Health Promotion Report: Government Strategies, Barriers and Roles

This report provides a comprehensive overview of health promotion, examining the influence of socioeconomic factors on health outcomes. It explores government strategies in addressing health inequalities, including legislative measures, financing campaigns, and taxation. The report delves into the barriers to accessing healthcare, such as high costs, lack of insurance, and resource limitations, using a case study of a homeless individual to illustrate these challenges. It also analyzes the links between government strategies and health promotion models, such as health education and medical models, and highlights the crucial role of healthcare professionals in meeting government targets. Additionally, it discusses the importance of routines in promoting healthy living and the potential impact of conflicts with local industry on health promotion efforts. The report emphasizes the significance of providing relevant health-related information to the public and concludes with a plan for a health promotion campaign, showcasing how these campaigns support broader health promotion strategies.

HEALTH PROMOTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Effects of socioeconomic influences on health.....................................................................1
1.2 Government sources in reporting on inequalities in health...................................................2
1.3 Reasons for barriers to accessing Healthcare........................................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Links between government strategies and models of health promotion................................4
2.2 Role of professionals in meeting government targets for health promotion.........................4
2.3 Role of routines in promoting healthy living.........................................................................5
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Ways in which health beliefs relate to theories of health behaviour.....................................6
3.2 Possible effects of potential conflicts with local industry on health promotion....................7
3.3 Importance of providing relevant health related information to the public...........................8
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Health promotion can be defined as a process that helps individuals to enhance or increase
their usage of products that are injurious to health such as Tobacco etc. or to increase awareness
related to various kinds of health problems or improve their health is known as health promotion.
Health promotions plays a vital role in improving health of people of a particular location or a
country. Government plays a vital role in these health promotion campaigns as well so that
overall health of the state or country can be improved (Rai and et.al., 2019). This assignment will
focused on effects and factors of socioeconomic that can influence on health, government
sources in reporting on inequalities in health, reasons for barriers to accessing Healthcare models
of health promotion and role they play in promoting healthy living, factors which influence
health promotion, possible effects of potential conflicts with local industry on health promotion,
importance of providing relevant health related information to the public and lastly this
assignment will also help in describing a plan for health promotion campaign as well as ways in
which these campaigns supports health promotion strategies. This assignment will also focus on
a case study of a homeless man who dies of a certain disease because of his inability to access
healthcare facilities and services.
LO 1
1.1 Effects of socioeconomic influences on health
From various recent studies it has been observed that health of most of the people of UK is
degrading continuously. There are various socioeconomic factors that are constantly influencing
overall health of individuals (Bonetti and et.al., 2018). Whether overall income of an individual
is seen, education or even their job comes into picture, all of these factors are directly linked to
various kinds of health problems whether it is any kind of cardiovascular diseases, arthritis,
diabetes, low birth weight, cancer and many more. Socioeconomic factors directly affect health
of an individual.
 Income: It has been observed that health of an individual is affected by their income or
wealth in many ways i.e. if income pf people is sufficient enough then they focus on
improving their health i.e. they try to consult a doctor or take medicine but if income itself is
a problem and individuals are not able to save sufficiently then it can affect their health i.e.
they would try to avoid any kind of medical expenses which would further result in affecting
their overall health.
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 Education: Level of education of people also influences their health of an individual. As
educational level of an individual reflects their knowledge about health and problems related
to it. High educational level of an individual helps them to focus on factors that can enhance
their health as well as of others (Avgerinou and et.al., 2018). For example: If parents are well
educated then they can focus on enhancing their children’s health and can also identify
problems that are been faced by the children.
 Job: Job is one of the most important factors that can influence health of an induvial because
many times work related pressure or excessive work can enhance health related problems of
an individual. Job uncertainty or insecurity can create or disturb mental health of an
individual.
1.2 Government sources in reporting on inequalities in health
Health inequalities one of the main agenda that is been focused by UK government. They
are taking various steps to reduce these health inequalities. Government plays a vital role in
accessing health activities of their citizens (Claxton, Taylor and Kay, 2016). Government and
various government focus on understanding need of the community and correct health campaign
for them. There are various government sources that can be used for reporting any kind of
inequality in health. All the sources play a different role in collection of data related to health.
Any kind of problem faced by people or health inequalities faced by people.
 Community health research foundations and agencies: These kinds of foundations focus on
research work that are done for the government. These foundations or agencies conduct
research and analyse all kinds of health and safety aspects of the public. These researches
helps them to identify and report any kind of health inequality to the government.
 Public health and administration department under government: Such kind of department are
specifically formed by the government so that they can conduct survey, form questions for
the people so that any kind of issue, problem or inequality faced by the people can be
understood.
