HP-101
Web Conference: Session Summary
Session 2: 18 March'05 (9:00a.m. to 10:30a.m.)
The session
started with "Media Resource Sharing" wherein participants
have the opportunity to share news items pertaining to Health promotion.
Some of the news items shared and discussed were:
 Article
on Prevalence of obesity, Globe and Mail, 17 March 05 (referring
to the reduction in life expectancy)
WHO launched a commission
on "Social determinants of health" (discussion highlighted
that social determinants omit factors like the bio-physical environment
like water and air quality)
Ministry of Health
and Long-Term Care announcements on "Family Health Teams"
Paper
on Individual and Household Food Insecurity in Canada: Position
of Dietitians of Canada
The web conference
involved discussion on 3 reflective exercises from Section
- B of the course and 4 related online polls.
The first reflective
exercise (Consolidating your Learning)
dealt with the evaluation of strategies namely - health communication,
health education, self-help/mutual aid, organizational change, community
development and mobilization, policy development and advocacy -
in terms of their description and actual practice. The exercise
also dealt with the application of these strategies, to real health
promotions issues. Participants felt that although all the strategies
are realistic, their application requires some discretion. Some
of the strategies would be better suited for a specific category
of health issues while others would not.
The
participants agreed that the strategies are not mutually exclusive
and that the best practices literature supports the complimentary
use of strategies to address a health issue.
The second poll
highlighted an interesting and sharp difference between the strategies
preferred and the ones being used most frequently by health promoters.
Reasons cited for this anomaly were identified as barriers faced
by the participants at work. Some of them being limited scope and
responsibility of work, limitations of position, restrictions in
terms of time, staff and other resources.
The second reflective
exercise (Applying Health Promotion
Strategies) discussed 4 different scenarios in terms of the
health issues faced in each of them and the health promotion strategies
that could be applied to address them.
Scenario
1: Marion, a 82-year-old woman [Read
the scenario]
Health issues identified: Isolation, Low-income, Transportation,
Nutrition
Health Promotion Strategies to address the issues: Self
help/ mutual aid, Linking her to widows group/ women's group/
senior centre, explore partnering options with the Church groups
to handle household / handyman tasks, introduce her to some light
exercises to release stress, campaign to restore Sunday bus service
to help answer her transportation problems, keep in mind the individual
perspective of self-esteem and make the resource go to her rather
than her asking for help.
Scenario
2: Brad, a 46-year-old man [Read
the scenario]
Health issues identified: Lack of communication, stress
at workplace, lack of job security, insufficient hours for family
care.
Health Promotion Strategies to address the issues: Advocate
the introduction of flex time policies at work so that he could
balance his time between home and work, providing support to ageing
parents like arranging for transport from home to social activity
centre and back, recognizing the stress of caring for his parents
as a health issue.
Participants
were introduced to THCU's workplace project (http://www.thcu.ca/Workplace/Workplace.html)
for additional resources on this topic. The related phenomenon
of "Presenteeism" was introduced, that recognizes that
the performance levels of stressed workers is very low as compared
to their optimal levels.
Scenario
3: Darryl, a 15-year-old [Read
the scenario]
Health issues identified: Culture shock, isolated from
the people he grew up with, lack of understanding from the parents,
self esteem issue.
Health Promotion Strategies to address the issues: introduce
him to recreational and social activities like basketball at school,
Leadership training, linking with other community agencies, workshop
for parents on how to handle youth, connecting Darryl and family
to different support groups.
Scenario
4: Maria [Read the scenario]
Health issues identified: Single mother, low income, coping
with baby sitter
Health Promotion Strategies to address the issues: Introduce
her to mothers group where she gets child care and support from
other women, connect her and the baby sitter to "Early year
Centres", exploring the possibility of child care service
at workplace, Advocate and mobilize the "National Daycare
Program", Stress the role of father in child support.
Participants
also concluded that "Policy development and Advocacy"
could be about improving existing policies also, and not necessarily
about new policies.
The last reflective
exercise (Incorporating Key Features
in Health promotion Practice) discussed a dietician working
in a large seniors population getting requests for comprehensive
nutrition information. Participants were encouraged to make suggestions
to help the dietician. Apart from organizing community kitchens,
suggestions were made to look for successful solutions in other
communities. Providing information to Seniors at senior centres
on healthy nutrition.
The session
ended with a final poll on the quality and usefulness of the session.
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