HSH701 | Public Health | Hazards Related to Drinking among Teenagers

 Your health promotion plan should include the following:

1. A description of your specific target group and community (for example Children (5-11years) not meeting physical activity recommendations in Palmerston Primary School or adult males (indigenous and/or non-indigenous) who are obese aged 50 years or above in Bendigo, nursing students at CDU). This contributes to making your health promotion innovative and focussed
2. An detailed outline of why this public health promotion is beneficial for your target group. For example how you anticipate it will improve health outcomes for the chosen target group/community
3. A description of what your goals/ aims for your health promotion are and what the health promotion project is aiming to achieve(review the SMART mnemonic on page 215 of the set text Fleming & Parker, 2015 Introduction to Public Health, 3E)
4. You should identify which of the Public Health Promotion Management Perspectives this falls into and briefly outline why it falls into this category (Public Health Promotion Management Perspectives are classified as primary, secondary or tertiary- to find out more about this refer to page 316 of the set text Fleming & Parker, 2015 Introduction to Public Health, 3E)
5. Identify who the additional stakeholders will be for the project, and what community consultation will take place. Include specific information on who this health promotion project will need to include and why
6. Describe a specific and original health message/ logo that you have developed to suit your health promotion (for example: Your smoking harms others or If you can play you can play).  Make sure this would be appropriate for your target group
7. Provide a detailed outline of what the health promotion activity will entail and how you will promote this to the target group. Look at other health promotion activities for ideas such as the Breast Cancer Mother’s Day Classic Fun Run or the posters you see around the community.  Consider what sort of medium will work to get the message out to your target group newspaper, sports event, school visit, radio- what will work for your target audience)
8. An outline of how you plan to evaluate the success of your health promotion.  Evaluation is an important step, research to find the best way to assess if your health promotion was successful in achieving its aims/goals.
9. **This is not medical surgical nursing- it is health promotion aimed at the community level- so please do not focus on pathophysiology.

Answer:

Introduction

The diabolic temptation of being engrossed in the quagmire of alcoholism is affecting teenagers of Australia within the age group of 12 to 17 (Betts et al., 2018). With the passage of time, it is proving to be a social menace and a national concern since an increasing number of youths who could be deployed for productive and developmental ventures are going astray. They are turning out to be enemies to the society at large, to their near and dear ones, and also to themselves, since their habitual inclinations incur nothing apart from harm in monumental proportions. The purpose of this report is thus to educate and make the masses aware of the hazards related to binge drinking among teenagers of Australia within the age bracket of 12 to 17, so that people undertake proactive steps to deter youths from joining the bandwagon of binge drinking and those who have already joined could be brought back to consciousness. In other words, it is a report on public health promotion. The following section shall be outlining in a detailed manner about the central theme of the report. Along with it an account of the course of action that has been envisaged to fight for the cause which is expected to have the potency of achieving the fulfillment of the purpose with surcease success.

A Description of the specific Target Community

The specific target community who are being focused upon in this report are the youths of Australia who are not younger than 12 and not older than 17 years of age. It has been observed that the rate of alcoholism among individuals belonging this particular group has increased over the past decade exponentially. Surveys conducted in the latter half of the first decade of the 21^st century brought about the report that one in ten youth within the mentioned age bracket were severely addicted to binge drinking (Powers et al., 2016). Another study, conducted after almost an exact passage of ten years from the previous study confirmed that the rate has jumped up to one youth in five being in the clutches of binge drinking (Manton & Moore, 2016). The problem, as per the reportings is making all youths falling within the age bracket vulnerable. It is cutting across all economic backgrounds invariably, like an epidemic. Majority of the vulnerable youths have been found to be either students, or school drop-outs whom alcoholism has forced to that extent (Koupil et al., 2016). This scenario  raises the concern that how are teenagers getting access to alcohol when none of them have attained the conventionally held age of legal maturity, that is 18 years of age. Alongside, it also incites to look in to the lacuna that has been in parenting and in socialization at the grass root level.

