Health Promotion Plan for Brimbank City, Victoria University

This report outlines a health promotion plan designed for the residents of the City of Brimbank, Australia, focusing on improving mental health and overall well-being. The project addresses the high prevalence of stress and psychological disorders in the community by promoting healthy dietary behaviors and increased physical exercise. The plan identifies schools, government, and public health advocates as key stakeholders, targeting children, adolescents, and unemployed individuals. It proposes a framework with aims and objectives, including providing balanced diets in schools, fostering a culture of physical activity, and creating peaceful environments. Strategies include feeding programs, awareness campaigns, and the construction of recreational facilities. The project evaluation plan is also included to measure the plan's effectiveness.

Student’s Last Name 1
Health Promotion Plan for the City of Brimbank
By (Name)
Course
Professor
University
Date

Student’s Last Name 2
Project Focus
This project will attempt to formulate and model a health promotion plan for the residents
in the City of Brimbank. The major focus in this project would be health promotion for the
residents by suggesting proper dietary behaviors as well as increased physical exercise sedentary.
Risky feeding habits and sedentary behavior will be highlighted so that the residents can avoid
them.
Health issue
Compared with Melbourne and other Australian averages, the prevalence of
psychological and other stress disorders for the residents of the City of Brimbank is significantly
high (Vu.edu.au., 2019, pp. 4). According to Taylor (2017, pp. 86), stress and depression
incidences among men and women in Brimbank are reported to be 37% and 16% above the
national averages respectively. Although diabetes, cancer, obesity, cardiovascular and respiratory
diseases are the other major health risks impacting the residents in the city of Brimbank, the
scholar asserts that mental illnesses such as stress and psychological disorders pose major long-
term threats to the residents' health. The statistics suggest that there are many mental health
patients in the city of Brimbank. Combining proper dietary patterns and physical exercise may
improve the mental state of the residents.
Stress and psychological disorders have adverse effects on the livelihoods of the
Brimbank community. For instance, school-going children with such conditions are likely to
bestow poor academic performances. Children and adolescents with psychological and other
mental health issues are also very violent to their peers in school and their neighborhoods (Chen,
et al., 2017, pp. 4). Expectant mothers indulge in risky behaviors and habits such as intensive

Student’s Last Name 3
smoking due to stress-induced psychological tensions (Vu.edu.au., 2019, pp. 115). A pregnant
mother who indulges into smoking, actively or passively, jeopardizes not only her life but also
the life of her unborn child. Moreover, the economic performance of a psychologically ill person
is likely to be limited. The decisions made by stressed and anxious members of a workplace are
likely to be rushed, mostly irrational. Mentally ill patients are usually aloof and prefer not
working at all. Moreover, societies whose members are depressed are usually characterized by
wrangles and violence amongst its members.
Considering the negative impacts inflicted to the individual or community, psychological and
stress issues need to be controlled by Brimbank's authorities. It is advisable for the authorities
and the affected to utilize the city's health facilities. However, prevention of these mental health
issues would be instrumental for the improvement of the community's well-being. The
conventional phrase that prevention is better than cure seems to be true in many health situations.
To control mental illnesses in Brimbank, there are is a need to design frameworks that would
help to prevent health issues from occurring.
Identified Need and Policy Framework
As aforementioned, the high prevalence of psychological and stress illnesses need to be
contained. To avoid risking the loss of lives of the rising mortality rates of patients with mental
disorders, there is a need for relevant members of the societies to come up with effective plans
and frameworks (Liu, et al., 2017, pp. 32). The plans and frameworks would function by
instructing viable methods to be followed to avoid the risks accrued by the health issue. Devising
a health promotion plan for any society is a very demanding task which demands a lot of energy,
skill, and time (Groose, et al., 2015, pp. 699). Plans and frameworks increase the efficiency of

