Assignment Brief: Unit 83: Contribute to Raising Awareness of Health Issues
Assessment Task One
This task is focused on the reasons for raising awareness of health issues. This may seem obvious as good health should be important to everyone. However, this question is asking you to ‘analyse’ so a well-considered and detailed response is required. When a question asks you to ‘analyse’ you need to:
‘Break an issue into all its parts. Look in depth at each part using supporting arguments and evidence for and against as well as how these interrelate to one another.’
Please provide a written account in which you:
- Analyse reasons why it may be necessary to raise awareness of health issues.
The people are facing wide range of health issues such high blood pressure, diabetes, crohn’s diseases heart diseases etc., which directly affects their well-being and lifestyles. To maintain healthy lifestyle it is significant for healthcare providers to develop the awareness among people who have severe health conditions. Maintenance of people’s health has significant contribution towards the healthy and positive well-being of whole community. Raising the awareness of the people regarding health issues is important because it aids in educating communities, preventing disease, enhancing public health and fostering wellness (Stellefson et al, 2020). In addition, health awareness not only covers the well-being of people within the society but also create the positive environment which helps in improve health condition of the people. Due to lack of sufficient knowledge and skills in relevant to healthy environment then the people are fell sick easily.
Along with this, increasing the awareness of the people is necessary in relevant to health issues because it helps in protecting and safeguarding their lifestyles and well-being. Raising awareness is significant for early detection and prevention and it is essential to make sure effective treatment. In present time, it is crucial for individuals of being aware of diseases and its symptoms from which they are likely to go for routine check-ups or screening. However, lack of awareness and knowledge related any disease is considered as serious barrier for good health and well-being of people. Myths, fear, absence and inaccuracy as well as inaccessibility of information are the biggest reasons of lack of awareness regarding health issues. Additionally, health issues have significant impact on the health and well-being of the people severely (Debrah, Vidal and Dinis, 2021). Raising awareness is important for the individuals because it aids in reduce isolation and stigma which leads to improve the health conditions. Increase understanding and awareness helps the healthcare organizations to create more supportive and inclusive society. Healthcare providers are accountable for supporting the people who suffer from severe health conditions by increasing their awareness. Raising awareness for the people are crucial for the healthcare staff because it helps in ensuring that they receive accurate and timely diagnosis and can admittance of proper treatment.
Apart from this, for increasing the awareness related to health issues healthcare organizations are creating various campaigns. With the help of campaigns, the healthcare providers provide the significant information and insights related to health issues which lead to reduce ill health and premature deaths. Increasing understanding and awareness with the help of campaigns is effective because it aids in educating people and communities about symptoms and risks that may lead to serious health conditions. Along with this, health awareness campaigns facilitate patients to better understand about their health conditions and treatments as well as options they can admittance (Al-Dmour et al, 2020). Conducting the campaigns is beneficial for healthcare organisations to increase the awareness because it helps in promoting disease prevention and healthy lifestyles. Social media is considered as one of the convenient and accessible platform for sharing the information related to health about disease prevention.
Healthcare companies and professionals are using social media in order to distribute information and insights about topics relevant to health and wellness topics including healthy lifestyles, disease prevention and treatment options. For example, for increase the awareness of the people related to cancer NHS of UK is establishing ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ (BCoC) and ‘Help US Help You’ (HUHY). This campaign of NHS is majorly emphasis on raising awareness of significance of an early diagnosis of cancer (NHS, 2024). This campaign is managing by National Cancer and Analysis Service (NCRAS). If the people are aware about cancer then they are competent to significantly reduce their health risk and enjoy happy and happy life. Understanding of cancer also makes individuals better and motivates them to reduce potential risks to prevent cancers.