The importance of the Public Health Programme to the Target Group

As per the evidential inferences drawn from the conducted studies, the target group chosen as the subject of analysis are likely to face serious troubles which if left unchecked can have devastating effects. The primary matter of concern is the health hazard. The target group has been found to be suffering from some form of liver damage or damage to the brain cells (Townshend et al., 2014). Exposure to alcohol at such young age also has the potency to jeopardize the nervous system to irreparable limits and affect learning and cognitive capabilities for life (Hutton, Whitehead & Ullah, 2017). The gradual shift to crime and anti-social activities driven by the urgency to satiate the addictive urge is fast catching up as a trend. The purchase of alcohol on a regular basis is not a nominal affair if adjudged from the economic point of view. It is very commonsensical to assume that such young individuals shall not be having the means to indulge in such costly affair, hence they can be motivated to criminal tactics for procuring the necessary means. As a result of it such youths are getting diverted from pursuing socially conducive occupations and falling into bad companies, opting out of education and eventually running their lives (Curcio, Mak & George, 2016). On top of it, the factor of vulnerability of death by accident or injury caused by entanglement in brawls has skyrocketed among teenage alcoholics. Alcohol deprives an individual of their sensibility to act with sanity, naturally they end up facing unfortunate circumstances which leads to their untimely demise, and incurring of physical damage. Deprivation of sensibility is also driving the youths to indulge in unsafe sexual contacts. Consequently the incidence of teenage pregnancy, rape, and transfer of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers is proving to be an added threat (Murphy, Wilson & Moore, 2017). These are precisely the risks to which the teenage alcoholics are exposed to. An awareness of these associated risk factors is of utmost importance so that it can instill a cautioning effect in the minds of the people and they be moved to undertake steps to deter any youth who is showing sign of going astray could be immediately checked. This is specifically important to the target group as they are immature and can get easily swayed away by the waves of alcoholism. However awareness of the adverse consequences and a knowledge of ways to prevent it shall surely help them. The onus of preventing and rectifying is not just the responsibility of the vulnerable ones only. The role of the agents of socialization- the family, the educational institutions, and peer groups is also important. The counter-active methods shall be discussed in a detailed manner in the subsequent sections.

Description of the Goals

As the thesis statement of the report has already suggested in the introductory paragraph, the basic goal is of promoting public health which shall be maneouvered by means of drawing attention towards the gravity of the situation that is plaguing Australia. The goal is not to stigmatize the youths who have taken to substance abuse and discard them as undesirable objects of the society. Rather, the goal is to generate an educative impact on the masses so that those who have fallen victim to the social evil could be brought back to mainstream life, and the other young ones could be prevented. As it has been hinted at that teenage alcoholism in Australia is a social problem, hence this reports seeks to appeal to all the social elements to function in unison to uproot the problem. The goal is to reach out to as many persons as possible of all ages since each generation shall be having a specific contribution to finding a solution to the problem. By method of creating an awareness, the programme can also be identified as a call for action.

The Perspective of Public Health Promotion

Since this report is for the purpose of creating awareness about the potential hazards and the ways of preventing it, the perspective of Public Health Promotion applicable in this case is the Primary Perspective (Advocat & Lindsay, 2015). The secondary and tertiary perspectives are not applicable as they are essentially action-oriented, dealing with the provision of assistance and has little to do with orientation (Geia et al., 2018). This report solely seeks to orient the masses to develop a certain strand of thought and act accordingly, hence only the primary perspective is applicable.

The Stakeholders in the Project

The enterprise is gigantic and complex, hence that pushes for the need to include several effective auxillary agencies who shall proactively work for furthering the cause. It is impossible to tackle the task single-handedly. Reputed NGOs functioning at both national and local level has already been involved to play the role of stakeholders for furthering the awareness promotion. They shall be conducting seminars at schools, colleges, universities and at community development programmes as and when opportunities shall be propitious. Other than that persons involved in social service to rehabilitate youth addicts, doctors treating cases of health problems associated with teenage alcoholism and counsellors providing mental support to the victims shall also be the stakeholders.

Health Message

Renowned author George Bernard Shaw had once commented, “Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” This has been chosen as the message to facilitate the dissemination of the Public Health Promotion Programme. As the quotation suggests, alcohol and its capacity to help individuals forget their agonies and feel the peace is but illusory. Alcohol induces and inspires escapism which shall not come to rescue forever. Just like anaesthesia, which numbs the pain as long as the operation goes on. The effect of it does not last for too long, and the patient cannot escape the post-operative pain. Similarly, the intoxicating influence of alcohol is temporary and it does not have the potency to change the harsh reality. Hence it is unwise to be lured by the temporary and distractive fever of ecstasy that alcohol provides. The youths who are taking to alcoholism are in need of the message so that they realize that alcohol is up to no good. Once it takes people in its addictive clutches, coming out of it becomes very difficult.

