Nursing Assignment: Role of Nurses in Health Promotion and Obesity Reduction

This nursing assignment discusses the role of nurses in promoting health and reducing obesity among the Cranbourne population. It explores the actions outlined in the Ottawa Charter, such as building a healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services. The assignment also includes plans for health promotion with the Cranbourne community.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
Nursing Assignment
Student Name
Institution

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Introduction
Health promotion remains an important action that involves both health care practitioners
and the community. One of the milestones in the health promotion that has helped in advancing
good health condition is the Ottawa Charter. The international community came up with an
agreement that enables the promotion of healthy living conditions. Nursing practitioners play an
important role in ensuring that the community participates in activities that aim at increasing
healthy living conditions. Some communities have faced challenges that need good health
policies that are important for facing challenges. Cranbourne population is people living within
the Melbourne, Victoria Australia. One of the challenges that affect the Cranbourne population is
ever-increasing obesity among these people. Nursing practitioners play an important role in
using the actions contained within the Ottawa Charter to come up with health promotion
programs to assist the community to reduce obesity. The following paper, therefore, explores the
nurse role in the development of public policy and health promotion that help reduce the obesity
among Cranbourne population.
Body
1. Build a Healthy Public Policy
The nurse plays an important role in the development of public health policy that aims at
promoting healthy living that can health reduce the ever-increasing obesity among the
Cranbourne population. Nurse role in building a healthy public policy involves education of the
education and promotion of healthy living. Firstly, the nurse can use the knowledge on the
dangers of obesity among the population to help in the building of policies that empower

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Cranbourne people to fight obesity. The nurse has a role in the promotion of literacy and
education of the public in order raise awareness on the need to have a healthy living among this
populations (Hardee, Ashford, Rottach, Jolivet & Kiesel, 2012). In addition, nurse practitioners
have a role in the building of the health policy that educates the Cranbourne people on the risk of
obesity. Secondly, development of educational materials is another area that should form the
core of building up policy within the population. For instance, the knowledge on the trend of
increasing obesity is important for designing training materials that will help reduce excess fat
among people living within this area. In addition, a nurse practitioner has the role of developing
public health policy that promotes healthy living among the residents of the Cranbourne
populations (Department of Health, 2014).
2. Create Supportive Environments
Nurse practitioners have a role in the creation of a supportive environment that favors
health promotion. Firstly, advancing the literacy level among community living within the
Cranbourne is an important aspect of the supportive environment that is important for reducing
obesity among the populations (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2012). Secondly, coming up
with a health promotion program that aims at creating awareness of the increasing obesity among
the population is another initiative that has a high potential of enabling environment. Creation of
awareness on the health benefits of living a healthy life is important for promoting health-related
programs within these populations. Thirdly, the nurse plays an important role in empowering the
public to fight obesity issues by educating the community. Moreover, empowering the
community through training create a supportive environment that is good for dealing with the
obesity issue among this population. Lastly, health professionals create a supportive environment

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that is important for promoting good healthy living and health skills necessary for improving
health. This environment should consider the necessary skills and design policies that will
promote good health among the population (Holmberg et al., 2018).
3. Strengthen Community Actions
Strengthening community action is an action that is important for creating an initiative to
fight against obesity among the Cranbourne population. Firstly, the nurse has a role to play in the
strengthening of the local community through organizing various community activities aiming at
empowering the community to fight poor eating habit (NHLBI, 2013). This is important for
promoting cohesive and community empowerment especially with the necessary skills to reduce
excess fats. Secondly, as nursing practitioners, there is a need to develop community-based
health promotions that aim at involving the community in action towards participation in healthy
community activities. In addition, health promotion program should be aiming at involving the
community to improve on their knowledge on the dietary measure to reduce fats. Thirdly, there
is need to come up with education programs that strengthen the knowledge and ability of the
community to especially people living within Cranbourne to improve healthy living. Training of
the community on the need to take care of their health strengthens their ability to fight health-
related complications and challenges (Carvalho et al., 2016).
4. Develop Personal Skills
Development personal skills are another important action that is contained within the
Ottawa Charter that is important for fighting obesity among the Cranbourne population. Firstly,
the nurse develops educational programs that offer personal development especially skills

