Health and Social Care Essay

Introduction The aim of this essay is to review and learn about the perspectives of health and well-being, perspective measures and job roles, factors affecting health and well being, and to do a health promotion campaign. To do this we will look in books and on the internet to research each of these then once we have a good knowledge of them we will produce a campaign to teach to people on a health promotion topic. Defining Health I am doing first part of the essay on health and how people define it. To do this I will be handing out questionnaires and looking through my class notes and reviewing them. There are many definitions of health, but the way you define it depends on the person e.g. â€Å"Being without illness.† this means to have no illnesses or diseases, â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.† this statement is trying to say you don’t just have to have an illness to be unwell it also depends on your social and mental state, and how you feel about yourself (W.H.O. 1948), â€Å"Just being happy.† this statement is just saying your healthy if your happy with yourself and your life, â€Å"Health is the extent to which an individual I wear skirts or group is able, on the one hand to realise aspiration and needs; and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore seen as a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. It is positive concept emphasing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.† (W. H.O. 1986) etc. (All of these are from class notes) However these views have a negative and positive point side to them such as â€Å"Being without illness† which is negative, because it’s just saying, if you not injured or you don’t have and illness your in good health, but it also depends on a persons state of mind, and how the truly feel about themselves also this is a bit to straight forward, and in considerate of all the other aspects of health (PI.E.S.) because it just says it in a more scientific way (bio-medical – see the body as a machine). Another view on health is â€Å"Being fit. Being the correct weight and height for your age. Feeling well in your self† (Appendix 2) these is a positive and negative view on health because it sees the fact that you can be unhealthy but still be happy and feel good. Bio-medial Model of Health This model of health dominates all other models of health. The Bio-medical or scientific model of health is when you see the body as a machine, so if it’s broken it can be fixed by repairing the damaged part e.g. Car Person Car wont start Person feels ill Call garage Go to G.P. Service Examination Diagnosis Diagnosis Mended Treatment offered Car runs Feeling better (Health and social care ocr: a. fisher etc.: p 78) This form of health doesn’t focus on the mind or the social circumstance; it focuses on understanding how a disease works or how the person can be cured. An example of some one using this form of health care is when a doctor and other qualified people decide on a treatment or diagnosis for a patient, e.g. looking at medical tests and notes to reach a diagnosis. Also there can be a few disadvantages to this model of health e.g. it’s not as suitable for people with long term illnesses or people with disabilities because they can not always be cured, and this form of treatment can be quite intrusive because of tests etc., so some people may not like it and it may make them feel uncomfortable. Another disadvantage is that because it doesn’t look at the social aspects of the patient’s life they may not find the origin of the problem, so the person could become ill again. Social Model of Health This form of health is more about the origins of health in a social situation such as housing, social groups etc., and understanding where the problem started and finding a better way to test the situation for example cleaning the house for dust so it doesn’t aggravate a person’s asthma. Also due to this health model the mortality has dramatically decreased during the 20th century, because people have found the original source of the problem and done something about it and they did it so you can increase a person’s quality of life and decrease illness. However there are disadvantages to this medical model because finding and solving the problems can be hard and it ignores the biomedical model of health. Government Initiative – Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation For my health promotion campaign I’m doing smoking so this government initiative links into it. The aim of this government initiative is to improve everyone’s health, and the people who are severally affected in particular. By 2010 they want to †¢ Reduce the death rate from cancer in people under the age of 75 by at least 1/5 †¢ Reduce the death rate from coronary heart disease, stroke and other related illnesses in people under the age of 75 by at least 2/5 †¢ Reduce the death rate from accidents by at least 1/5 and to reduce the rate of serious injury from accidents by at least 1/10 †¢ Reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury by at least 1/5 (Class notes) Due to these things the government brought in some measures to help deal with these problems which are tackling smoking which is one of the biggest causes of ill health along with alcohol, also to tackle sexual health, drugs, food safety, water fluoridation, and communicable diseases, to put more money in the NHS, local authorities and the government focusing on improving health. (Appendix 1) Illness – impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism. (http://uk.ask.com/reference/dictionary/wordnetuk/81070/illness) The Illness Wellness Continuum According to The Illness Wellness Continuum the less well you are the closer you are to premature death (as shown by the diagram above left = death