 Public hospitals and medical services: These are one of the best government sources from
where data related to health problems or inequality can be collected (Prasher and Janicki,
2018). These public hospitals provide wide range of in-depth information that can be used to
understand health inequalities.
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 Government inquiry surveys or research survey: these kinds of surveys are conducted by
government officials to understand lifestyle of an individual which helps the people who are
conducting survey to understand what are the problems that are been faced by the people.
1.3 Reasons for barriers to accessing Healthcare
There are various barriers that work as a barrier in accessing healthcare services. These
reason work as a barrier and makes it difficult for people to access healthcare facilities. As per
the case scenario the homeless man who died with some kind of health problem could have been
saved if timely healthcare service would have been provided to them to he could have timely
accessed the healthcare service (Izaki and Swaine, 2017). But due to some reasons he was not
able to access the healthcare services, products or facilities. There are three ways through which
healthcare services can be accessed such as: gain entry into healthcare system, access location of
healthcare services, finding a healthcare provide. But many reasons because of which barriers are
created in accessing these healthcare services. Reasons that work as barrier in accessing
healthcare requirements are:
 High cost of healthcare services and facilities because of which all health needs are not
fulfilled and some of them are always unmet as well as because of this high cost overall
financial burden on people also increases.
 Inadequate or no insurance coverage is another reason because of which inability to access
healthcare services increases.
 Lack of availability of resources is another factor that creates or works as a barrier in access
healthcare services because it delays in receiving proper and adequate treatment or
appropriate healthcare facilities.
These reasons are few of the main reasons because of which it becomes difficult for
individuals to access healthcare services (Betsch and et.al., 2016). In the case study as well
reason because of which the homeless man was not able to access healthcare facility has been
discussed. According to the case study if the homeless man would have gone to the hospital he
could have been saved but as he has no address to provide to the hospital after arriving he was
not able to access hospital healthcare services.
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LO 2
2.1 Links between government strategies and models of health promotion
As it has already been discussed that government plays a vital role accessing or enhancing
current healthcare system and health of individuals. First is that government focuses on
introducing various kinds of strategies that can be used for health promotion. There are mainly
three types of government strategies that can be used for enhancing or promoting health
(Fleming and et.al., 2018). First type of government strategy category is legislative measures in
which various kinds of acts are made that can be used to promote health of individuals such as
health Act, 2009. Second is Financing other campaigns such as anti-smoking campaign where
people are educated and influenced to change their smoking behaviour. Third type of
government strategy technique is taxation measures where tax on products that are not good for
health are increased such as tax for tobacco industry has increased drastically (Mohammed and
Mohabeer, 2017). These government strategies can be linked to various kinds of health
promotion models such as: health and education models, medical models many more.
Health and education model: this model focus on organizing various kinds of health-related
programs that can be used for educating people. This model targets or focuses on those people
who are educated as such kind of people will more easily understand main objective of the
program and the changes of success of health model will increase. This model can be linked to
governments strategy of Financing health campaigns that focuses on reduction of products that
are injurious to health is done or any kind of healthcare service promotion is done so that people
can become aware and self-conscious of their health (Maynard and Hendrickson, 2019).
Medical Model: this model focuses on enhancing medical opportunities that can be offered or
provided to individuals. This model helps in offering various kind of medical help that can be
provided to the people so that health of various individuals can be increased or enhanced. This
model is applied as per the priorities that are set by the government or that are required to be
focused on as first or primary priority. It can be linked to government’s strategy of legislative
measures i.e. as per the health priority legislative measures can be taken using this medical
model so that opportunities for people for medical help can be increased.
2.2 Role of professionals in meeting government targets for health promotion
Professionals play a vital role in meeting targets of government for health promotion as
they are the one who helps in controlling patients unhealthy life style or helps in curing them.
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Healthcare professionals are those individuals who are trusted by most of the people as they have
much more knowledge about health, issues related to health and ways in which health can be
improved (Sloan, Conner and Gough, 2015). Due to this, people trust such healthcare
professionals in a easier manner as compared to other. Healthcare professionals can easily help
government in accomplishing their targets for health promotions. Not only this they will also be
able to work on new strategies through which chances of success of health promotion can
increase.
Not only healthcare professionals but professionals who are from other departments such
as education, community services department, care homes etc also helps in achieving targets for
health promotions (Avgerinou and et.al., 2018). These professionals are one of the most
important and valuable part of health promotion campaigns as they work as a guide and support
for general public so that they can focus on improving their health and can live a quality life.
Such professionals can help government in providing general public necessary information
through which they can focus on improving their lives. Healthcare professionals can focus on
working collaboratively with government organizations so that they can treat their patients in
lower cost and can work on enhancing their patient’s conditions (El-Osta and et.al., 2019). Can
work on researching the main root cause of the major healthcare issue so that training programs
on the basis of those analysis can be formed. They can also think of creative ideas in which
awareness among people can be generated or enhanced. They can also help in making people
understand mistakes they do and ways in which they can bring improvement within their as well
as their family members lives.
