Health Promotion Evaluation Strategy Of A Community Programme- Reduce Barriers To Health Eating Growing - Essay Example

? Health Promotion Evaluation Strategy Of A Community Programme- Reduce Barriers To Health Eating Growing And Cooking Food And Community Cohesion Table of Contents 1.Introduction 3 1.1Evaluation approach of the strategies taken to improve the awareness for fruit and vegetables and its rationale 4 2. Outline Philosophical Approach and its Rationale 4 2.1 Andragogical Approaches to Nutrition Education 4 2.2 Social Cognitive Theoretical Approach 5 3. Appropriate outcome indicators 7 4. Assessing process of the implementation plan 9 4.1 Feasibility and Relevance Analysis 11 Feasibility and Relevance Analysis 11 5. Evaluation evidence 12 6. Conclusion 12 References 14 1.Introduction In this recent age of globalization and health consciousness, the rate of chronic disorders and heart related diseases enhanced with a rapid pace. It is mainly due to flawed in-take of foods and drinks such as snacks, junk foods and cold drinks. Consumption of such un-healthy diets results in excess accumulation of fats thereby increasing its risk for cancers and unrelieved diseases. In order to reduce the risk of such disorders, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recommended the rural citizens of England to increase awareness for fruits and vegetables. This is because, consuming a diet comprising of fruits and vegetables helps in decreasing the risk of numerous chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and many others. Research also depicts that consumption of lower energy density diets including fruits and vegetables is also essential for increasing the total weight of the body of the individual. Other than this, consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is also essential as it’s a good source of many essential nutrients, such as potassium, vitamin C, folate, fiber, and many other phyto-chemicals as well. Due to such reasons, fruits and vegetables are described as the main means of healthy diets. The prime aim of this essay is to develop evaluation strategies to increase the awareness of consuming huge amount of fruits and fresh vegetables in the daily diets. Moreover, strategies need to be developed and planned to reduce the eating of frozen and canned foods by freshly produced leafy vegetables. Along with this, strategies need to be developed to increase the access to the nearest supermarkets so as to attain fresh fruits and vegetables. Other than this, proper communication skills and knowledge need to be presented to the community members so as to reduce the chronic disorder through coordinated support. 1.1Evaluation approach of the strategies taken to improve the awareness for fruit and vegetables and its rationale To reduce the level of disorders, the Food policy councils and the government of England need to plan and implement varied types of policies and programs to enhance the level of awareness over fresh fruits and vegetables. Such type of strategies would surely be beneficial for the rural residents of England, as they lack the adequate knowledge over this topic. Moreover, with the help of these promotional evaluation strategies, the benefits of eating healthy diets might also be highlighted to them. Other than this, the importance of good transport system is also focused in these workshops (Petticrew & Roberts, 2003, p.15). To conduct such type of evaluation program, television programs, banners, leaflets and workshops might be used. Along with this, varied types of symbolic pictures might also be used to make the rural people aware about the benefits of fruits and vegetables. 2. Outline Philosophical Approach and its Rationale 2.1 Andragogical Approaches to Nutrition Education Proper education is essential to know the effectiveness of nutrition. In order to do so, adult or andragogical education is extremely essential. This is because, if the adult members of the society understand the effectiveness of consuming fruits and fresh vegetables then he or she might offer advices to other community members of England. This might prove effective in reducing the risks of chronic disorders and improve the health of the members as a whole. According to Wang & et.al (2011), andragogical teaching is the sort of teaching programs that might be used for the betterment of the entire society members. Other than this, it might also help to increase the level of awareness regarding varied facts and information so that it may prove beneficial in the future days. It is also conducted so as to reduce the level of conflicting views regarding any specific concept such as healthy diet among all other community members. Due to which, the level of interpersonal relationship might get enhanced resulting in improvement of the physical and mental health of all the members. Consequently, Darkenwald & Merriam (1982) also specifies that the adult members of the society comprises of some sort of education and with the help of these type of education, it gets enhanced to a considerable extent. Then, it might be implemented for the improvement of the entire well-being of the society. So, such type of education is extremely essential for the up-liftment and enhancement of the members of a rural society of England (Pawson & Tilley, 1997, p.21). Apart from this, the behaviours of the adults might be changed only with the help of varied types of educational training programs presented through television, banners, workshops and many others. This might surely help in improving the level of awareness of proper diets. Importance of fruits and vegetables might also be highlighted among the other rural community members through interpersonal communication procedures. 