right = high level of wellness). This also relates to the government initiative because the government wants to reduce mortality by reducing illness. Reviewing Questionnaires This is a graph to show the amount of people who took the questionnaire and are either service users or service providers. This graph shows the number of men and women who took the questionnaire, and as you can see the main amount of people who took the questionnaire were women. Stop Smoking Advisor The Stop Smoking Advisor works with patients in the community, to provide stop smoking support, treatment and advice set by local and national standards. A Smoking Advisor works with the Stop Smoking Specialists to give one-to-one and group support so their work means they have to travel all around the country to many different places such as health centres, hospitals, community buildings, working men’s clubs, Sure Start buildings etc. To give support and inform people about the dangers of smoking they may do a presentation or bring in videos for people to watch such as the NHS (National Health Service) smoking adverts on T.V., also the advisor may bring in graphic pictures to shock people and make them understand what they’re doing to their bodies’ e.g. The responsibilities and skills needed to be a smoking advisor are as follows: (http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?search_db_no=2&selection=911717227&vn=2) Health Visitor Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives who work to promote good health, and prevent illness in the community. But spend most of their day visiting people in their homes and helping with tasks. Health visitors work with many different people in the community such as the elderly, disabled, and the long-term sick, and offers them support and advice to help people overcome their disabilities. Health visitors have many duties they need to do: †¢ Advising the elderly on health issues – telling people about proper care needed to maintain equipment e.g. catheter care. †¢ Advising new mothers on issues such as hygiene, safety, feeding and sleeping – this is because a new mother may not no about all the responsibilities that come with a child so the will need to be informed. †¢ Counselling people on issues such as post-natal depression, bereavement, or being diagnosed HIV positive. †¢ Co-ordinating child immunisation programmes. †¢ Organising special clinics or drop-in centres. (http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile429/) To be a health visitor, you should be able to do all these things: †¢ Be able to get on well with all sorts of people – this is because they work with a wind range of people in all different circumstances. †¢ Be interested in and aware of health and social issues –this is so they can communicate with all different sorts of people and be aware of any issues that need addressing. †¢ Have very good communication and listening skills – this is so the patient can trust the health visitor and in turn give better care. †¢ Be patient and persuasive – this is because it may be hard for people to do certain things or they may have learning difficulties which may hinder their care. †¢ Be able to understand body language and other non-verbal communication – this is so you can make the best of a situation by interpreting it. Also it may improve communication. †¢ Be responsible and be good time management – this is also to improve the relation ship between patients and the health visitor because if there late the patient may feel they are not wanted of no one has time for them. †¢ Be able to work on your own – this is because a health visitor mainly works on their own in homes so you need to be independent. †¢ Be mature and be able to deal with distressing issues. Training As a qualified nurse or midwife it is necessary to take a degree or postgraduate course in public health nursing/health visiting if you wish to become a health visitor. Courses last one year full-time or two years part-time and are available at colleges and universities throughout the UK. Courses use both the theoretical (studying subjects such as community practice and public health, counselling and social policy), and practical placements supervised by an experienced health visitor. Qualified health visitors are expected to keep their skills up to date through continuous development. A health visitor also runs immunisation programmes set by the local government initiative i.e. in certain areas different illnesses may be more prominent so they will have different vaccines to immunise them. Factors That Affect Health Factors that affect health can be this such as eating habits, exercise, life style, attitudes and prejudices’, income, physical factors, environment etc. but there are many different views that go along with them, so to see if these descriptions meet with what normal civilians think are right (compared to professionals) I am going to do two interviews with two different people and see if there social factors and financial factors go along with these professional descriptions. Financial Factors Income factors are probably one of the main problems with trying to get good health care, this is when you do not earn enough money to get the things you need to survive and be well. If you do not have enough money to get adequate health care you may become unwell, also if you are unable to afford things such as health food, housing, etc. it could increase your chances of getting ill. Also this may lead to the life changes or factors that affect your health, because you are unable to get what you want and need. Social Factors Social factors or social class are tied in with income because what group you’re in depends on how much you earn. Social circumstances contribute a lot to a person’s health because usually if you’re higher