Public Health Promotion Project: Dementia Health Plan Australia

This report presents a comprehensive health promotion plan focused on dementia awareness, prevention, and management within the Australian community. It begins with an introduction to dementia, its impact, and the importance of early intervention. The plan identifies the target group as adults aged 80-85 years and older, emphasizing that dementia is a disease, not a natural consequence of aging. It outlines the benefits of health promotion, including educating patients on medication adherence, proper nutrition, and the significance of communication and social engagement. The report details health promotion goals, such as promoting healthy behaviors, improving communication between patients, families, and healthcare providers, and educating younger generations on prevention. Prevention and management strategies are categorized as primary, secondary, and tertiary, including establishing dementia-specific health centers, organizing training seminars for nurses, and creating awareness campaigns through various media. The plan also addresses the involvement of stakeholders, including nurses, individuals with dementia, and medical departments. The report emphasizes the importance of a clear health message, activity, and evaluation to assess the plan's effectiveness, concluding that eliminating dementia requires a collaborative effort from all community members.

Running head: DEMENTIA HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN
Public Health Promotion Project
Due date: Week 8: Monday 23rd April (midnight Darwin time)
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DEMENTIA HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN: 2
Health promotion plan about dementia for the Australian community
Introduction
Dementia refers to the loosing of the intellectual processes essential to the human body
(Algar et al.2016). These processes include remembering, reasoning and thinking. It is
evident that the people affected with dementia lose their temper very fast. The reason to that
is that they have a problem with the memory (Brooker & Latham, 2015). This health
promotion aims at teaching people on the occurrence of dementia. In addition to that, the
development will involve several stakeholders in the community in order to see how to
manage and prevent this health problem.
Target Group outline
From the research and daily records in the hospital, it is evident that dementia mostly
affects people between 80 to 85 years (Davis, 2016). This health promotion is going to focus
on teaching the adult people on how to deal with the problem. On the other hand, the people
who are of 90 years and above rarely report this problem. A crucial point to note is that
dementia is not a complication because of getting old but a disease on its own. There are
many people whom one hundred years or more but have not reported the case of dementia.
Besides the management, there are different types of dementia as the health records stated,
but the effects are the all the dementias affect the thinking capacity of an individual (Dewing
& Dijk, 2016). The health promotion of this disorder is going to be imperative. The health
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promotion also targets the medical practitioners who handle dementia and the family
members where the patient gets home assistance.
Health Promotion (outline why this public health promotion is beneficial for your
target group)
Every promotion has an impact to the targeted group. There are numerous importance
that health promotion this is going to help the community of Australia. The benefits ranges
on the people affected with dementia, nurses offering the diagnosis to the dementia patients
and the family members to the patient (Gitlin et al.2017). For instance, if you evaluate the
importance of the patient, it is essential to direct the patients on how to take the drugs
prescribed to them. Many people who have dementia tend to overdose. The reason is that
they feel the problem will go after the overdose. However, this is ill advised. After this health
promotion, the patient will learn the importance of taking the drugs as prescribed. Another
important thing is the diet of the patient. It is essential to determine that proper nutrition is
inevitable to the patients who have dementia (Graham, 2017). The drinks and food should be
as directed by the nurse offering the diagnosis. This health promotion health to educate
people on the importance of maintaining the balanced diet to the dementia people.
On the other hand, communication is an important aspect. In the research, it is notable that
many people fear dementia same to the affected patients. The patients usually feel isolated
from the family to the health diagnosis team. This health promotion outlines that is important
to engage the patients through communication, whether you are a family member or the
nurse. Keep socializing with the individuals to do away with the boredom that comes because
of the disorder. Moreover, the family member must maintain the hygiene (Jung, 2015). From
where the patient seats to the dressing should be well organized. The importance of the
health promotion in this matter is that it looks at the well-being of each that is affected by the
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coming of the disease. Nurses should communicate well to the patients while diagnosing
them.
There are many requirements for patients having dementia that are usually left unmet
(Kales et al.2017). The awareness about dementia teaches on those unmet needs and the
reason why it is vital to meet the desired requirements. In other parts of the promotion, it tells
the Australian community on the possible cause of dementia. The reason such as injury on
the brain part may lead to dementia. The members of the community are advised to have
medical check-ups when such incidents occur. However, there are some early symptoms that
one may see when the disorder starts. The essential of the promotion is that the signs are
elaborated to help society members to evaluate themselves. Early treatment is a crucial factor
when these symptoms are registered on one; it is important to seek early health care (Lee et
al.2018). Initial medication does not only prevent more complication but also increases the
lifespan of an individual.
Health Promotion Goals
The way each teaching session in a school has objectives, this set promotion also have
some goals. The first thing is to ensure that people are keen on their behaviours, which may
lead to dementia (Leibing & Cohen, 2018). For instance, the practice of smoking which
tampers with the brain cells. Apart from that is the over drinking which may lead to an
accident. The incident of crashes causes brain injury that result in dementia. On the other
hand, the aim is also the well-being of the members of the society. When there is excellent
communication between family members, nurses and the patient who has dementia, the
community lives in peace. Lastly, the other goal is ensuring that the young members of the
society also take care of themselves to avoid attack by dementia (Lorenz et al.2017).
Health Promotion prevention management perspective (primary, secondary or tertiary)
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For the promotion team to ensure that the above health promotion gets to the ear of each in
the society there are measures put in place. According to the health department, the
prevention and management measures are divided into primary, secondary and tertiary
standards. The fundamental ways in which this health promotion exercise targets at includes
the following methods:
a) Setting up health centres for people who have dementia only.