The envisaged Course of Action

The Public Health Promotion Programme shall be reaching out to all sections of the population giving a lot of emphasis to element of grassroot level socialization for more profound effects. Audio-Visual presentation materials have already been prepared. The NGOs with whom a collaboration has been reached at for the fulfillment of the purpose shall be inviting experts from medical backgrounds dealing with alcoholics to deliver their valuable views on the matter. Counsellors who have been working with rehabilitating youth addicts of Australia shall also be a part of the programmes that are being planned. The contribution from the end of the doctors and counsellors are deemed to be of utmost importance since they have experienced the menace from a close range and are well aware of the nuances of the problem. Talk shows by individuals who have recovered themselves from teenage alcoholism and have successfully returned back to mainstream life shall also be invited to enlighten the masses by sharing their valuable experience. The purpose of this step is to make the programme impactful as such individuals can provide better insights into preventing and tackling youth alcoholism. Special sessions to emphasize on the role of parenting and the conduct parents are supposed to adopt to prevent their children from falling into the trap of binge drinking or bringing back their children from the phase of addiction are to be included as well. The role of parents are very important in shaping the future and predisposition of a child, hence that factor should be given due importance in the itinerary. Basically, the plan is to conduct interactive sessions as much as possible in keeping with the agenda and approach of the programme. Since it is impossible to tour the entire country conducting programmes given the issue of funding, the sessions that are to be held shall be recorded and broadcasted through the Youtube and Facebook. The work of printing pamphlets and booklets with educative messages on the issue of alcoholism for distributing to the masses is almost on the verge of completion. Since this is a self-funded programme hence to generate some economic assistance for the programme, the idea of selling t-shirts with slogans related to the problems of alcohol has been resorted to. A mass demonstration in form of a march calling for putting an end to the menace of youth alcoholism and for stricter law on sale and purchase of alcohol shall be organized to conclude the entire project.

Evaluation

The necessary logistical arrangements have already been made, the only thing that is left is the technical aspect. The final schedule is yet to be made which shall be finalizing how the project shall proceed. The sale of t-shirts is on full swing and is turning out to be successful. The social media campaign to announce the project has received a lot of positive response and enthusiasm. Hence it is being hoped that the event shall be a success.

Conclusion

Having prepared the ground, now the time is for executing the actions. Likewise, on being enlightened about the social problem of alcoholism among the youth of Australia, it is being expected that the masses shall take lessons out of it and try to do their duty towards putting an end to the evil.

References

Advocat, J., & Lindsay, J. (2015). To drink or not to drink? Young Australians negotiating the social imperative to drink to intoxication. Journal of Sociology, 51(2), 139-153.

Betts, K. S., Alati, R., Baker, P., Letcher, P., Hutchinson, D., Youssef, G., & Olsson, C. A. (2018). The natural history of risky drinking and associated harms from adolescence to young adulthood: findings from the Australian Temperament Project. Psychological medicine, 48(1), 23-32.

Curcio, A. L., Mak, A. S., & George, A. M. (2016). Predictors of drinking behaviour among adolescents and young adults: a new psychosocial control perspective. International journal of child, youth and family studies, 7(1), 81-103.

Geia, L., Broadfield, K., Grainger, D., Day, A., & Watkin?Lui, F. (2018). Adolescent and young adult substance use in Australian Indigenous communities: a systematic review of demand control program outcomes. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 42(3), 254-261.

Hutton, A., Whitehead, D., & Ullah, S. (2017). Can positive faith-based encounters influence Australian young people’s drinking behaviours?. Health Education Journal, 76(4), 423-431.

Koupil, I., Tooth, L., Heshmati, A., & Mishra, G. (2016). Social patterning of overeating, binge eating, compensatory behaviours and symptoms of bulimia nervosa in young adult women: results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Public health nutrition, 19(17), 3158-3168.

Manton, E., & Moore, D. (2016). Gender, intoxication and the developing brain: Problematisations of drinking among young adults in Australian alcohol policy. International Journal of Drug Policy, 31, 153-162.

Murphy, D. A., Wilson, J. C., & Moore, D. (2017). Playing hard: Young men’s experiences of drinking in inner-city Melbourne. Journal of Sociology, 53(2), 398-412.

Powers, J., Duffy, L., Burns, L., & Loxton, D. (2016). Binge drinking and subsequent depressive symptoms in young women in Australia. Drug and alcohol dependence, 161, 86-94.

Townshend, J. M., Kambouropoulos, N., Griffin, A., Hunt, F. J., & Milani, R. M. (2014). Binge drinking, reflection impulsivity, and unplanned sexual behavior: impaired decision?making in young social drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 38(4), 1143-1150.