Change for Life Campaign - Essay Example

? Health Promotion of the of the school The and the Health Promotion Change for life campaign Change for life is a health promoting initiative whose mission is to intervene, promote and positively influence the holistic life of people. The campaign is geared towards ensuring that the target groups of populations are living according to the provided health standards and precautions. Among the aspects that are under regulation include eating habits, exercises and adherence to health promoting standards (Kegler 2002). As a nurse, I can help in implementing this change for life campaign to help individuals from my branch client group to positively influence their holistic life as follows: First, I will help in educating these individuals on the importance of changing their life so that they can live a holistic healthy life. Many individuals do not observe health measures simply because they are ignorant on the importance living a healthy life. Creation of awareness by shading light on the health related effects and benefits if living health will act as a motivation factor for these individuals to accept this campaign of change for life (Pender 2008). Considering the stages of change model, the readiness of individuals to change or accept to change their living habits towards health promoting behaviors is the first step that will help implement this initiative of change for life. As a nurse, I will engage in public education and promotional strategies to influence these individuals to make the decision to adopt health promoting living standards. I will also ensure that the motivation strategies are maintained constant so that these individuals can also maintain the changes geared towards promoting their health (Scriven 2005). I will also apply the health belief model of promoting health in order implement the initiative through encouraging the individuals to believe and focus on the recommended health promoting behaviors in order to curd health related risks and help in prevention or management of susceptible health problems. The key concept of this strategy is to enhance self efficacy among these individuals and encourage them to make efforts towards adhering to the requirements of this campaign. On interpersonal level, I will apply the social learning theory to help in implementation of the change for life campaign to promote health among these individuals. In this aspect, I will encourage the individuals to teach their fellow friends and family members on the importance of the program so that they can also participate and enjoy the benefits. Encouraging interaction between these individuals will help them to share ideas and learn the prospects of the change for life campaign. I will also involve in implementing this initiate from a community level by applying community organization health promotion theory. This theory is geared towards ensuring the whole community is actively participating in the change for life campaign. I will empower the community in which these individuals live to emphasize active participation of its members for the general promotion of health in the community and as a strategy to help solve health and social problems under consideration (Scriven 2005). I will formulate and impose processes and strategies that will enhance the adoption of policies and programs of the campaign. Through problem definition, action initiation and change implementation, I will be able to enhance adoption of these policies and programs for the success of the whole change for life initiative. Through the concepts of relative advantage, complexity and compatibility of the initiative, I will shade light on how various ideas, social practices and products of the initiative can be speared within these individuals so that each and every member has access to the provisions of the initiative (Taylor 2004). Since each and every individual would like to feel health and strong after the above initial introduction stages, the real challenge comes imposing the living habits and changes that these individual needs to adopt in order to realize the benefits of the initiative. As a nurse, I can help make the initiative successful by doing the following: First, I will advice and encourage the individual to highly engage in exercises in order to keep their bodies fit. Consistent, manageable and recommended body exercises are important in reducing body fats, increasing lean mass and susceptibility to health related complications such as heart attacks, hypertension and obesity. Only recommended body exercises should be done because some types of exercises may pose other health risk to certain individuals. Therefore, these individuals should ensure that they adhere to the recommended exercises and enhance consistency (Gottlieb 2006). One of the main targets of this initiative is to alter the eating habits of individuals so that they only adhere to the recommended diets and foods. For health promotion purposes, I will personally take a step to advice and follow up the eating habits of these individuals. Controlling calorie intake per day is the first step in the initiative to enhance change for life. I will give directions to the individuals on how to balance their calorie intake and how they spend the taken calories. Excessive intake of calories is highly discouraged under this program since it leads to accumulation of unused calories which later poses danger to the health of individuals. I will advice these individuals to avoid too much starch foods and instead focus of fruits and water. Taking small amount of starch, proteins and vitamins with lots of drinking water is actually the strategy towards change for life. Water is important because it help in the digestion and absorption process, removal of wastes and media for other biochemical processes in the body. Regular exercises will help to burn the calorie taken by converting them into energy instead of being stored as glycogen. The individual should also avoid unhealthy snacks such as fried chips, chicken and other fatty snacks (Pender 2008). I will also ensure that these individuals are taking food in smaller portions so that they are satisfied instead of getting staffed. A fruit or a vegetable should be included in their diet for health promotion. They should also remain active during the day, especially after meals, so that their digestion system can be efficient and burn the ingested calories. Walking is one way of maintaining activeness as it keeps one on toes and alert. It is also important to take some fiber for the goodness of the gut and the whole digestion system. For those taking alcohol, I will encourage them to take control of their intake levels so that it doe not go beyond a level that may pose health risks to them (Tannahill 2006). In conclusion, keeping fit by complete lifestyle change is a step towards living a health and a prolonged life. However, the main challenge that I am likely to face while involving my self in helping to promote the change for life campaign is the struggle to deprive these individuals of the foods and other habits that they love most, which are not in accordance with the initiative. Being a nurse, I look forward not to give up and instead involve myself to make the change for life initiative a success in my client group. Bibliography Gottlieb, N. (2006). Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kegler, M. (2002). Emerging theories in health promotion practice and research: strategies for improving public health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pender, J. (2008). Health promotion in nursing practice. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Scriven, A. (2005). Health Promoting Practice: the contribution of nurses and Allied Health Professionals. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Tannahill, C. (2006). Health promotion: models and values. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. Taylor, R. (2004). Health promotion: principles and clinical applications. Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Read More