2.3 Role of routines in promoting healthy living
One of the major factors due to which health of individuals is disturbed or they suffer from
any other health related problems is their disturbed or uncertain unhealthy routines. These
routines play a major role in promoting healthy living. Today people are engaged in their busy
schedule in such a manner that it affects their health as they mostly ignore all kinds of healthy
routines that they should follow for quality life and many people are not even aware of the fact
that healthy routines can help them in enhancing their quality life (Greenhalgh, 2015). There are
various healthy routines that can be used or followed by individual in order to enhance healthy
living such as: general hygiene, personal hygiene, relaxation, healthy diet, working practises,
exercises and many more (Bonetti and et.al., 2018). These healthy routine plays a vital role in
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promoting healthy practises. Promotion of these healthy routines can be done at various settings
in order to promote healthy living such as workplace, home, primary healthcare, schools,
neighbourhood, hospitals and many more. These healthy routines can be promoted with the help
of various professions working at different settings. Healthcare professionals at hospitals can
provide training to their staff members or employees so that they can work bringing
improvement within their as well as their patients lifestyle. Teachers at school can focus on their
student’s daily routines and can focus on enhancing their understanding and knowledge about
healthy living. Healthy routines help in keeping daily activities of an individual organized as
well as helps in maintaining good and quality health of an individual (Johnson, 2017). Other than
this, these routines also help in building a sense of safety among individuals, enhance their both
mental and physical health so that they can remain healthy and participate in healthy decision
making. Other than this, health routines can also help in reducing wastage of time and also helps
in enhancing their metabolism as well. In order to promote healthy living, professionals should
take initiatives so that people can be made aware of these healthy routines as well as their
knowledge and understanding about healthy routines and its effect one quality life can be
improved.
LO 3
3.1 Ways in which health beliefs relate to theories of health behaviour
Health beliefs can be defined as personal point of view of an individual that can affect or
influence their health behaviour. Health beliefs are directly or indirectly related to theories of
health behaviour in many ways. Health beliefs are related to many health behaviours in many
ways such as scientific medicines, lay public, external locus of control and internal locus of
control (Edwards and et.al., 2016). Knowledge about theories of health behaviour helps in
understanding the way or manner in which information is made accessible, these theories also
helps in involving active learning and getting. There are various kinds of health behaviour
theories that can be used to understand they way in which health beliefs are related to these
theories. There are mainly four main type of health behaviour models such as: health belief
model, Social cognitive theory, theory of planned behaviour and transtheoretical mode which is
also known as change stages.
Health belief model: this model focuses on predicting health related behaviour that can be used
for promotion of health-related behaviour. According to the model beliefs of individuals for
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health problems etc. is directly linked to health promotion behaviours. This theory also helps in
explaining patient’s behaviour or beliefs because of which they either accept or reject health
benefits (Simons, 2016). As per this theory an individual will only respond positively if they
believe: that they are at the edge of developing a health problem, they understand the risk of that
particular health issue and their health-related problems can only be resolved if the bring change
within their behaviour.
Social cognitive theory: According to this theory self-efficient is one of the beliefs of an
individual within themselves that can help them in succeeding or accomplishing any particular
takes in a proper manner (Rai and et.al., 2019). This self-efficiency belief can help an individual
to accomplish desired target, goal or objective. As per this theory if a person feels that they are
self-efficient then they would directly focus on their target, goals and based on this they will
bring changes within their behaviour.
Theory of reasoned action: this theory is based on all kinds of behavioural aspects that can be
controlled. As per thins theory behavioural intentions can be controlled as well as predicted with
actual behaviour of an individuals (Mohammed and Mohabeer, 2017). Intentions of an individual
is divided into two main factors such as: attitude of individuals to behaviour and beliefs of
individuals with support of others.
3.2 Possible effects of potential conflicts with local industry on health promotion
Health promotion strategies by medical professionals as well as by government creates
various kinds of conflict of reason between health promotion and local industry in many ways.
Due to health promotions profits of various local industry organizations is going down due to
which conflicts are created. Local industry with whom conflicts can be created are: tobacco
industry, alcohol producers and suppliers, leisure industry, food manufacturers, hospitality
industry, Sponsorship of media, cost of improving workplace and many more (Wilson, Naidoo
and Daykin, 2019). There are various number of people in society whose main focus in only on
healthy living but there are some people in the society who do not care about healthy living and
only focus on doing business and indulging themselves in healthy living or lifestyle. Healthcare
professionals who focus more on healthy living, quality life and focus on reducing unhealthy or
ill habits of people for healthy living of people by promoting healthy living among people
conflicts with other kind of people whose main priority is not healthy living, who are completely
unaware of healthy living factors and are engaged in unhygienic or unhealthy habits or business
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that can further result in degrading health of individuals (Protheroe and et.al., 2017). Health
promotions done by professions or government affects business of local industry people who are
engaged in unhealthy products sales or manufacturing. For example: health promotion campaign
of diabetes affects business of bakeries who sells unhealthy extremely sugary products or
product that high in cholesterol. As number of health promotions related to diabetes are
increasing, local fast food industry is getting affected. Not only this many celebrities today are
also focusing on participating in such kind of health campaigns and because of this conflict with
local industry are increasing and is affecting their business, reducing their customer base etc.