Apart from this, promoting the campaigns is beneficial for healthcare organizations to increase awareness of the people related to health issues because it helps in extending patient care outside of hospital. Social media is considered as one of the significant and powerful tool in order to share information related to health and engaging the behaviours of patients. Public health campaigns play an immersive role in increase cognizance of people by spreading information about hazards and diseases which can influence individuals to seek medical attention to improve their health and well-being (Park et al, 2020). Additionally, health and wellness campaigns helps in saving the life of people who suffer from severe health conditions and support the work of healthcare providers
Generally, the people are facing various diseases such as diabetes, asthma, cancer etc., to it is crucial for them to have complete information relevant to its in order to enhance their health conditions. Smoking, drinking excessive alcohol, obesity etc., are certain lifestyle behaviours or choices that negatively influence people’s health. Raising awareness about these can assist people to make potential and informed choices to important to improve their life and standard of living (Gruber et al, 2021). In the UK, every 1 people in 4 are suffered from obesity which directly affects their health and well-being. For example, NHS is establishing ‘Better Health Adult Obesity’ campaign. Conducting this campaign by NHS is beneficial because it aids in increase the awareness of the people by encouraging them to loss excess weight, get active in summer and eat healthy foods to recover from obesity. This campaign of NHS is energetic and positive which is framed to motivate individuals to make healthier and better choices. Furthermore, better health provides various free tools and support that can aid the people with obesity to lead healthier lifestyle (NHS, 2023). This campaign is working in partnership in numerous physical activity partners and weight management partners which helps in improving the health conditions of people with obesity.
On the other hand, being aware of the symptoms of any disease is significant so that healthcare providers can call the patients for the supervised investigation. Increasing the awareness for health issues are important for healthcare companies because it helps individuals to understand essential lifestyle changes that are needed at the point of time. For the healthcare organizations establishing campaigns for raising people’s awareness related to health issues is important because it provides early interventions and preventing health measures. Communicating relevant resources and information helps the people with early interventions to save lives (Moudatsou et al, 2020). A big and significant element of raising awareness is peaking individual’s interest and grabbing their attention. Targeted messaging in health campaigns can assist to change the population’s behaviour. To increase the awareness of people related to health issues, NHS is committing to provide support and opportunities to healthcare providers to maintain the health, safety and well-being of people. Increasing the patient’s awareness towards health issues are beneficial because it helps in improving care results and increase their satisfaction. As critically assessed by Stellefson et al, (2020), raising awareness of people for their health issue is beneficial because it assist them to understand about the necessary changes of lifestyles to enhance the health conditions.
Assessment Task Two
There are many different agencies that may be involved in raising the awareness of health issues at both national and local levels. As the question is asking you to ‘compare’ the roles of agencies and others you need to consider the similarities and differences between the role of these different agencies and the pros and cons of each.
Please complete the following:
- Compare the roles of agencies and others who may be involved in raising awareness of health issues.
There are wide ranges of agencies and others are included in raising awareness of people in related to health issues in order to improve their well-beings. As per the view of Kotcher et al, (2021), the society itself can assist the vulnerable individuals in the context of educating people regarding health issues. Non-profit organizations (NGOs) plays significant role in provide education to the people related to health issues. NGOs proactively help in fostering the preventive healthcare in order to improve the safety and well-being of the patients. NGOs educate the people of communities regarding hygiene, sanitation and nutrition in order to protect the health of the people. This agency also conducts awareness campaigns and health education to empower people to take the charge of their well-being. The NGOs of the UK are also taking the responsibility of fostering the health and well-being of vulnerable people by raising their awareness. The NGOs of UK emphasis on preventive measures by advocating for practices of hygiene and sanitation, fostering immunization and conducting health education program. These efforts of NGOs are help in raising awareness of people and empowering them to make potential and informed decisions about their health. For example, The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is one of leading independent health education charity within the UK. For increasing the awareness of the people towards health issues, this charity organization is emphasis on conducting campaigns.
On the other hand, healthcare professionals are also plays massive role in increasing awareness of the people regarding their health and promote their healthy lifestyles. In the world, where severe diseases are on the growth so healthcare professionals helps in provide significant information and insights about the protecting health. This agency helps in fostering healthy lifestyles among the patients which leads to prevent diseases and enhance overall well-being. For increasing the awareness of the people it is crucial to have effective communication among healthcare professionals and patients (Al-Dmour et al, 2020). With the help of effective communication, healthcare professionals take significant amount of time to listen patient’s goals and concerns actively.
