Health Promotion Project: Obesity Awareness in Canberra High

This project details a health promotion campaign focused on raising awareness about obesity among students at Canberra High School. It addresses the increasing prevalence of obesity among youth and its associated health risks, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. The campaign aims to educate and empower students to make healthier dietary choices and increase physical activity. The project outlines the needs assessment of the target group, the benefits of the promotion, specific health promotion goals, and a management perspective. It also covers stakeholder engagement, the health message and logo, planned activities, and an evaluation proposal to assess the campaign's effectiveness. The ultimate goal is to promote long-term health and well-being among the students by preventing obesity and related illnesses.

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION PROJECT
Health Promotion Title: Awareness against Obesity
Students’ Name
Affiliate Institution

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Introduction
Obesity and overweight is a critical public health concern and amongst the primary risk
factors to undesirable health in Australia (New Collective to Tackle Australia’s Obesity, 2018).
A projected 27.9% of the youth in Australia are obese or overweight. Obesity brings many issues
to the youth, and obese teenagers are more probable to be overweight in adulthood. It takes a toll
on equally mental and physical health. Being obese escalates the likelihood of developing many
medical problems. This promotion aims at educating youth at Canberra High School on the
consumption of unhealthy foods and the reduction of obesity prevalence. According to The
Obesity Bomb. (2017), excess weight is a crucial risk aspect for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular
illness, and certain musculoskeletal diseases. Other conditions that have increased in prevalence
in overweight teens include flat feet, sleep apnoea, breathlessness on exertion, heat intolerance
and tiredness. Being obese could likewise make a teen more exposed to lower self-esteem and
unhealthy eating as a measure to regulate weight. According to Testa, Savoia, Su, and Biddinger
(2018), severe obesity has escalated from 18% over the past 18 years, and individuals are
becoming obese at earlier ages. After smoking, overweight in Australia is the primary problem of
illness and needs a severe policy reaction from the central government (Nghiem, and Khanam,
2016). Obesity has also led to premature deaths and increased rates of depression among the
youth in Canberra and Australia as a whole. That is the reason this project outlines a health
promotion campaign that upholds awareness on obesity, its effects on both mental and physical
health, and how to prevent the first occurrence of diseases related to obesity. First, it assesses the
needs of the target group; pinpointing benefits, health promotion approaches, aims, goals, main
message, and evaluation.

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Health Promotion and Target Group Outline
Before the launch of the health promotion campaign, the needs of the target group, their
ethical approval, strengths, and weaknesses, will be acquired and evaluated. Mihrshahi, Drayton,
Bauman, and Hardy (2017) denotes that, an investigation of the society implies pinpointing and
assessing their capabilities and resources obtainable. This campaign centers ion the youth as the
target group for the following reasons. First, studies show that the prevalence of obesity among
youth has increased dramatically over the past five years. In the past, the onset of obesity
occurred from the age of about 35 years. The rate at which teenagers are developing obesity
nowadays is alarming.
Secondly, reports from Cancer Australia have shown an increased occurrence of some
type of cancers among the youth due to obesity. Cancers brought about by being obese include
kidney, esophageal, breast, liver, colorectal, pancreatic, and endometrial cancers (Roberts,
Atkinson, Heffernan, McDonnell, Prodan, and Wiggers, 2019). In the long term, overweight
youth are similarly at risk of developing other chronic illnesses including depression, type 2
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, early deaths, and arthritis. Research has established a link
between the occurrence of heart illnesses and obesity with 15% of individuals with Congestive
Heart Failure being obese or having an account of obesity in their teen years. Similarly, 20% of
the youth with type 2 diabetes are overweight with an additional 7% having severe depression
and low self-esteem concerns.

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Thirdly, investigations have proved that Australian youth are the most commonly
affected with diabetes. This is as a result of exposure to unhealthy diets. According to Sainsbury,
Hendy, Magnusson, and Colagiuri (2018), the primary driver of poor eating habits is the
endorsement of fast foods and the fact that such foods are relatively cheap and readily available.
Approximately 41%of the energy in the diets of the youth originates from harmful foods. Also
being obese has resulted in unhealthy eating among obese teens as an effort to reduce their
weight. Canberra High School is among the institutions with high mortality rates as a result of
obesity and obesity-related conditions. Most students of ages between 13 to 18 years are
overweight. 51% of the obese teens are females and the remaining 49% are males. Further
research has indicated that more than 69% of the overweight youth are Indigenous Australians.
Health Promotion Aims
This promotion provides awareness on how the youth at Canberra High School may be
enlightened and empowered to prevent obesity. Mental health scholars proposed that recognition
results in environmental and psychological change. Therefore, inspiring individuals to adhere to
healthy diets and increased physical activity is operational in the prevention of illnesses related
to obesity such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, depression, arthritis, and sleep
apnoea. Benefits of this promotion are many. First, investigations show that it is much easier to
prevent the occurrence of obesity than having to deal with it or manage it once it has occurred.
According to Kebbe, Perez, Buchholz, McHugh, Scott, Richard, and Ball (2018), behavioral
interventions are a cheap and effective means to lower the prevalence of obesity-related illnesses
among the youth as 39% are not aware of the root causes for such diseases.