3.3 Importance of providing relevant health related information to the public
Providing health related information to public is extremely important as it helps in
enhancing their quality of life and also helps them in learning healthy way of living (Claxton,
Taylor and Kay, 2016). According to various studies it has been observed that people are not
aware of types of health issues they can suffer from and their side effects. They are not even
aware of the fact that these health issue can take a serious turn that can result in sone dangerous
diseases such as heart strokes. So, it is extremely important to provide health related information
to the public so that they can being changes within their life style and can understand seriousness
of these health issues. Some important health related information can help in reducing increasing
number of early deaths, reduce sickness and dependency on medicines or on others (Mohammed
and Mohabeer, 2017). It will also help in making people more responsible and sensible so that
they can understand their responsibilities and fulfil it in a much better manner. Providing health
related information can also help in reducing health inequalities which will further help in
providing proper treatment to each and every one. This information is quite important especially
for middle aged people or elder people as chances of diseases is much higher in older or middle-
aged people. There are various kinds of vulnerable groups that are required to be produced.
Providing health related information will help the government in protecting them as well. Other
than this providing health related information to public can also help in controlling
communicable diseases and reduce overall health risk for people. In other words enhancement of
health information within people will only help them to improve their quality of life as well as
improve their family members health and life quality as well. For this government and various
other organizations are focusing on organizing various kinds of campaigns so that awareness
among people can be enhanced and they can be made aware of health issues such as over-weight,
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diabetes etc. and their side effects on body and one’s own health. Within these campaigns people
are also given various kinds of tips through which they can improve their health such as 30
minutes of physical activity daily can help a person in improving their health and many more.
LO 4
Both 4.1 and 4.2 are covered in poster
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are various kinds of social
economic factors such as job, wealth etc. that can influence one’s health in many ways. These
factors are giving rise to various kinds of barriers to healthcare. It has been analysed that there
are various models of health promotion that can be used by government to link it with their
strategies for health promotion. In order to increase success of these health promotion strategies
professionals play a vital role as they help in increasing awareness among people for health
issues and healthy living. It has also been analysed that there is a relation between health beliefs
and health behaviour theories as beliefs of people help in bringing changes within their
behaviour. Due to lack of information it is important to provide health related information to
public so that they can being improvement within their health.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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culture-sensitive health communication: an agenda for science and practice. Medical
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primary care: ENGAGE in Scotland. British Dental Journal. 225(7). pp.645-656.
Claxton, L., Taylor, M. and Kay, E., 2016. Oral health promotion: the economic benefits to the
NHS of increased use of sugarfree gum in the UK. British dental journal. 220(3). p.121.
Edwards, E.A., and et.al., 2016. Gamification for health promotion: systematic review of
behaviour change techniques in smartphone apps. BMJ open, 6(10), p.e012447.
El-Osta, A., and et.al., 2019. Workplace health promotion using a digital health programme with
monthly telecoaching to improve clinical and lifestyle-related outcomes. Future
Healthcare Journal. 6(Suppl 1). pp.91-91.
Fleming, L.E., and et.al., 2018. Beyond climate change and health: Integrating broader
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Greenhalgh, T., 2015. Health literacy: towards system level solutions.
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promotion. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education. 55(4). pp.189-
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Johnson, K., 2017. Smoking, alcohol and obesity: Health promotion opportunities relevant to
acutely ill vascular and urology patients. Links to Health and Social Care. 2(2). pp.52-
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Maynard, M. and Hendrickson, C., 2019. Minority men's engagement with health promotion
(Boyz2men): an exploratory cross-sectional study. The Lancet. 394. p.S72.
Mohammed, A.A. and Mohabeer, B.F., 2017. Health Promotion and Health Development
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Protheroe, J., and et.al., 2017. Health literacy, diabetes prevention, and self-management.
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Simons, S.R.M., 2016. Health promotion and patient empowerment in the palliative setting: a
case study. Links to Health and Social Care. 1(1). pp.59-70.
Sloan, C., Conner, M. and Gough, B., 2015. How does masculinity impact on health? A
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women. Psychology of Men & Masculinity. 16(2). p.206.
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