As stated earlier, many dementia patients are so emotional. When these people are brought
together with other members of the society, there may cause constant collisions. Therefore, it
is good to have the separate health centre. An independent health centre will prevent not only
the quarrels but also health ineffective record keeping of patient recovering from the
disorder.
b) Organising training seminars for the nurses.
Nurses are the ones who offer the diagnosis to the patients who have dementia. It is therefore
evident that a practical education seminar is set to create awareness for these people. The
training should handle the best ways of communicating with the affected patients and the
general handling of the disease.
c) Creating awareness to the affected families on possible behavioural change on the
patient and how to handle the changes in the patient. Many members of the society get bored
due to unexpected behaviour that the patient may develop. Knowing this change in practices
helps to enable the family or the caregiver to handle the problems.
d) Going to the radio station to educate the members of the society on the importance of
promoting and supporting people with dementia.
On the secondary ways to handle the problem, the health promotion team will create posters
and banners on the street of Australia to teach people about the possible cause of the
disorder. Apart from that, the elaboration of the symptoms and how to handle the behavioural
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challenge. The health promotion is going to educate people that it is each one’s responsibility
to fight dementia not only the affected families.
Stakeholders and community consultation involved
The fight of dementia cannot be complete without the consultation of other stakeholders
in the society. The people who are going to be involved here are many. For instance, the
nurses offering the diagnosis to the patients. The role of these nurses is to promote excellent
communication skills to the patients and the family involved. The other thing is that the
nurses help in recommending the best exercises and diet for the people who have dementia.
Apart from nurses, the other community members involved in this campaign is the people
who had had dementia. Their work is to spread the gospel on how to manage disease in
general and any other complication that comes because of the illness. The last group are the
medical department. This group needs to research on possible drugs essential for people who
have dementia.
Health Message/Logo
As every institution has its motto, this is the same for this health promotion. The campaign
message is “your health your future” (Murphy et al.2015). The message is displayed in every
poster in the street, and the stakeholders continuously say the news during the campaign
period. The caregivers to the patients also inform the other members of the family to treat the
patient with care, as their health is their future. The importance of this message is that, every
person whether young or old should take care of his or her life. Taking care helps to avoid
the risk of attack by dementia.
Health Promotion Activity
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In this health promotion of fighting dementia, the activity involved during the
development is elaborated on the banners and posters posted on the street. Apart from that,
there is numerous activity in the social media that helps to fulfil the campaign. For instance,
creating a WhatsApp and Facebook group where people share ideas on how to improve and
fight the disease in the community. There is a comprehensive calendar to be followed by the
concerned group. For instance, the campaign on how to fight dementia is scheduled in the
whole of the Australian community. Every day the campaign travels and educate people on
how to treat the patients who have dementia. Apart from that, there is the message of
behaviour change to everybody. This message prevents more people from being attacked by
dementia. The stakeholders and the community members follow the calendar to promote the
message to all.
Health Promotion Evaluation
When educating people, it is essential to check whether the message is put in practice or
not. In this health promotion, an evaluation plan is established to a certain whether the
objective of the campaign is achieved (Osman et al.2016). There are various ways of
confirming this achievement. For instance, there are continuous health records in the set
health centres and the hospital to check how many youths and elders are coming for exercise
and consultations. Secondly, the number of people reporting the signs and symptoms of
dementia is availed in the hospital. The primary target of this health campaign is that the
number should be reducing (Prince, 2015). On the other hand, the nurses handling patient
should interview the patients on how he or she is dealt with at home. After the training, the
expectation is that how their residents treat the patients should be fair. There should be
proper communication. The response from the patients provides a review whether the target
is achieved. Another essential evaluation process is that the patient fills a questionnaire after
medication. This questionnaire covers areas such as communication during service provision
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and general services the nurses provide. All these records are kept clean and evaluated to
check whether the promotion is making an impact or not (Prince et al.2016). In addition, the
patients may also recommend further services that should be introduced.
Conclusion
In summing up, the war towards eliminating dementia should be each one’s responsibility
(Werner et al.2017). Ranging from the caretaker of the patient, the community at large and
the nurses delivering the services. The above health promotion focuses on the awareness of
each. All the community members are expected to know the causes, signs and how to prevent
dementia. It is essential that everybody should cooperate during this health promotion to
ensure elimination of this disorder. People should change their behaviours as outlined in the
advertisement. The behaviours such as smoking and drinking put one at risk of getting
dementia. Consequently, the brain is the one that is most affected in many occasions,
therefore things such as over speeding that leads to the accident are useful to avoid. From the
sayings, prevention is better than cure; there is need to follow the outline of the promotion.
Despite the fact that the challenges such as financial constraints, illiteracy, inadequate
facilities, dementia should be prevented as much as possible.
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References
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Brooker, D., & Latham, I. (2015). Person-centred dementia care: Making services better
with the VIPS framework. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Davis, K. (2016). Perceived Confidence in Ability to Diagnose and Manage Dementia among
Fourth Year Psychiatry Residents. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(3),
S128.
Dewing, J., & Dijk, S. (2016). What is the current state of care for older people with
dementia in general hospitals? A literature review. Dementia, 15(1), 106-124.
Gitlin, L. N., Kales, H. C., Marx, K., Stanislawski, B., & Lyketsos, C. (2017). A randomized
trial of a web-based platform to help families manage dementia-related behavioral
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Graham, J. (2017). New Toolkits Help Physicians Detect, Diagnose, and Manage
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Leibing, A., & Cohen, L. (2018). Thinking about dementia: Culture, loss, and the
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