Apart from this, The UK health security agency is also plays a significant role in raising awareness of health issues. This agency helps in preparing the people for preventing and reacting to infectious disease and radiological, environmental and chemical hazards. For increasing the awareness of the people, this agency is conducting training and development sessions in which they provide essential information and corrective measures to aware the people to health issues. Conducting the training sessions is beneficial because it helps in increase their knowledge and improves skills to take corrective measures to prevent their health (Dunlop et al, 2020). The training and development sessions helps the people of community to understand about the challenges relevant to health and ways to overcome to improve their lifestyles. This agency also assists in increase the awareness of the people by establishing the campaigns. For example, for raising the awareness of the people who suffered from urinary tract infections (UTIs) this agency conduct campaign which helps in provide the complete information related to it.
NHS is another leading agency of the UK that takes all the actions to give the knowledge to the people in regarding several health issues. For raising the awareness of the patients who are suffered from cancer, it launches campaign. This campaign of NHS helps in providing education to the people relevant early cancer diagnosis, improve treatment adherence and results. All campaigns and events related to health awareness are designed by the agencies to assist the people of having better understanding of diverse conditions (Qian et al, 2022).
Along with this, launching the events and campaign is beneficial for NHS to increase the awareness of the people regarding wellbeing issues because it helps in preventing health conditions happening by individuals to make choices of healthy lifestyles and take corrective measures to avoid illness and disease. The campaigns of healthcare agencies also help in raising awareness of present threats that are face by the people and directly affect their health conditions (World Health Organisation, 2024). The campaigns and events of the healthcare organization related to awareness make individuals aware of the symptoms and signs of health situations to looking for self-health checks to improve their health. These events also help influencing the individuals to contribute in screening and monitoring of health situation like cervical cancer screening for women.
The department of health in England also launched Fast stroke awareness campaign in order to aware the people who suffer from stroke. This campaign helps in encouraging the people in providing the education and learns the major signs of stroke from which they become aware and take corrective measures to improve their health (Tjaden, 2020). This campaign helps in increasing the awareness of the people that aids in enhance their outcomes vastly. This public awareness program provides admittance to the people in recognizing their signs and symptoms of stroke quickly and helps in fast admission to emergency care.
This campaign widely used globally in order to promote awareness of population regarding stroke warning signs and suitable responses. However, this campaign eliminates any reference to the symptoms of unexpected visual loss which may be appearance of embolic disease either in the anterior circulation (Nikologianni, Betta and Gretter, 2022). The roles of all agencies are diverse from each other because all they take different corrective measures in order to increase the awareness of the people in relevant to health issues.
Apart from this, Public Health England is another agency that plays significant role in increase awareness of people in the context of health issues. The key mission of this agency is to protect and enhance the health of nation’s people and to redress inequalities through working with local, national government, NHS, community and voluntary sector. This agency raising the awareness by performing four functions such as caring people’s health from infectious disease and other hazards. This agency is also performing role of enhancing the health and well-being of people as well as reducing inequalities. In addition, this agency is putting all the efforts in order to enhance people’s health by supporting sustainable health and care services (Yeşilyurt, Balakoğlu, and Erol, 2020). For promoting the health, this agency is reducing inequalities from which poorest families gain benefits. This agency is working with partners to inform, educate and empower individuals and communities, particularly those who require greatest requirements. In addition, this agency assists individuals to take more control of their health and things that negatively impacts the well-being (GOV UK, 2021). This agency helps in increasing the awareness by enhancing the heath of the people and determining as well as preparing for future public health issues.
On the other hand, department of health and social care (HSC) is another agency of UK that plays massive role for educating the people for awareness them regarding health issues. This agency is developing guidelines and policies in order to enhance the quality of care and meet the expectations of patients. For raising awareness and foster health, this agency is working with healthcare and community partners in order to safeguard and target the reasons of disease outbreaks. This agency is working with the partners to make sure everyone can admittance the health and care they require. Additionally, in the UK huge number of people are suffered from heart diseases so the government developed agency i.e. British Heart Foundation (BHF)’ to raising the awareness of those people.
