Strategies for Health Promotion in Elderly People with Osteoarthritis

This report details a health promotion program designed for elderly individuals suffering from osteoarthritis. It addresses the prevalence and impact of osteoarthritis, particularly in Australia, highlighting its effects on quality of life and the need for intervention. The program incorporates four key ...Read More

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
HEALTH PROMOTION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
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HEALTH PROMOTION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
Section1:
Arthritis is one of the most common causes of disability in Australia and osteoarthritis is
one of the most common forms of arthritis in the nation. This is a serious, painful as well as the
potential life altering diseases of joints. This is responsible for limiting the different daily
activities as well as the quality of life for over a large number of populations of Australia. Self-
reported estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2014–15 National Health
Survey shows that about 2.1 million Australian suffer from this condition. This disorder is
mostly common in females in comparison to that of males. 10% of females have osteoarthritis is
comparison to that of 6% of males. The prevalence of this disorder increases with age. Although
relatively few younger people get affected with this condition, its prevalence rises sharply with
age onwards form 45 with the oldest people from 65 onwards are the most affected. This can be
represented with the help of a chart provided by the government (Heller et al., 2014). It is also
reported by statistical studies that indigenous people are affected in higher number than the non
indigenous people. Moreover it I also found that prevalence of osteoarthritis is not different in
major cities, inner regional swell as outer regional and remote areas. There were no significant
differences as it showed that Australian who reported the disorders ranged from 7.7% in major
cities to that of 9.1% in inner regional areas and 9% in outer regional areas ("Who gets
osteoarthritis? (AIHW)", 2017).. Hence, in order to provide a better quality lives for older
citizens and also to ensure that they get every scope of aging well, it is extremely important to
introduce a health promotion program that will address the disorder in the described cohort.

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Section 2:
A health promotion program is extensively important in handling the adverse effects that
osteoarthritis is having on the patients. The older citizens have very poor quality life as they
suffer a lot form the symptoms of the disorder. Older people who are affected with the disorder
(7.9%) are 2 to 3 times more likely to say that their health is very poor in comparison to those
who are not affected with the disorder (3.5%). They suffer from limitations which are imposed
by the osteoarthritis and this lead to self esteem and self image of the older citizens ("How does
osteoarthritis affect quality of life? (AIHW)", 2017). Often these lead to negative emotional
stress, anxiety, depression and also feelings of different hopelessness Besides, mental turmoil’s,
they also face high level of pain that restrict them for daily activities and also the activities they
like to pursue as hobbies. These also prevent them to complete any work on time which destroys
their confidence and they suffer from lowered self esteem and confidence (Stenberg et al., 2016).
Hence, health promotion program will help to address the above mentioned issues and provide
interventions in such a way which will help to provide proper guidelines that when followed by
the older citizens will help him to age properly and manage their osteoarthritis symptoms
(Louew et al., 2014). This will help them to take part in any activities they want and can
overcome any challenges and barriers that come in their life style to osteoarthritis pain and
symptoms.
Section 3:
Four main important strategies should be included in the health promotion program which will in
turn help to address every aspect of the disorder and develop a high quality life giving them
scope to age well happily and safely. The first strategy that should be incorporated in the health

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promotion program is providing self management education which would be mainly in the form
off nursing home based intervention for such patients. This would help them to understand the
main pathophysiology of the disorder and also help to know how their own activities should be
modified in a way which would help them to love with the disorders successfully without
hampering their wishes and hobbies in lives (Cheung et al., 2016). Secondly, another strategy
would be to promote low impact moderate intensity aerobic physical activity along with muscle
strengthening exercises that will help them get over many symptoms like inability to mobilize or
pain in moving legs knees, arms and others. These will help them to conduct light work which
will gradually help them to gain confidence and self esteem and can perform certain important
works independently helping them to get over emotional turmoil. Their strategy that should also
be incorporated is the proper weight management program with introduction of guidelines for
intake of quality diet, proper management of calorie levels and maintaining the correct BMI. The
lesser the body weight of the patients, lesser will be the sufferings of the older citizens as high
weight provides more weight on the joints and hence create more pressure on them making the
joints painful (deRezende et al., 2016). The last strategy would be to promote, implement as well
as enforce the existing policies and also the interventions which are present so that the older
patients can adopt the rules, policies and legislations which will help in the reduction of musco-
skeletal injuries, prevention of falls, proper balance training and other form of exercises and
others. These would help them to look into the policies and gain knowledge about the dos and
don’ts in osteoarthritis and empower them properly (Chan et al., 2016). Hence all the strategies
would help the patients to be more efficient to cope with it and take steps for better quality
living. The main aim would be to provide an all round physical and mental development of the
patients suffering from the disorder.