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necessary for personal care and healthy living. In addition, nursing practitioners play an
important role in the development of educational programs that will help the local community to
learn personal care and healthy living that reduces obesity (Kyle, Qureshi, Ross & Maxwell,
2014). Secondly, through education and training, the nurse play a role in coming up with health
promotions programs that will help the community to build their knowledge and the need to
reduce the obesity among the populations. This involves training of the people in order to
increase their personal ability to reduce excess fat in their body. Thirdly, the nurse develops
policies that better personal development by promoting individual literacy and skill development.
This has an important role in enabling people to know how to care for themselves and people
around them within the society they live in (Cui et al., 2012).
5. Reorient Health Services
Nurse play a role in the development of strategies that prioritize the health promotional
activities within the community. One way of ensuring that health promotion is fostered in
community activities is by working together with various players. Working together with various
health institutions and the government to foster healthy living among communities remains an
important strategy for health promotion (Marshall, 2012). Firstly, it is the role of the nurse to
develop policies that bring together various organizations with the common goal of fighting
health challenges such as obesity. Secondly, nursing practitioners working together with the
community and other professionals is important for ensuring they develop health promotion
policies that have future projections of improving the living conditions of Cranbourne
populations. Thirdly, training is another important factor that ensures that people come together
and policies that encourage training has the potential of helping the community fight life

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challenges. Moreover, training activities ensure that the community is equipped with the
necessary skills for continuous healthy living promotion (Graham, Boyko & Sibbald, 2014).
6. Moving into the Future
The Ottawa Charter provides the actions that give the future-oriented framework and
nurse practitioners play an important role. The central part of the future health promotion
activities lies on personal health skills and this can be encouraged by nursing practitioners.
Firstly, the Ottawa Charter provides the role played by nursing practitioners in developing the
health care programs which involve all the genders in eradicating the health challenges such as
obesity (Lenche, Donev, Zoran & Kosevska, 2014). In addition, nursing practitioners can be
involving the community in coming up with life skill activities that will bring people together is
an important initiative. Secondly, the nurse plays an important role in developing educational
training materials that aim to increase community skills and information on ways to reduce
obesity. Thirdly, there is a need to advocate for healthy living as part of daily actions that involve
good dietary and excise as this is important for reducing obesity challenges. While moving into
the future, nursing professional has ways to develop daily activities that will foster the holistic
care for one’s life (Dietscher, Pelikan & Schmied, 2014).
Plans for health promotion with the Cranbourne community
There are some steps that will help in promoting good health within the Cranbourne
community. Firstly, there will be community activities aiming at bringing people together for
training. Secondly, as nursing professionals training will be schedule through community-based
activities where people will be called. Members of the community will be trained on healthy

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eating habits, exercise that reduce excess fat and personal hygiene that is important for reducing
obesity. Thirdly, there will be follow up activities to ensure that all that was trained are applying
the knowledge in their daily activities. In addition, there will be monitoring to ensure that those
with obesity problems are cutting some weight due to training and excise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the nurse plays an important role in the development and promotion of
public health policy in line with the Ottawa Charter actions. There are many different actions that
are important for ensuring healthy living among the Cranbourne population hence reduction of
obesity challenges. Some of the actions help in the building of health policy that promotes good
health among this population. In addition, nursing professionals have a role to play in bringing
educational health promotions that foster healthy living. Furthermore, cultivating personal
healthy living has a future projection of creasing supportive environment and personal
development that is good for future health promotion among the Cranbourne people. This will
ensure that health challenges such as obesity among the Cranbourne population reduces.
Reference

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