The role of this agency is diverse in comparison to others. BHF is considered as one of biggest funder of research into circulatory and heart disease within Europe. This agency funds medical research relevant to circulatory and heart disease as well as their risk factors. This agency is run for influencing people and raising awareness as well as shaping public policy. BHF educate people in relevant dangers of cardiac arrest and heart diseases every year. This is generally done with the help of several diverse fundraising methods such as sponsorships, events and promotional content. For increasing the awareness of the people, BHF also established campaign i.e. Til I Died’ for the people who are unaware about the heart diseases and it directly affects their health and well-being. The key aim of this campaign is to shift the insights of heart disease and educate every people irrespective of their age.
Moreover, Age UK is another agency that plays various roles in order to increase the awareness of people related to health issues. The major aim of this agency is to provide life improving services and significant support to the individuals in later life. For enhancing the physical and mental well-being of older people, this agency runs several programmes across the UK (Stellefson et al, 2020). This agency is integrated into numerous programs for provide assistance to the older people to stay healthy, safe and independent. Age UK is committed to access older individuals make the most of the digital world with the help of various programmes that increase skills and knowledge.
Assessment Task Three
You may have responsibilities for contributing to the planning of health awareness activities. These activities may include creating information posters or leaflets on health issues. These can be in both paper or online format. Social media offers a good platform to raise awareness of health issues. Awareness information may also be presented to people in group sessions either face it face or via video communication such as Zoom. Whatever medium you choose there are a number of factors to consider.
Please provide a written or verbal account in which you:
- Describe factors to consider when planning awareness-raising activities.
At the time of planning the activities for raising the awareness of the people it is crucial for the agencies to consider several factors. Without considering the significant components it is impossible for healthcare agencies to planning activities that helps in provide education to the individuals related to health issues. As critically evaluated by Debrah, Vidal and Dinis, (2021), it is essential for healthcare agencies to determine the target group or community for whom awareness raising is going to be held. The target group can be visitors, staff, service users, children’s, older people, young people etc. The healthcare agencies are accountable for providing the insights and information to the people in effective format from which they can easily understand and implement efficiently to mitigate the healthcare challenges. Along with this, healthcare agencies can provide knowledge regarding health issues in written documents with diverse languages, large print and easily readable (Al-Dmour et al, 2020). The assessment of behavioural and mental status of target group or community to plan the activities related to raising awareness. At the time of planning the activities for establishing raising awareness program it is crucial to determine target group and community. This factor allows healthcare agencies to create attractive and interesting massages that will helps in resonating with the people.
As critically contended by Park et al, (2020), clarity of objective is another significant factor that is considered by the agencies at the time of planning the activities related to raising awareness. For increasing the awareness of people about health challenges, so healthcare providers and agencies are accountable to provide information and insights with objectives with clear and clarity. As critically contended by Gómez et al, (2021), without clear and clarity of message the people are unable to understand about the problems and take corrective measures to improve their health and well-being. Individuals are supported to understand about their treatment, care, and benefits to enhance their well-being. It is significant to provide relevant information about the health with clarity from which they make potential and informed decisions about their treatment and care. For the clarity of objective it is crucial for healthcare providers to have effective communication skill (Kotcher et al, 2021). This allows the people to increase their awareness about their own health which can facilitates them to embrace strategies of proactive health and wellness.
In addition to this, another significant element is selection of the organization which will participate and contribute towards developing program of raising awareness. At the time of planning for the event it is crucial to healthcare agencies to consider their strengths and weaknesses. Assessment of community to determine the vulnerable individuals is necessary. The determination of the vulnerable group is useful to recognize the target group for the program and assist the neighbours to understand to provide education regarding health issues.
For planning the activities of raising awareness the healthcare agencies are accountable for collecting essential information about the health history of the target group and community. Without collecting and analysing the health status and history of the people, then agencies are unable to aware them regarding their issues (Capolongo et al, 2022). By considering this factor, the healthcare providers are providing significant information and insights relevant to their studies which help in improving their health conditions and standard of living.
Apart from this, environment of society has significant influence on people’s health that is live within it. At the time of conducting the awareness programs it is important for healthcare agencies to evaluate the environment of society and take corrective measures to improve them. However, it is considered as one of the essential factor that is vital for agencies to recognize because it helps in changing the lifestyles of the people and improving their health conditions. If the healthcare agencies are presenting the information to the target group face –to-face instead of written document or video them it is necessary for them to consider the environment such as noise, lighting and seating arrangements.