Student’s Last Name 4
activities and thus leads to the realization of the targeted objectives (Cilliers, 2015, pp. 3). A plan
eases the implementation of a policy because both the leader and the targetted groups follow the
guidelines given by the plan. Plans and frameworks induce the targeted groups to do as per the
guidelines stipulated. Because human behavior is mainly influenced by underlying
circumstances, the need to design plans and frameworks is necessary to control the behaviors.
To stress on the need of plans and frameworks in setting policies, Hine, McLeod, and
Driver (2019, pp. 5) quotes Johann von Goethe and asserts that ‘knowing is not enough, we must
apply. Willing is not enough, we must do'. Humans are inclined to the tendency of sedentary
behaviors. Despite knowing the need to have balanced diets in our meals, many humans usually
take snacks and other unhealthy food products as their staple food. Despite willing to indulge in
physical exercises, humans find it difficult to practice by themselves. A framework could have
stipulated rules that serve to remind and force ignorant humans to comply with a certain
standard. Plans and frameworks, therefore, serves by impacting discipline on the behavioral
patterns of target groups. Plans are effective tools in restricting toxic human behaviors because
they identify the costs and benefits of each action done by the affected members (Mcllfatrick, et
al., 2018, pp. 887). It is also easy to monitor and evaluate the behaviors of community members
through the evaluation and monitoring of the plan (O’Shea and Shenoy, 2016, pp. 670). In
Brimbank, the planned framework will effectively suggest various strategies to promote the
health conditions of the city residents. The project will mainly focus on improving dietary
patterns of the citizens as well as ensuring that they participate in healthy physical activities.
Project Stakeholders

Student’s Last Name 5
Schools inhabiting young children and adolescents will be major stakeholders of this project.
Schools play a very fundamental role in the health and well being of their students (Wal Pastoor,
2015, pp. 247). Schools have adopted extra-curriculum activities as part of the learning
strategies. In many Australian schools, there is time scheduled for children to indulge in physical
activities. The schools enforce physical activities for their students to promote their health
conditions. Involvement in physical exercises subtly helps children to avoid mental health
disorders such as depressions and stress. According to research, physical exercises tend to
release the anxiety and tension held by young children and adolescents (Mikkelsen, et al., 2017,
pp. 51). Physical activity programs in schools help students to avoid health implications such as
obesity and mental illnesses (Li, et al., 2017, pp. 36). Children that are active in physical
exercises are less likely to postulate symptoms of mental health disorders.
Moreover, the inclusion of feeding programs in Brimbank would yield in promoting
mental peace on the children. According to Healy, et al., (2016, pp. 226) children in schools
where there are feeding programs usually have high performances as compared to those whose
schools lack feeding programs. Combining healthy food habits and physical activities in schools
increase the general academic performance of school children as well as their mental health
(Stevens, et al., 2oa8, pp. 52). School heads and owners are, thus, major stakeholders of this
project.
The government and public health advocates are also major stakeholders in this project.
The government should provide the necessary facilities that can be used by its citizens’ physical
exercises. These facilities may include gyms and playing grounds. Public health and civil
societies, moreover, should acknowledge the need for children to eat healthily and to play
(Khadaee and Saeidi, 2016, pp. 1594).

Student’s Last Name 6
Project target group
In this project, the major target groups will be members of the Brimbank community living in
different areas. Children and adolescents will all be targeted by this project. In all these groups,
participation in sports and other physical activities reduces their risk to suffer from stress and
other psychological disorders (Vu.edu.au., 2019, pp.34). Children, for instance, who live in
desperate and poor conditions are likely to postulate symptoms of stress and mental health
disorders (Holmes, 2016, pp. 29). The project will try to reach the children both at their schools
and homes. The project aims at educating parents and teachers on the importance of vegetable
and fruit intake to the health of their children.
The unemployed people in Brimbank will also be major target groups in this project.
Considering that the unemployed are the most vulnerable from stress and psychological
disorders, the project will have a major focus on these people. Staiger, et al., (2017, pp. 39)
confirm that physical exercise and improved dietary patterns for the unemployed will reduce
their risks to mental health disorders. Many unemployed people postulate symptoms of distress,
anxiety, and stress due to the harsh economic conditions in their environments (Rey, Extremera
and Palaez-Fernandez, 2016, pp. 442).In their identity stage, adolescents aged between thirteen
to nineteen are also very vulnerable to stress and mental health disorders (Snedker and Herting,
2016, pp. 700). Learning and earning groups will also be major target groups of the project as
they face tough academic, life and career decisions to make.
Although it would be necessary to design a plan that could be used to promote the health
of all individuals in Brimbank, the task is almost impractical considering that the budget is

