Promoting Education and Awareness among Australian Indigenous Youths about Suicide and Alcohol Use

This project aims to promote education and awareness among Australian Indigenous youths about the link between suicide and alcohol use, and its harmful impacts. It focuses on the target group of youths/teenagers in the Indigenous community and aims to empower them to make healthy choices and reduce the risk of suicide and other morbidities.

Public Health Promotion Project Student
Health Promotion Title –
“Promoting education and awareness among the Youths/ Teenagers in
Australian Indigenous community about suicide and its link to alcohol use and
its harmful impacts.”
Introduction
Health promotion is stated as the development of institutional, individual, community,
group and systematic strategies to enhance the knowledge, behaviour, skills and attitudes
about health. Its main purpose is to positively impact the health behaviour of people and
communities and the living as well as working conditions which influence their health.
Health promotion is very important as it enhance the health status of people, families, states,
communities and nation and also improve the quality of life for all individuals. Apart from
this, it also assists in reducing the premature deaths and by emphasizing on prevention, it
reduces the cost that people, families, employees, medical facilities, communities, insurance
companies, state and nation would spend on clinical treatment. This is a Public Health
Promotion project plan which is based on promoting the education and awareness among
youths indigenous and non-indigenous community of Australia regarding suicide and alcohol
use. The project includes information about specific target group and community selected for
Health promotion along with the benefit of this Public Health promotion for the target group.
It also includes the aim of Health promotion and what the project aims to accomplish. Apart
from this, it covers information about Public Health promotion management perspectives and
the stakeholders in community consultation that will take place. In addition to this, health
message or logo developed for Health promotion and the activity that entail and promote to
the target group is discussed. At last, the way to evaluate the success of health promotion is
discussed in the project plan.
Health Promotion and Target Group Outline
This projects about Health promotion that aims to empower and engage Australian
indigenous and non-indigenous community to choose healthy behaviours as well as make
changes which reduce the risk of suicide and other morbidities. The health promotion is
based on promoting education and awareness regarding alcohol use and suicide which make
the people able to maximize control over their own health. Wide range of interventions are
covered in it which are developed to benefit as well as protect the health of people and
improving their quality of life through addressing as well as preventing the main cause of ill
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health. The target group selected for this Health promotion plan is youth/ teenagers (middle/
upper school age). The main reason of selecting this target group is that younger people are
more vulnerable to use and they are experiencing profound emotional and physical changes.
They are heavily influenced through role models and may engage in maximized risk taking.
Their brains are developing and thus, sensitive to alcohol. The common shift in the behaviour
of youths/ teenage two towards searching for excitement and novelty can be expressed in
various ways, involving experimentation with alcohol. In the culture of Australia, drinking is
a part and adolescents have sought access to alcohol as adulthood badge (Alcohol and young
people, 2019). Exposure to alcohol in this age means they never reached their full intellectual
potential and it maximize the risk of problematic drinking. It contributes to the leading cause
of suicide, accidents, assaults and death for young people. The indigenous Australians
experience social and health issues resulting from use of alcohol at a rate disproportionate to
Australian non-indigenous people.
Suicide is the cause of around 8 lakh deaths per year globally. Suicide attempts are
more prevalent and related to elevated risk eventual death and reduced lifespan. The age
standardized rates of suicide among aboriginal or Torres strait islander Australian individuals
are substantially high in comparison to non-indigenous people of Australia. The suicidal
behaviour among the Australian indigenous individuals is an issue of concern of many
communities as well as a public health priority for Australian government. It has been found
from a report that around 30% of all deaths through suicide in indigenous individuals were
female. There was an average increase found in suicide rates of male indigenous individuals
from 0.4% over the tenure of 2001-2002 to 2015 – 2016 (Deaths by suicide amongst
Indigenous Australians, 2020).
A systematic review put light on risk factors as well as the prevelence of suicide,
suicide ideation and self-harm among aboriginal and Torres strait islander youths in
Australia. For young indigenous people who are aged 15 to 24 years (39.4 per 1 lakh), the
suicide rates are far high than national rate (10.7 per 1 lakh) and high than global rate of
suicide in 15 - 29 years old youths, which is 8.5 per 1 lakh of all deaths (Indigenous youth
suicide rates, 2019). High risk of suicide ideation among Australian indigenous youth was
related to experience of racial discrimination, being incarcerated, social distress and
emotional distress. The individuals who are living in remote and regional areas are at high
risk of suicide.
Health Promotion Aims
The main aim of Health Promotion is “To educate and aware youths in Indigenous
community of Australia about ill health impacts of alcohol use and ideation to suicide.” Apart
from this, it aims to communicate the ways to reduce the alcohol consumption and suicidal
thoughts among indigenous Australian people.
Health Promotion Prevention Management perspective (Primary,
Secondary or Tertiary)
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In the Health Promotion Prevention Management Perspective, alcohol use and suicide issue
falls into primary prevention. In this type of prevention, interventions are developed in order
to prevent an onset or future incidence of issue. It involves the efforts to stop the issue
associated with alcohol use and suicide from beginning in initial place. This study aims to
educate and aware the Australian indigenous youth regarding the impacts of alcohol use and
ideation to suicide. The plan emphasizes on the impacts of alcohol use on health of a person
and suicide ideation and causes. Development of high quality educational and awareness
programs can assist in preventing the multiple issues across distinct areas. Collaboration is
the key area to be focus upon as it can maximize the efficiency of prevention and assist
people to understand long term and short term impacts of preventive interventions. The main
aim of primary prevention is to avoid development of any kind of disease or disability among
healthy people. Population-based Health promotion activities are included in it like
encouraging not to use alcohol, try to eliminate negative thoughts, etc. All these are the
primary preventive measures that can be utilised to reduce the rates of suicide and alcohol
intake among Australian indigenous youths.