Furthermore, the healthcare providers and other staff are accountable for choosing the right platform to provide education to the people about their health issues. In today’s technical environment, the emerging technologies are rapidly using within the healthcare organizations and agencies in order to provide and communicate significant information to the individuals about their care (Stellefson et al, 2020). To increase the awareness of the people in regarding health issues, staff and providers can emphasis on various communication platforms such as events, print materials, social media etc. In present time, the people are spending their most of the time on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook etc., so it can be beneficial for agencies to provide the information to the people related to health challenges. This platform helps in provide the message to the people with viability and reliability which leads to increase skills of people to become aware. Healthcare organizations can use social media widely for raising awareness related to health and foster their healthy behaviours. Social media platforms can be useful to share infographic, educational content and videos in order to foster health awareness. The healthcare organizations are used social media platforms to support and motivate the changed behaviour of the peoples (Kotcher et al, 2021).
In addition to this, the healthcare organization cans also emphasis on conducting events to communicate the message related to health issues to raise awareness. With the events or campaigns helps in provide the comprehensive information to the people about their health and aware them to improve and manage their well-being before occurring any disease. The significance of health awareness campaigns and events helps in providing the opportunity to the people to take the responsibility of their well-being.
Apart from this, it is important for healthcare agencies to recognize cultural and religious issues and implications while planning the activities for raising awareness programs. In some religious, the people implement specific diets for improving their health and don’t like to make significant changes that directly affect the well-being. If they needed changes for mitigate the healthcare challenges and improve the health then they handled or manage sensitively. On the other hand, in some cultures, the women’s are not feeling comfortable to talking about their health issues in front of men so it is crucial for healthcare organizations to recognize cultural and religious environment (Al-Dmour et al, 2020). If the healthcare companies are recognize cultural and religious environment then the people are feel comfortable to share the information about their health issues and take the suggestions from healthcare providers to mitigate all the challenges and changing their lifestyles. It is significant for healthcare agencies to emphasis on routes for the people who travel from other destinations in order to attend the raising awareness program.
Apart from this, partnership is another factor that is vital for healthcare agencies and providers to consider at the time of planning of activities related to raising awareness of health issues. For educate the people, the healthcare agencies are making partnership with others in order to provide the insights and information related to various health challenges to the people for improving their health and care. For example, AJ Bell, Giveacar, Benson for Beds are partners of British heart foundation which helps it to increase the awareness of the people who face disease related to heart. By partnership with all, BHP is educating the people related to health issues by providing the information and insights in clear and effective way.
On the other hand, resources are another factor that is important for healthcare agencies and providers to recognize at the time of planning the activities relevant to raising awareness (Dunlop et al, 2020). It is important for healthcare agencies to make effective plan for the resources such as budget, timing tools etc., which are used for conducting events, programs and campaigns for increasing awareness of the people.
Navigating the complexities of health awareness is crucial for improving public well-being. Whether you’re aiming to raise awareness about chronic conditions or prevent lifestyle-related diseases, it requires a structured approach. From analyzing key reasons behind the need for awareness to understanding the diverse roles of different agencies and essential planning factors, crafting an effective health campaign is no easy task. If you’re looking to craft a top-quality assignment on this topic, professional assistance can ensure your work is insightful, well-researched, and structured to meet academic standards. Seek expert assignment help to elevate your work and gain a deeper understanding of health awareness initiatives.
Suggested Reading, Web And Resource Material
Books
- Al-Dmour, H., Salman, A., Abuhashesh, M. and Al-Dmour, R., 2020. Influence of social media platforms on public health protection against the COVID-19 pandemic via the mediating effects of public health awareness and behavioral changes: integrated model. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(8), p.e19996.
- Al-Dmour, H., Salman, A., Abuhashesh, M. and Al-Dmour, R., 2020. Influence of social media platforms on public health protection against the COVID-19 pandemic via the mediating effects of public health awareness and behavioral changes: integrated model. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(8), p.e19996.
- Capolongo, S., Rebecchi, A., Buffoli, M., Appolloni, L., Signorelli, C., Fara, G.M. and D’Alessandro, D., 2020. COVID-19 and cities: From urban health strategies to the pandemic challenge. A decalogue of public health opportunities. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 91(2), p.13.