Student’s Last Name 7
subject to budget and timeline constraints. It would, however, be easy to collect data fro children
and adolescents because most of them are in schools. Most of the unemployed members of
Brimbank, moreover, are youths aged between eighteen and twenty-one. Most of these youths
are in colleges and therefore, it would be easy to deal with them. For parents and elderly
individuals, most of them have tight working schedules and thus, observing the framework could
have been a difficult task. This project mainly focuses on children and adolescent due to their
accessibility in schools.
Project content
The plan will be systematically be divided into four main parts namely: Aims and
Objectives, Health Promotion Approaches, Strategies and Activities, and Project Evaluation
Plan.
Aims and Objectives
The formulation of any plan revolves around the reaching of certain aims and objectives.
This plan's primary aim is to establish promote mental health on the children and adolescents in
Brimbank Australia. To achieve this main aim, the project looks forward to suggesting viable
methods to be used to ensure that children and adolescents in the area attain mental health.
Therefore, to achieve the main goal, several specific objectives need to be achieved. Firstly, this
project will aim at ensuring that every child in Brimbank has access to balanced diet meals. The
project aims to insist on feeding programs that observe a balanced diet in schools. Therefore
every child will attain some level of satisfaction, which will eventually lead to his/her peace of
mind. It can be argued that with an empty stomach, a child cannot possibly have peace of mind.
Such a child is likely to inhibit symptoms of low self-esteem which may be translated to

Student’s Last Name 8
retaliation and aggression. Every school in Brimbank is targetted to have a feeding program that
provides a balanced diet for its children. In each meal offered by the schools, there must be a
proportionate amount of vegetables and fruits. The importance of these two products in a child's
health had been greatly ignored for many years and these projects wish to reaffirm their
importance. Achieving this aim in schools will eventually lead to the development of a healthy
Brimbank society.
Secondly, this project aims at fostering a culture that considers physical exercises and
training as important activities within society. The project aims to create mass awareness for
every Brimbank citizen on the issue of physical exercises. Soon, we expect many gyms,
playgrounds, basketball courts, and pitches to be constructed in the vast Brimbank lands. The
project further aims to change the perception of many people that consider physical exercises as
a waste of time. This paper aims to have a completely changed Brimbank city where physical
exercise and health education are identified as fundamental parts of life. The project aims to have
a society where each individual, in one way or another, participates in physical exercise.
The third goal is to establish peaceful environments in Brimbank's schools, homes, and
streets. By involving children in sporting and physical activities, the children develop a sense of
togetherness and co-operation. Considering that some of the physical exercises can only be
performed by groups, children learn the art of working together. This art is likely to be installed
in the children's later lives. Moreover, physical exercises function by having the youths off the
streets. When children and adolescents join sporting and physical activity clubs, they lack the
time to idle and loiter in the streets. This reduces the number of incidences where these youths
can be involved in mischievous and criminal activities such as pickpocketing, drug trafficking as
well as fraudulent activities. Physical activities ensure that children and adolescents have busy

Student’s Last Name 9
schedules and thus unavailable for criminal and mischievous activities. By this, Brimbank City
would become a crime-free city.
Health Promotion Approaches and Theories
For the above goals and objectives to be achieved, the project lays some fundamental
theories to help the project achieve its ends. Two health promotion approaches used in this
project are discussed below:
Behavioural Change Approach
According to Davis, et al., (2015, pp. 324) human behavior is one of the largest causes of
humans death. Humans are addicted to their behaviors, making risks involved in the behaviors
unsusceptible. For instance, humans who have developed the habit of smoking will continue
smoking despite the health hazards presented by the habit. According to this approach, one can
decide to improve his/her health by choosing to change his/her lifestyle. However, the theory
clarifies that in case one does not change his risky lifestyle, he/she should be reminded of the
consequences. In the behavioral change health promotion approach, it is hypothesized that
medics and other concerned parties should be responsible for reminding humans against risky
behavior patterns. To improve their target groups' health conditions, medical practitioners and
other concerned individuals have a role to play in encouraging them to avoid risky behaviors and
adopt healthy habits. The methods used in this approach include public awareness campaigns
against risky behaviors, encouraging healthy diets and encouraging members of the public to
indulge in fitness and physical exercises.
The theory takes health promotion of an individual as his/her property. One can improve
his/her health by adopting healthy lifestyles and one can destroy his health by adopting risky