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Section 4:
The main model which will help in the establishment of the health promotion program is the
health belief model. The health belief model usually depends on five important action related
components. The first step would be the gathering of the information by the conducting of a
health assessment and other efforts to determine who is at the risk. In the health promotion
program, it would be important to construct an analysis of the older people suffering from
osteoarthritis, their numbers, and the intensity of the risks, their prevalence and others (Eyles et
al., 2014). The next step would be to convey the consequences of the health issues associated
with the disorder in a clear and unambiguous fashion so that the older people can understand the
perceived severity. The ill effects of osteoarthritis should be conducted in a fashion so that every
of individual becomes aware of the harmful consequences and take necessary steps that will help
them to overcome the symptoms and enjoy quality life (Smith-Ray et al., 2014). The third
strategy would be to communicate with the target population the important steps which are
involved in taking the recommended action and highlight the respective benefits of the action. In
this step, all the recommended action mentioned above should be properly communicated with
the older people suffering from osteoarthritis along with making them know how they would be
benefitted from the actions. The fourth step would be providing them assistance for identification
as well as reduction of the barriers to action. This step would mainly include identifying the
barriers that older people face when they try to face any actions (Bossen et al., 2013). The last
step would be the involvement of demonstrations of actions though the procedures of skill
development activities an also providing of support that help in the enhancement of self efficacy
as well as likelihood of the successful behavioral changes for overcoming the symptoms of
osteoarthritis.

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Section 5:
The self management education of the older people is the first strategy that will improve access
to self management education through nursing home based programs and clinical linkages.
Proper partnerships within the different healthcare centers would help in establishment of health
literacy education classes in the nursing home outpatient section on weekends where older
people may come to develop their literacy knowledge on self management. The resources
required will be charts, brochures, leaflets an others which will contain the easy self education
guidelines with bright illustrations so that it becomes easier for the older people to gain
knowledge about how they can manage their symptoms effectively. The managers will talk with
the manageemnt and talk about the financial requirements needed to conduct the program for 8
months every weekend. Financial aid can be wanted from the state government and also from the
local governments so that proper programs can be arranged.
The next strategy would be the conducting of classes in the outpatient section which would help
the older citizens to undertake moderate low impact aerobic fitness trainings and also muscle
strengthening exercise. Trainers should be recruited and classes would be arranged in the either
hired auditoriums or in the hallroom of the nursing homes every day for one hour for 8 months.
The managers would make sure that the trainers conduct the program in a safe manner in a
variety of accessible ways and as well as in acceptable formats and settings. 8 trainers would be
incorporated in the nursing home based training programs with packaged deal for eight months
which would be financed by the local government. The first two months would be free followed
by the subscription of minimal charged so that the money can be allocated for maintenance of the
resources used in training.

