Leaflet Critique: Obesity Awareness and the Role of Statins in Health

This essay critically appraises a health promotion leaflet focused on raising awareness about obesity and the role of statins in managing cholesterol levels. It examines the leaflet's design, information content, and readability, using the Health Belief Model as a framework. The critique highlights the leaflet's strengths in using illustrations and its weaknesses in providing detailed factual information and justification for the target audience. The essay also considers the leaflet's relevance to the role of nurses in promoting health within the NHS, ultimately assessing its effectiveness in promoting health and preventing diabetes through increased awareness.

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
Topic: HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
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1HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
Health promotion has been mainly defined as the basic process of helping and
enabling individuals as well as communities for controlling the various determinants of health
and leading to the overall improvement in health according to the definition of the Ottawa
charter. The pivotal role of the NHS is prevention of poor quality of health and the promotion
of healthy ways of livings which is considered to be essential in the reduction in the various
health inequalities and the sustenance of the system of the future generations. The main aim
of the essay is the critical appraisal of the leaflet considering the various aspects of health
promotion related to obesity (Rubio-Valera et al. 2014).
Although it is the responsibility of every individual in maintaining the overall health
of the community, the National Health Service is responsible for the improvement of the
wellbeing of individuals as well as communities. The main issue highlighted here is the
increased awareness of people with the increasing rates of cholesterol with the
implementation of statins in diet. The main focus has been the role of statins in controlling
the ever increasing levels of cholesterol in blood due to fat rich diet intake. Moreover the
suggestions and recommendation for the interventions have been clearly specified for
increasing general awareness about public health. Thus an effective system of control for
people suffering from diabetes has been included. The main theme emerging from the leaflet
is the control of the increasing cholesterol levels with the incorporation of statins in blood
(Espes, Lau and Carlson 2014).
The leaflet has been created for raising awareness about the various effects of
obesity. The various aspects of increasing cases of obesity including high cholesterol, role of
statins in obesity, control of the increasing rates of cholesterol along with the increasing
importance of the statins and the various disadvantages for statins which are pivotal for

2HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
highlighting the awareness of increased fats have been mentioned (Singh, Devi and Gollen
2014). Moreover the focus of the leaflet has been making people aware of the various effects
of diabetes and the result of the incorporation of statins for effective prevention and control
of the disease.
Since the leaflet has been chosen as a part of health promotion activities in UK
as a means of increasing awareness about the risk factors of obesity and ways of controlling
them with statins, the most affected target age group of middle aged people has been
considered (Kalyani, Corrrerie and Feruccie 2014). The Health Belief Model is apt for this
health promotion activity as it involves a health behavior change which have been developed
for the explanation along with the prediction. It complies with health related behavior
especially that issues regarding the uptake of various health services (Skinner, Tiro and
Champion 2015). According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report by the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and kidney diseases, an estimated 3 million people suffer
from diabetes among which a huge population are adults. 23.1 million Adults (48%) have
been suffering from pre-diabetics. Thus the leaflet clearly justifies the need for the statins in
the diet for the prevention of diabetes. . Adults who have been suffering from diabetes have a
higher chance of heart strokes along with strokes (Mozafferin et al. 2015). Moreover it has
been among the major cases of kidney failures in adults. The main reasons are the lifestyle
factors acting as risks factors affecting the overall wellbeing and the quality of life.
There are various pros and cons in the overall design of the leaflet. The main
advantage is the attraction due to the incorporation of colorful images and vivid illustrations.
Moreover the various images used are appropriate and successfully explain the risk factors
associated with the disease and the effects of the statins on the cholesterol. However, the
explanation and proper mechanism behind the use of statins and why they would be preferred
over other medications and effective surgery methods is not explained. Moreover the various

3HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
effects of the statins on the targeted age group and the reason behind the choice of the target
group is not clearly justified. Thus although the illustrations used in the poster are properly
explained and justified, the leaflet lacks in factual information and intricate details of the
interventions.
The information which has been contained in the material have been easily
decipherable to the readers having varied literacy skills. Moreover the readability of the
material is easily specified and justified. Moreover the tool has been developed for
enhancing the comprehensibility of the text. The SMOG readability tool has been applied in
the particular critical appraisal (Cortez et al. 2015). It is mostly used for assessing the quality
of the healthcare information and increases the readability of the text and information in the
leaflet. The limitations lie in the low readability scores and the loss of factual information and
its effective presentation in the healthcare settings (Sharma, Trimidas and Fitzsimmons
2015). Moreover the leaflet could be more specific and the information should be present
very precisely along with the mention of the health model and its relevance in the actual
scenario.
From the following paragraphs it can be understood that the leaflet has been
successful in creating awareness regarding the various effects of the statins in the control of
diabetes. Moreover the illustrations used in the leaflet has been creatively explained and used
in the basic aim of health promotion among the target population. Moreover, this poster gives
justifications along with recommendations about the use of various ways for the prevention
of the disease. Although the illustrations are a pivotal part of the awareness among people,
the leaflet lacks in factual information and its proper presentation. The incorporation of the
readability tests along with the various impacts of the graphics are useful and would be

4HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
pivotal in informing the nurse about the selection of health education material appropriate for
the individual users. Thus overall the poster makes a good attempt at making people aware of
the problems of diabetes and aims at health promotion activities through the cooperation with
national health services in UK.

5HEALTH PROMOTION LEAFLET CRITIQUE
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