Student’s Last Name 10
health behavior. The health of a person lies in the hands of the owner. Choosing to practice
unhealthy behaviors means that you are ready to bear the consequences imposed by your
decision. However, Kwasnicka, et al., (2016, pp. 277) warns that behavioral change is only
effective temporarily. The scholars affirm that this approach only works in the short term. For
instance, public awareness campaigns warning the public against alcohol abuse will only be
effective when a drunkard is in the public awareness meeting. Once a drunkard leaves the place,
he/she is likely to continue with his/her habits. It should be understood that changing someone's
behavior is a very demanding task that requires the absolute willingness of the targeted person. If
a person is not willing to change, public awareness campaigns and other methods will be futile.
Many medics believe that change comes from within.
Educational Approach
Educational health promotional theory attempts to acquaint the target groups with
relevant information regarding a certain topic or phenomena. According to this theory, medics
are only needed to educate the public on the benefits and demerits of certain health behaviors and
then leave the public to choose for themselves (Levin-Zamir, et al., 2019, pp. 2016). The only
difference between this approach and the behavior change theory is the open nature of the
educational approach. While the behavior change theory is inclined towards convincing,
persuading and motivating the public towards a certain direction, educational approaches of
health promotion leave the entire choice on the targetted person.
The main objective of the educational approach is to build public awareness, increase
public health literacy and improve public engagement McCormack, et al., 2017, pp. 8). In the
educational approach, the choice of the targetted person is not only voluntary but also

Student’s Last Name 11
independent. The targetted person may choose to adopt a behavior that is not his educator's
preference. The general principle of the education approach is that by increasing knowledge
about something, a rational person would change his behavior towards where he/she may derive
positive impacts. For instance, a public health advocate may teach his/her target groups about the
positive and negative effects of physical activities to their health. The practitioner neither
discourages nor encourage either the use or abstinence of physical activities.
Strategies and Activities
In this project, my team will conduct various campaigns in all schools located in
Brimbank city. Public awareness campaigns are cheap and effective tools to inform and educate
the public. Unless proper and logical strategies are employed, public awareness campaigns may
end up fruitless. For instance, although atrial fibration causes thirty percent of strokes in Ireland,
there is limited awareness about the condition with only 28% of the country's population
confirming to have ever heard about atrial fibration (Briggs, et al., 2019, pp. 2). The team will
ensure that informative and engaging debates are held in schools where each participant is
expected to relate his perceptions and experiences about the concepts of a balanced diet and
physical activities. My team which comprises of eighteen public health officers will be divided
into groups of three. Each group is expected to visit at least two schools in Brimbank city.
Within one month, the phase of creating public awareness is expected to be complete. Moreover,
each group is expected is a record and arrange their observed data and present the data in the
form of a formal report within a period.
Our medical team will involve heads of schools and parents in lessons about the need for
nutrition to their children. The medics will convince heads of schools to provide meals that

Student’s Last Name 12
observe the balanced diet. Introduction of balanced diet meals will improve the students'
performance in class in the long run because their bodies will have sufficient nutrients necessary
for healthy growth. Considering that there is a direct relationship between quality food intake
and academic performance, the heads of schools and teachers are expected to adopt our
suggestions and recommendations. Parents, too, will be induced to consider ensuring that their
children eat balanced diets.
Televisions and social media platforms will also be employed to create awareness about
the campaigns. Televisions are among the most effective tools to create public awareness in the
modern world (Das, 2016, pp. 108). Two of these public awareness activities will be aired live in
two Australian-based television networks. Each member of the public will be invited to present
his/her insights in the scheduled venue. Government official and popular figures in the medical
field will also be contacted and invited in these awareness campaigns. Journalists from all media
houses will be invited in these awareness campaigns. Moreover, public awareness campaigns
will be advertised in two Newspapers.
After one month, medical staffs in each team are expected to have designed workout and
fitness timetables to be used by the teachers during their routine physical exercise classes. The
timetables should entail practical workout styles that observe the safety and security of the
children. Roxann Blackburn, et al., (2016, pp. 66) assert that effective physical activity plans
should observe the general safety and security of the participants. This is to reduce the risks of
injuries that may occur during physical exercises. Each group should provide first-aid kits to
each school they visit.