2.2 Social Cognitive Theoretical Approach Social Cognitive theory (SCT) is entirely based on the psychology of the individual that influences the behaviour patterns (Marks, 2002, p.35). Moreover, this theory also helps in learning and attaining varied information and facts by observing the activities of other individual. By doing so, one might realize the effectiveness of those behavioural changes that took place due to the interaction with others. Moreover, after learning and evaluating the changes, an individual also tries to implement them in own-self so as to analyze the changes. Therefore, by viewing the training programs, leaflets and other educational workshops presenting the benefits of the healthy diets, the individual become more conscious resulting in reduction of consumption of junk foods. Side by side, the individual also become more conscious about the amount of calories present in each type of diets or items (Hartree, 1984, p.41). Apart from this, according to Knowles (1973), the adults try to imitate varied types of skills and habits not through teachings but by observing the behaviours or activities of others. If they find it effective, then the adults surely try to implement it for the well-being of his or her family or society members. Moreover, Self-efficacy is also another major aspect of Social Cognitive Theory. This means the level of confidence of the person gets enhanced and so the results become more accurate and beneficial (Knowles, 197, p.14). Along with this, due to high level of confidence, the doubts regarding the performance of any activity also get cleared easily, making the process successful. This means that, after attaining the requisite knowledge regarding the benefits of consuming fruits and fresh vegetables, the individual of rural regions of England become entirely confident to consume such type of diets (Goodmurphy & et. al., 2000, p.56). However, it might create some sort of barriers as well. The individual of the rural area of England might disobey to follow such type of diets. In such cases, they might be presented the range of calories, a fruit or a fresh vegetable gives to the body as compared to others. That might prove effective in reducing such type of challenges at the time of training programs (Green & South, 2010, p.33). 3. Appropriate outcome indicators Due to the implementation of varied types of educational programs or workshops, the citizens of the rural regions of England became extremely conscious about the positive impact of healthy diets. Moreover, they also realized that, due to in-take of canned or snacky foods items, the younger as well as the older generation of the country might become obsessed (Green & South, 2006, p.71). Due to which, varied types of chronic disorders might attack the body of the individual such as cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disorders, blood pressure and many others. Apart from this, due to in-take of wrong diet, the amount of calories required for the betterment of the body might also get reduced significantly resulting in downfall of the health of the individual. So, it is extremely essential to present appropriate quantity of nutrients to the body for its well-being (Food and agricultural organization, 2013, p.57). The above graph clearly portrays that unhealthy diet is the prime constituent of numerous disorders within the human beings of varied age groups in the rural areas of England. However, it is mainly due to the presence of certain factors graphed below: But, to improve the health of the rural individual, an action plan is implemented. Before implementing it, a situational analysis is executed to identify the prime health determinants (Virginia Tech, 2000, p.24). On the basis of the determinants, the policy or action plan is developed that might present effective results. In this case, the prime determinant of unhealthy diet in the rural areas of England is rate of unawareness as presented in graph. So, various programs presenting details regarding healthy diets are presented that resulted in both short/medium and long term outcomes (Dixey, Woodall & Lowcock, 2013, p.139). Therefore, in order to increase the level of awareness regarding the benefits of fruits and leafy vegetables, varied types of education programs were implemented. Implementation or promotion of such types of strategic plans took place in England (Judge & Bauld, 2001, p.87). Short/Medium term outcomes Increased awareness or attentiveness over overweight and obesity troubles in children Health related knowledge and skills gets enhanced to a significant rate Health of the society people enhances Reduction of consumption of junk foods and drinks (Darkenwald & Merriam, 1982, p.59). Awareness of the root causes of chronic disorders Long term outcomes Reduction of chronic disorders Health and quality of life of the individual gets improved Decreased rate of deaths of the individual due to chronic disorders Improved support of the community members (Centres for Disease Control, 2011, p.14) Improvement of the underlining skills regarding health of the community members Improve community consciousness Improve social cohesion among the members of the community Increase the underlining knowledge regarding the benefits of cooking fresh foods Establishment of varied schools, nurseries, workshops presenting cooking and eating sessions for the rural people of England (Farmtoschool, n. d., p.17) Enhancement of the mental health patients of the community as a whole due to high-end interpersonal relationship Benefits of physical activity in schools Balanced diets with inclusion of adequate amount of fruits and vegetables products in school canteens (CDPH, 2010, p.16) Therefore, the above mentioned long term outcomes might be measured only if the rate of death ratio of the citizens of the rural region of England is viewed after 6 to 8 months. Along with this, if the rate of disorders attracting numerous individual might be analyzed, then the effectiveness of such an action plan may be evaluated (Wang & et. al., 2011, p.84). 