up the socio-economic ladder you will have more money and be able to afford better health care. These social factors also relate to family and culture. †¢ Family – how many people in your family, how they affect your life etc. †¢ Culture – how people live their lives such as following religions (for example Jehovah’s witnesses don’t allow blood transfusions) etc. Poor social and economic circumstances affect health and well being all the way through life. People further down the social ladder are usually twice as likely to be at risk of serious illness and premature death. (Appendix 15) Also in certain classes things such as smoking or binge drinking can be more usual than in other classes. For example: †¢ Children in a lower group are five times more likely to die from an accident, than those in a higher group. †¢ People in class five are three times more likely to have a stroke than someone in class one. †¢ Infant mortality is higher in the lower groups. And all this is mainly because they cannot afford better health care and housing, healthier food etc. (N, Moonie: p138) Life Style People see Life style a choice you make such as drinking sensibly or the practice of safe sex. However, it can be more complicated than that e.g. if you have a low income it may be harder for you to eat healthier than those people who can afford a healthier life style. This is because trying to live a healthy life style is expensive, especially health food because it takes longer to prepare, also if you don’t have a local store that sales heath food i.e. organic things with no preservatives it can be hard. Also due to many other factors such as up bringing, social factors etc. it may be hard to lead a healthy life according to the government views, because doing all the things you may need to do to keep healthy can be expensive so some people may not be able to afford it, also it can be hard to change you ways and if your set in a unhealthy routine you will only get more unwell. A recent survey says 46% of people agreed that there are too many factors out side a single person’s health. (N, Moonie: p123) Attitudes and Prejudices This relates to the preconceived ideal people have about each other and how they act around different people. Environment Factors Your environment is all the things around you that affect your health such as housing e.g. if your child has asthma and you have a dusty house it may aggravate the condition and make the child unwell. Physical Factors This factor is al about you physical state i.e. healthy according to the government guidelines and whether you have any physical disabilities. If you have a disability it may restrict you from accessing all the services you need. Regular strenuous physical activity has a protective effect for heart disease and stroke, builds bone mass, improves posture and helps control body weight. Physical activity can also improve mental health and well-being. (All of these factors are from N, Moonie: p131-145) Interviews First of all I chose two factors that affect health, which were financial factors and social factors, next I came up with eight questions (five on finance and three on social factors see Appendix 12). After creating the interview I arranged a time with two people and asked them my questions. I started both interviews by saying â€Å"all the information I get will remain confidential and it will only be used in my course work†. Financial factors: 1. Does income affect how you want to live your life? Both the people I interviewed believed they don’t always have enough money to live the life they want but for two separate reasons the first person said â€Å"my wages are not rising with rate of inflation† so this person doesn’t believe they earn enough with the cost of things in this country i.e. things cost more because of inflation. The second person said â€Å"some times I don’t have enough money to do the things I want e.g. go away on holiday with my friends. But I am unemployed at the moment so that doesn’t help† so the reason this person cannot afford the life style they want is because they are unemployed and are currently out of money. 2. Or how does your life affect your income? Both the people say their social lives and bills are too expensive so they don’t always have the amount of money they want. 3. What things do you feel you are unable to access due to your income? Person 1 – this person doesn’t believe they can access holidays etc. so in other words time to relax and get away. Person 2 – this person believes that they are unable to socialise some times because of their income and this is a major part of their life. 4. What things do you feel you are able to access due to your income? Both people feel they are able to access all the important and necessary things and the stuff they want to do for themselves. 5. Do you think your income affects your health in any way? Both believe that there income doesn’t affect their life in any major way. Social Factors: 6. Do you follow your friend’s example i.e. peer pressure? Person 1 – this person does the things they want to do when they want to do them and doesn’t follow their friend’s example. Person 2 – this person says â€Å"Yes, but not peer pressure† so they follow what their friends do but they don’t believe there being forced or persuaded to do something they don’t want to do. 7. Is your family a positive or negative affect on your life and health? Person 1 – this person thinks that their family are a positive affect on their life. Person 2 – person 2 thinks â€Å"Yes and no because my family are just annoying and stress me out, but the support me when I need it†. Like in most families some things get on each others nerves but when you really need them they are there for you. 8. Does your social class affect your life style or health? Person 1 – they think there social class doesn’t affect their life in any way. Person 2 – they think that it does because if they were higher up the ladder they would have more money and be able to do more of the things they want and need. In conclusion my primary research (the interviews) show that the definitions of the two factors I chose are correct and they say the same as the interviewees but in more detail. My definition gathered from research in books etc. â€Å"this is when you do not earn enough money to get the things you need to survive and be well. If you do not have enough money to get adequate health care you may become unwell† this is basically the same as what the interviewees said i.e. â€Å"Both the people say their social lives and bills are too expensive so they don’t always have the amount of money they want† so in other words both the definition and people say they don’t all ways have enough money do the things they like or access all the things they need. Plan (Appendix 19) Aims and Objectives In a group of three, me and the other people in my group did a presentation to a thirty-seven different people aged 15 – 18 in ten different groups about the dangers of smoking. At the beginning and end of each group we gave them a questionnaire to test their knowledge before and after and we took 12 samples of each from different groups to test if they had learnt anything. We found out that before they only had a basic knowledge about smoking and after they had a more extensive knowledge and knew about smoking and its dangers in better detail. We knew this because we looked at the sample of questionnaires and saw how in much more detail they answered the questions. So we must have had an impact on their knowledge and views. However, we didn’t change some people views on smoking because they were slightly arrogant and just believed their life was their life. Aims: To produce a presentation to inform people about the dangers of smoking and inform people on ways they can quit e.g. NHS help line. Objectives: †¢ To know what’s offered by the NHS to help quit. †¢ By the end they should be able to identify the 3 main diseases caused by smoking and some substances in a cigarette. †¢ Raise awareness that smoking kills. Key Tasks/Activities: To produce: †¢ Make and collect in before and after questionnaires about smoking. †¢ Take part in talking to the people at the presentation. †¢ Posters and leaflets. †¢ Handouts with second hand smoke, dangers etc †¢ Power point presentation with the main major facts about smoking such as second hand smoke, the dangers of smoking, withdrawal symptoms etc. also videos showing the dangers of smoking e.g. NHS adverts from T.V. and shocking things about smoking Results: What do you hope will change as a result of your activities? To help people understand the dangers of smoking and hope they change their behaviour as a result of the presentation. Measures: How will you measure if the described change is occurring? Has occurred? To measure my presentation and see if the desired results have happened I will look at the before and after questionnaires and see if there knowledge has improved. Evaluation Skills: Communication skills I think my communication skills were quite good as I took it in turns with the people in my group to talk to people however one of the other people in the group spoke a lot more than the rest. Also because I was working the power point presentation there was a barrier between us all, so people may not have opened up as much and spoken as much as they might have if it wasn’t there. Team Work and Work Load Yes I believe the work load and team fork was shared fairly. Also I think it was appropriate for the people in the group. Resources used We used quite a lot of resources such as books like Moonie and the NHS booklets also I’ve been on the NHS web site and looked at the stop smoking advice they give. Activities used The activities we used to show people about the dangers of smoking are handouts a PowerPoint presentation with videos and a large poster with lots of information on. Also during the presentation we had small discussions about the material and answered any question the people had. The Environment We did the presentation in a classroom with the others in our class but there was three different groups doing different things. One of the other groups had a loud video, which sometimes overpowered what we were doing and was a distraction. Also we had 2 change rooms at the start because the room was needed for a test by another class, so we had to move all the equipment and reorganise the set out. Health and Safety The only health and social issues I think there were was the electricity we had to use to power every thing however there were floor plugs with caps on and we weren’t messing about with anything. Also all the cables were hidden out the way so no one could trip over them. Were the Aims and Objectivities Achieved? Yes all the aims and objectives were achieved because we saw from the questionnaires that their knowledge improved and they knew the main diseases and more substances in a cigarette. Also we produced an interesting presentation. For example of questionnaires and to see if the people’s knowledge improved see (Appendix 17 and 18) Would You Do Anything Differently Next Time? If I were doing the presentation again I would use a separate room so there were no interruptions, and I would try and be more involved and speak more. Conclusion In conclusion there are many things that contribute to people health such as life style, attitudes and prejudices etc. and they affect different people in different ways. This is why we looked at them in detail first because if we didn’t fully understand all the things that affect health, we wouldn’t have been able to do an affective campaign.