Stakeholders and Community Consultation
The stakeholders involved in this project includes management, funding agencies,
program staff, coalition members and partners. All these stakeholders involved in the
program operations. Apart from this, community members, patients, advocacy groups and
elected officials are those stakeholders who serve the refracted through program. Prior the
program is being conducted, and after the outcomes are collected and ready to utilise,
stakeholders can assist in evaluation. Involvement of stakeholders can maximize the
credibility of efforts or evaluation and fund or authorised the continuation of program so that
it can be conducted properly.
Health Logo
The health promotion logo of this project plan is provided below:
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Health Promotion Activity Description
1. Presentation on quit alcohol and eliminate suicidal thoughts
2. Objectives, risks and opportunities of promotion
The objectives associated which this project plan are –
1. To make the individuals aware of bad habit of drinking.
2. To make the people aware regarding the short term and long term influences of
drinking alcohol.
3. To educate about the main causes of ideation of suicide.
4. To educate and aware people regarding various ways to reduce alcohol use and
eliminate suicidal thoughts.
The risks related to the promotion are as follows -
1. Number of participants involved in programme may be less.
2. Improper or ineffective communication of message.
The opportunities in relation to this promotion plan are as follows –
1. This would lead to huge change in the society and contribute in improving lives of
people.
2. Assist in encouraging social responsibility of people towards society.
3. Stages and activities of program –
For health promotion, different types of communication channels are used like social
media, television broadcast etc. Templates, pamphlets and charts are also used. They are
distributed to the public in order to make them aware of the adverse impacts of alcohol use
and the main causes of suicide along with the ways which help the individual in dealing with
such issues. Stalls will be prepared to interact with each individual and aware them about the
issue along with their solutions.
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Ill effects of alcohol use –
Short term effects –
1. Vomiting
2. Breathing difficulties
3. Diarrhoea
4. Distorted vision and hearing
5. Upset stomach
6. Headaches
7. Unconsciousness
8. Impaired judgement
Long term effects -
1. It causes silent death
2. It may develop an addiction issue
3. It causes throat and mouth cancer
4. Liver disease
5. Nerve damage
6. Unintentional injuries
7. Alcohol poisoning
Suicidal thoughts cause –
1. Increasing use of drugs or alcohol
2. Experiencing bullying or trauma
3. History of mental health issues
4. Stress because of discrimination and prejudice
5. Feeling of hopelessness
“Leave It To Lead A Peaceful & Happy Life”
Health Promotion Evaluation Proposal
In order to evaluate the Health Promotion, formative type of evaluation is taken into
consideration which happens during the development and execution of program. It
administers information regarding accomplishment of goals or enhancing the program. The
outcomes of program will also evaluate by emphasizing on long term and short term
objectives. The appropriate measures are taken to improve the health condition of people in
Australian indigenous community and improving their behaviours and life quality. Apart
from this, impact evaluation is also done to assess the effect of program on participants. By
all these ways, the success of the Health Promotion will be evaluated.
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Conclusion
As per the above mentioned project, it has been concluded that Health Promotion is
very important in order to aware people about the ill effects of using alcohol on their health.
In the Australian indigenous youth community, alcohol use is very common and in
comparison to non indigenous people, indigenous youths use alcohol more. Apart from this,
the risk factors and prevalence of suicide intention among the young indigenous Australian
people is more and the suicide ideation is related to being incarcerated, emotional and social
distress, high discrimination etc. Thus, Health Promotion is very important in order to aware
people so that they are able to quit alcohol and live their life happily. Promoting awareness
and education regarding quitting the use of alcohol and suicidal ideation will highly
contribute in improving the lives of indigenous youths in Australia which ultimately
positively impacts on the overall community.
Reference
Azar, D., White, V., Coomber, K., Faulkner, A., Livingston, M., Chikritzhs, T., ... &
Wakefield, M. (2016). The association between alcohol outlet density and alcohol use
among urban and regional Australian adolescents. Addiction, 111(1), 65-72.
Andersen, L. A. K., Munk, S., Nielsen, A. S., & Bilberg, R. (2019). What is known about
treatment aimed at indigenous people suffering from alcohol use disorder?. Journal of
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Snijder, M., Stapinski, L., Lees, B., Ward, J., Conrod, P., Mushquash, C., ... & Newton, N.
(2020). Preventing substance use among Indigenous adolescents in the USA, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand: a systematic review of the literature. Prevention
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Bryant, J., Ward, J., Wand, H., Byron, K., Bamblett, A., Waples‐Crowe, P., ... & Pitts, M.
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Brown, K., Toombs, M., Nasir, B., Kisely, S., Ranmuthugala, G., Brennan-Olsen, S. L., ... &
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Deaths by suicide amongst Indigenous Australians, 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/populations-age-
groups/suicide-indigenous-australians>
Indigenous youth suicide rates, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://cosmosmagazine.com/indigenous-youth-suicide-rates-hits-crisis-point/>
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