NURBN1004, 2018: Berwick Community Fieldwork Reflection

This assignment is a reflection on fieldwork conducted in the Berwick community, focusing on the health issue of smoking. The student analyzed data revealing high smoking rates across all age groups, challenging initial assumptions. The reflection explores the relationship between mental health issues, work pressure, and smoking prevalence, highlighting the social determinants of health. The student evaluates the findings, recognizing the impact of these factors on the community's health and quality of life, and proposes an action plan for future fieldwork to gather more detailed employment-related health data. References from Annamalai, Singh & O’Malley (2015) and Fluharty, M., Taylor, A. E., Grabski, M., & Munafò, M. R. (2016) are included to support the findings.

NAME OF THE STUDENT:
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY:
REFLECTION ON FIELDWORK
DONE FOR THE BERWICK
COMMUNITY

INTRODUCTION &
DESCRIPTION
The following has been identified through the
review of the history of the Berwick
community:
• Berwick is a south eastern suburb located
in Melbourne
• Smoking is one of the health issue for
Berwick.
• 16.3% of the population smokes
• All the age groups are involved in smoke
consumption

FEELINGS
It was alarming to find out that all age
groups are involved in smoking in Berwick
The ill effect of smoking is also understood
from the fact that 13% of the population
are suffering from chronic respiratory
disease
From the review of percentage of chronic
respiratory disease in Berwick, I could
interpret the health burden for the
community

EVALUATION
While doing the field work, my assumption
that smoking is prevalent only in adults
group was challenged.
The data related to smoking prevalence in
all age group suggested that there are
common risk factor for all the age groups
Some of the risk factors of smoking
identified for the community includes work
pressure and presence of anxiety and
depression due to personal and
professional issues

ANALYSIS
The analysis of the health issue gave me the
lesson that mental health and smoking is directly
related to each other and this influence health of
people
The investigation regarding the cause behind all
the issues in the community suggest that even
prevalence of mental illness like anxiety and
depression is the main motivation behind smoking
High level of stress due to life stressors predispose
the population to smoking. Annamalai, Singh &
O’Malley (2015) shows high smoking rates in
people with mental illness

CONCLUSION
The field work helped to identify the
important social determinants of health
that has impact on health and quality of life
of people
While engaging in health promotion
activities, the lessons learnt through the
field work would help in identifying the
health risk factors and kind of support
needed by vulnerable people

ACTION PLAN
If I had to do this field work again, the I
would take the approach to gather data on
types of employment and the common
health issues found in those groups.
This would help to differentiate of health
issues have occurred because of
occupation risk or lack of basic social needs

REFERENCES
Annamalai, A., Singh, N., & O’Malley, S. S.
(2015). Focus: addiction: smoking use and
cessation among people with serious
mental illness. The Yale journal of biology
and medicine, 88(3), 271.
Fluharty, M., Taylor, A. E., Grabski, M., &
Munafò, M. R. (2016). The association of
cigarette smoking with depression and
anxiety: a systematic review. Nicotine &
Tobacco Research, 19(1), 3-13.