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The next strategy would be the introduction of weigh management program. The classes will he
help by professional dieticians who will be hired in monthly basis for conducing one weight
management training classes every weekend in the morning. They would also be conducting
personalized appointments so that old people can also meet with them and discus their issues.
The weight management classes will be held in outpatient departments for free which would be
funded by local government. The personalized appointments will be paid for by old people and
will not be sponsored by government.
The last recommendation would be to discuss the existing policies and interventions that exist for
people suffering from osteoarthritis. All the information should be jotted down properly and
made into interesting pamphlets by the organizer of the health promotion program. They should
be circulated via post and email so that the community elders can get access and know about the
policies that would help them by providing guidelines for management of osteoarthritis. Not
much fund would be required and this would be done within the first week of the introduction of
the program.
Section 6:
Impact evaluation can be done by setting up a monitoring body which will have five
professionals who will conduct an analysis of the attendance of the old patients in each of the
classes held at the outpatient workshops. The response of acknowledgement of the emails will
also help to get an idea. A statistical analysis would be done about the positive response derived
from the patients undertaking the classes in order to know the effectivity of the programs. They
would also undertake observational studies from each of the classes so that they can develop an
idea about the impacts of the strategies on the older people ( Haber. 2013).

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Outcome evaluation will be done at interval of three months with open ended survey through
emails which will help to know how much the patients have been benefitted. Their response and
feelings will help to know how much fruitful the program was and what negative aspects need to
be modified so that the best results are experienced by them (Eyles et al., 2014).

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References:
Bossen, D., Buskermolen, M., Veenhof, C., de Bakker, D., & Dekker, J. (2013). Adherence to a
web-based physical activity intervention for patients with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis: a
mixed method study. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(10).
Chan, S. Y., Kuo, C. C., Chen, K. M., Tseng, W. S., Huang, H. T., & Li, C. H. (2016). Health
promotion outcomes of a newly developed elastic band exercise program for older adults
in the community: a pilot test. Journal of Nursing Research, 24(2), 137-144.
Cheung, C., Wyman, J. F., & Savik, K. (2016). Adherence to a yoga program in older women
with knee osteoarthritis. Journal of aging and physical activity, 24(2), 181-188.
de Rezende, M. U., Hissadomi, M. I., de Campos, G. C., Frucchi, R., Pailo, A. F., Pasqualin,
T., ... & Matos, N. B. D. S. (2016). One-Year results of an educational program on
osteoarthritis: A prospective randomized controlled trial in Brazil. Geriatric orthopaedic
surgery & rehabilitation, 7(2), 86-94.
Eyles, J. P., Lucas, B. R., Patterson, J. A., Williams, M. J., Weeks, K., Fransen, M., & Hunter, D.
J. (2014). Does clinical presentation predict response to a nonsurgical chronic disease
management program for endstage hip and knee osteoarthritis?. The Journal of
rheumatology, 41(11), 2223-2231.
Haber, D. (2013). Health promotion and aging: Practical applications for health professionals.
Springer Publishing Company.

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Heller, T., Fisher, D., Marks, B., & Hsieh, K. (2014). Interventions to promote health: crossing
networks of intellectual and developmental disabilities and aging. Disability and health
journal, 7(1), S24-S32.
How does osteoarthritis affect quality of life? (AIHW). (2017). Aihw.gov.au. Retrieved 30
August 2017, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/osteoarthritis/quality-of-life/
Loew, L., Kenny, G. P., Durand-Bush, N., Poitras, S., Wells, G. A., & Brosseau, L. (2014). The
Implementation of an Effective Aerobic Walking Program Based on Ottawa Panel
Guidelines for Older Individuals with Mild to Moderate Osteoarthritis: A Participant
Exercise Preference Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial Protocol Design.
Smith-Ray, R. L., Fitzgibbon, M. L., Tussing-Humphreys, L., Schiffer, L., Shah, A., Huber, G.
M., ... & Hughes, S. L. (2014). Fit and Strong! Plus: design of a comparative
effectiveness evaluation of a weight management program for older adults with
osteoarthritis. Contemporary clinical trials, 37(2), 178-188.
Stenberg, U., Haaland-Øverby, M., Fredriksen, K., Westermann, K. F., & Kvisvik, T. (2016). A
scoping review of the literature on benefits and challenges of participating in patient
education programs aimed at promoting self-management for people living with chronic
illness. Patient education and counseling, 99(11), 1759-1771.
Who gets osteoarthritis? (AIHW). (2017). Aihw.gov.au. Retrieved 30 August 2017, from
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