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available. It is the duty of the nurse to make the patient feel that there is life without alcohol.
The nurses use the counseling’s sessions to offer patients choices about how to make changes,
help the patient have confidence in their ability to change the drinking behavior, help the patient
understand it’s their responsibility to change the drinking behavior.
Patient education
The nurses should take the patient through the process of effects of alcohol to the body.
The patients should be educated by health care professions on how the alcohol damages the liver,
kidneys and other vital organs of the body like the heart. They should also be educated on the
effects of alcohol, for example physiological tremor. Usually nurses need to exercise patience as
the patients can sometimes tend to be negative. It is also the work of nurses to involve family
members in the clinical sessions of a recovering alcoholic addict, this helps the family members
understand better what the patient is going through and therefore offer their support to help in the
healing process.
It is also the duty of the nurses to ensure that they motivate those youths to live an upright
life away from distractors such as liquor and the rest to realize their goals in life. There are some
of the issues that do disturb the youths making them behave the way they are behave. Nurses
therefore have a role in ensuring that they give this adolescents a listening ear for them to
confide some of the challenges they are undergoing for the best actions to be taken (Lang,
Stengård, & Wynne, 2016). The youth may be well assisted during the process of undergoing
treatment and medication for proper recovery of their health. This is the period the nurse may
use the opportunity to bring the youths closer to them and thereby able to understand their social
needs. Nurses in health promotion should participate in research conducts of alcohol and
substance abuse, this is because nurses have firsthand information of patients with alcohol
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problems therefore their input in evaluating preventing measures for such patients is paramount.
To ensure continuous improvement of the misuse of alcohol and other drug abuses the nurses
should advocate their services fully to these patients, provide an environment that helps the
patients change their alcoholic problems and mediate between the alcoholic patients, their
families and the society at large. The nurses association of Australia should therefore improve on
the existing health public policy, involve the community in promoting health, provide a
supportive environment to the patients and re-orient health services and develop personal skills
to help them teach the patients how to manage their problems and also come up with ways of
staying healthy for the patients (Linsley, Kane & Owen 2011).
Conclusion
Alcohol usage leads to mental health illness and also deaths in extreme cases. It is the
duty of every Australian to take up the challenge of creating awareness in dealing with
alcoholism among the youths to help save the young generation. Nurses should be in the vigilant
in providing education not only to the victims of alcohol abuse but to the whole community so as
to prevent future problems from recurring. The government should adequately fund programs
meant to curb alcohol usage and create awareness across the country. The government should
also establish strict rules and regulations on alcohol industries to help protect the youth people
from early exposure to alcohol. There should be focus on where the behavior of the youths is
shaped, that is the family structure. Parents need to realize that their roles in upbringing run deep
than just providing education, food and shelter for the children. It is the duty of the whole society
to safe keep and uphold the wellbeing of each other.
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