4. Assessing process of the implementation plan After implementation of the implementation plan, continuous monitoring and assessment is essential to evaluate the developments in the entire process. By performing continuous assessment of the policy implemented, amount of time and resources required for such process is evaluated in long run. To do so, a group of coordination research analysts need to be hired to measure and evaluate its effectiveness within a specific time-frame. Only after viewing the level of effectiveness, the next steps of the action plan need to be implemented. Otherwise, the entire process might be an entire failure (Coggan, Rose & Barker, 1997, p.173). Along with this, supervising of the activities is also essential as it’s a regular process of analyzing all the activities that takes place at the time of implementation within a project or region. With the help of this process, regular and systematic collection of information on all the aspects of process takes place that enables the members to check whether the implementation program is on accurate track or not. It also helps to attain a detailed feedback on the progress process of the program. Side by side evaluation is also important to evaluate whether the objectives might be obtained or not through this implementation program. For example: proper diets in school canteens to increase health options (Contento, 2007, p.68). Assessing the policy of implementing balanced diets in school canteens of rural regions of England Policy option Policy intervention Expected outcome Time-frame Cost-estimate Balanced diets in schools Fruit and vegetable inclusion in school canteen diets Reduction of carbohydrate content by 80% 6 months US $ 100 Availability of supermarkets Availability of fresh vegetables and fruits Reduction of the use of rotten vegetables and fruits 1 year US $ 500 Therefore, in order to make the action plans successful, it is also essential to maintain a chart comprising of the above mentioned factors so as to determine the rate of effectiveness in each and every step. Only then, both the constraints (time and revenue) might prove beneficial for the society members. So, it is used at the time of assessment of the action plan (Bandura, 1986, p.93). 4.1 Feasibility and Relevance Analysis This step is also essential at the time of implementing the action plans as it helps to determine, the level of necessity of the policies. It is also recognised as one of the most effective method to understand the importance of the programs or plans (Bhopal, 2008, p.37). So, it is extremely essential to evaluate the action plans. For example, in case of the citizens of the rural areas of England, the implementation of balanced diets in schools comprising of more fruits and vegetables is more essential than any other activity like gymnasium (Public health resources unit, 2013, p.14). High (Relevance) Low balanced diet in schools high (feasibility) Build new gym Low Feasibility and Relevance Analysis Therefore, from this evaluation tool, one may analyze, which action plan need to be implemented in the initial stages for the benefit of the whole society. Such type of interpretation might be done only after the completion of the training programs presented to the society members (Aceijas, 2011, p.44). 5. Evaluation evidence Once the action plans are implemented, the effectiveness may be implemented only after analyzing the scenario of the region of the England after a specific amount of time. To do so, an assessment report needs to be obtained from the nearby health care organization of England. From that, one may evaluate the number of individual still suffering with varied chronic disorders such as heart disorders, blood pressure, cholesterol, cancers and many others. Moreover, the rate of deaths might also be assessed from the report obtained from these health care organizations. Side by side, the number of individual suffering from obesity might also be analyzed. By obtaining all such reports, the evaluation of the action plans might be done or predicted among others (World health organization, 2010, p.15). Only by doing so, certain other plans for the betterment of the societal scenario in future might also be implemented. Along with this, the time period and the requirement of cost estimate might also be analyzed. Thus, in this way described above might be used for the purpose of evaluation of the action plans implemented for the betterment (Virginia Tech, 2002, p.1). 6. Conclusion Conclusively, it might be stated that implementation of the action plans (enhancing consumption of fruits and vegetables in diet) is extremely essential in the rural areas of England. By doing so, the level of awareness regarding the worse effects of snacks and junk foods might be analyzed. And also, the benefits of fruits and vegetables might also be evaluated by implementing such type of action plans. Side by side, constant monitoring and evaluation process is extremely essential to estimate the efficiency of such action plans in the regions of England. References Aceijas, C., 2011. 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