- Debrah, J.K., Vidal, D.G. and Dinis, M.A.P., 2021. Raising awareness on solid waste management through formal education for sustainability: A developing countries evidence review. Recycling, 6(1), p.6.
- Dunlop, A., Lokuge, B., Masters, D., Sequeira, M., Saul, P., Dunlop, G., Ryan, J., Hall, M., Ezard, N., Haber, P. and Lintzeris, N., 2020. Challenges in maintaining treatment services for people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Harm reduction journal, 17(1), p.26.
- Gómez, C.A., Kleinman, D.V., Pronk, N., Gordon, G.L.W., Ochiai, E., Blakey, C., Johnson, A. and Brewer, K.H., 2021. Addressing health equity and social determinants of health through healthy people 2030. Journal of public health management and practice, 27(Supplement 6), pp.S249-S257.
- Gruber, J., Prinstein, M.J., Clark, L.A., Rottenberg, J., Abramowitz, J.S., Albano, A.M., Aldao, A., Borelli, J.L., Chung, T., Davila, J. and Forbes, E.E., 2021. Mental health and clinical psychological science in the time of COVID-19: Challenges, opportunities, and a call to action. American Psychologist, 76(3), p.409.
- Kotcher, J., Maibach, E., Miller, J., Campbell, E., Alqodmani, L., Maiero, M. and Wyns, A., 2021. Views of health professionals on climate change and health: a multinational survey study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(5), pp.e316-e323.
- Kotcher, J., Maibach, E., Miller, J., Campbell, E., Alqodmani, L., Maiero, M. and Wyns, A., 2021. Views of health professionals on climate change and health: a multinational survey study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(5), pp.e316-e323.
- Moudatsou, M., Stavropoulou, A., Philalithis, A. and Koukouli, S., 2020, January. The role of empathy in health and social care professionals. In Healthcare (Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 26). MDPI.
- Nikologianni, A., Betta, A. and Gretter, A., 2022. Contribution of Conceptual-Drawing Methods to Raise Awareness on Landscape Connectivity: Socio-Environmental Analysis in the Regional Context of Trentino (Italy). Sustainability, 14(13), p.7975.
- Park, J.H., Moon, J.H., Kim, H.J., Kong, M.H. and Oh, Y.H., 2020. Sedentary lifestyle: overview of updated evidence of potential health risks. Korean journal of family medicine, 41(6), p.365.
- Qian, J., Mills, M., Ma, H. and Turvey, S.T., 2022. Assessing the effectiveness of public awareness-raising initiatives for the Hainan gibbon Nomascus hainanus. Oryx, 56(2), pp.249-259.
- Stellefson, M., Paige, S.R., Chaney, B.H. and Chaney, J.D., 2020. Evolving role of social media in health promotion: updated responsibilities for health education specialists. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(4), p.1153.
- Stellefson, M., Paige, S.R., Chaney, B.H. and Chaney, J.D., 2020. Evolving role of social media in health promotion: updated responsibilities for health education specialists. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(4), p.1153.
- Tjaden, J., 2020. Assessing the Impact of Awareness-Raising Campaigns on Potential Migrants–What We Have Learned so Far. Migration in West and North Africa and across the Mediterranean, pp.426-34.
- Yeşilyurt, M., Balakoğlu, M.O. and Erol, M., 2020. The impact of environmental education activities on primary school students’ environmental awareness and visual expressions. Qualitative Research in Education, 9(2), pp.188-216.
Online
- NHS, 2024. Cancer awareness campaign. Online. Available through: <https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/our-work/ncras-work-programme/cancer-awareness campaigns#:~:text=Public%20awareness%20campaigns%20including%20'Be,to%20see%20their%20GP%20sooner>
- NHS, 2023. Obesity campaign. Online. Available through: <https://www.atherstonesurgery.co.uk/2023/04/16/better-health-adult-obesity-campaign/>
- GOV UK, 2021. Public health England Online. Available through: <https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england/about>
- World Health Organisation – Global Health Days Online. Available through: https://www.who.int/campaigns