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This similarly such diseases as heart illnesses and type 2 diabetes are highly preventable
and adjustable risk aspects such as obesity has been looked into through health promotion
campaigns and counseling (Carbone, and Thomas, 2018). Likewise, once the youth are already
overweight, it is tough to manage the condition. Thus cautionary measures through interpersonal
and intrapersonal abilities to enhance self-efficacy and self-motivation is much better than
medical treatment. A supportive setting is a necessary implement to deal with the risk of obesity.
For instance, a well-organized learning setting guarantees students' wellbeing and provision to
lower the risk of being overweight or obese.
Additionally, it is better to spend less effort and time addressing the issue of obesity now
than having to deal with it in the future, when the condition has developed, and its impacts have
become more severe. Research has confirmed that health promotion is especially more critical
among the youth owing to the escalated dangerous tendencies that result in the development of
chronic diseases far along in life (Garnett, Baur, Jones, and Hardy, 2016). Teens are to be
enlightened on the prevention of obesity to minimize the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2
diabetes, arthritis, and some cancers later in life. This promotion encourages the target group to
consider the outcomes of their choices regarding unhealthy diet, and its temporary and
permanent effects on their health, family life, and anticipated career. It aims to enlighten and
empower the participants to acquire awareness on obesity-related dangers and to have diet
restrictions and remain mindful on unhealthy eating habits where restraint paves the way to
surplus.
Health Promotion Goals

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DiClemente, Nowara, Shelton, and Wingood (2019), asserts that the primary goal of
health promotion campaigns is to attain the anticipated health and behavioral transformation in
the targeted group. However, the objectives should be genuine, proof-founded, and definite. The
goal of this promotion is to enhance the students' approaches to long-standing wellbeing and
health by offering education of the risk of overweight and obesity for the Canberra High School
students. Every participant will gain awareness on the link between obesity and the chances of
developing illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea, and
depression. The participants could show awareness and understand the connection between
obesity and such illnesses when relating to other teen students and capable of enlightening the
members of the community.
This project is beneficial and significant from both the campaigner and participant
viewpoints. The campaigner centers on health promotion and empowerment. The resources and
assets such as films and pamphlets used in this program are suitable to the teens’ level of
concentration and understanding. By the end of the year, it was realized that over 72% of the
youth took part in anti-obesity awareness platform in the high school and enlightening the public
on the physical and mental health effects of obesity. It was confirmed that the cases of unhealthy
eating habits went down significantly among the Canberra High School youth.
Health Promotion Management Perspective
This is a public health campaign with the teens of Canberra High School aged between
13 to 19 years as the target group. It is a preventative health endorsement campaign that aims at
lowering risks and prevalence of obesity. Primary prevention is defined as occurrence lessening
and prevention schemes (DeCorby-Watson, Mensah, Bergeron, Abdi, Rempel, and Manson,

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2018). Offering education is among the best approaches for transforming risky behavior and
lifestyles into the healthy ones through teaching personal capabilities and a supportive setting.
Therefore, this campaign includes healthy participants in educating the impacts of obesity and its
temporary and permanent outcomes such as type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
Stakeholders and Community Consultation
According to Chauvet-Gelinier, Roussot, Cottenet, Brindisi, Petit, Bonin, and Quantin
(2019), stakeholders are the financiers for campaigns, and they include the government,
members of the community, non-governmental organizations, target group, and human resource.
This campaign is launched in partnership with Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Health, the
high school's teachers and students, health specialists from ACT Health, and volunteers from the
local society. Similarly, local committee members, media, and society leaders will take part in
the project.
Health Message/Logo
The proposed message is that obesity harms children and young individuals. Emotional,
social, and health impacts of obesity are highlighted in the logo using detailed imagery such as a
human head, school building, an individual's heart and images of a young and older person.

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Health Promotion Activity Description
The project will use approaches to notify the youth about the project by eliminating
obstacles and creating supportive settings for involvement in the campaign. This will be achieved
by creating networks to inform the students on the project. In the first week, a fruit-eating
platform would be instituted in the regions where students frequently go to such as the libraries.
This would raise money and also attract the focus of the regional media to broadcast the
message. Likewise, the project uses various approaches to notify the members of the society and
teens through posters and pamphlets, social media, radio, placing stickers on public transport,
dailies, posting placards around the high school, and including high school personnel to deliver
the underlying message on the program to the target group.

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In the course of the project, all stakeholders will assemble at the high school seminar hall
from 9:30 am to 11:00 am on 28th April. Three-guest presenters will share their lived-in
experience on obesity, followed by a twenty-minute film on the health effects of obesity. Films
attract the concentration of many individuals, and personal accounts create an intimate link
between different people (Abroms, Allegrante, Auld, Gold, Riley, and Smyser, 2019).
Health Promotion Evaluation Proposal
Assessing the campaign’s advancement is necessary for acquiring continuous support.
Assessment process begins at the start of the project and stays linked to the aims and goals of the
planning. Baseman, Revere, Karasz, and Allan (2018) proposes that the procedure, effect, and
outcome are the known assessment parameters. The assessment of this project will be carried out
all through the campaign course. The targeted group will be asked to complete questionnaires
with questions related to obesity before the commencement of the project.
Similarly, the campaign's message will be delivered through regional media and posters,
and then the assessment may be done. Once the drive is completed, there will be one-on-one
interviews and survey links emailed to the participants to assess and get responses. Furthermore,
an assessment will be done to measure the outlook, realization, knowledge, and behavior on
obesity. The campaign's success will be evaluated after three months of its conclusion to
determine the permanent effects of this project.
Conclusion

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This project enlightens the participants on the risks of obesity and the impacts on their
health. The campaign has highlighted that risk aspects of obesity are modifiable. Obesity is a
leading contributor to the problem of chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
Therefore, this campaign has been launched to create awareness among high school teens.
Encouraging behaviors and lifestyles that inspire the youth to avoid unhealthy eating habits is an
operational approach to lessening the temporary and permanent outcomes of obesity. Activities
like exercising and healthy eating are suggested to attain the campaign's goals. Stewardship of
resources is created to uphold sustainability of the project. Project assessment approaches are
used to conclude the accomplishment of this campaign and for prospect references on upcoming
similar projects.

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References
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