Introduction

Lifestyle and behavior are two aspects that play a significant role I the acquisition as well as the development of major chronic diseases. For health promoter to succeed in their endeavors, their attempt to alter lifestyles and behavior by monitoring the attitudes, cultures and even the life circumstance of the subject populations (County). To achieve plausible changes in the health situation of minority populations, it is a must for the health experts, designers as well as health programs to tolerate the amazing population of America (Kahari, 2018). This paper aims to provide a health promotion program that targets to prevent tobacco use among minorities in the US.

Identification of a Problem and a Population

About eighty percent of smokers develop a smoking behavior before attaining a legal age. While approximately one in five Americans belongs to one of the four minority groups, the population growth of the whites is relatively low. Between 2000 and 2010 the Asian Americans increased by 48%, the Native Pacific Islanders by 9%, the Hispanics by 47%, the American Alaska Natives by15% and the blacks by 15%. Proportionally, a higher percentage of racial minorities smoke cigarettes as compared to whites. Statistical projections show the minor groups soon will comprise a more significant portion of the American population. Filing to prevent the use of tobacco by these youngsters raises alarms as smoking is a leading killer in currently. It is high time to realize that the wellbeing of the minorities is not only a matter of social justice but also an issue of enlightened national interest. It follows therefore that there is a need to prevent tobacco use initiation among these populations. This may seem to be a simple response, but it has proven to be challenging to implement in the past and thus it needs specially tailored efforts.

Prevention Model

To prevent tobacco use, the program will make use of a prevention model which comprises of five aspects. This includes home, community, classroom, clinic, and computer. Any form of tobacco use should be prohibited a home and parents/guardians should consider role model abstinence from tobacco use as well as express strong disapproval and even punishment for an attempt to use. According to Sargent and Dalton, parents can influence the youth by disapproving strongly and by administering punishment for tobacco use.

The public, on the other hand, fights for smoking guidelines and supplies including the condemnation of smoking in enclosed public areas, age restriction of the sale of tobacco products as well as high taxation for the same. Research shows evidence of the effectiveness of raising the unit price of tobacco in deterring tobacco usage. Evidence-based curricula should be introduced in schools. Additionally, the teachers should have the proper training to implement the curricula and actively model non-tobacco use environments. Statistics indicate that school programs are instrumental in preventing tobacco use, especially when integrated with the mass media as well as other community-based efforts.

The health providers should allocate time to spend with the minorities to assess their tobacco use and advise them accordingly especially by emphasizing abstinence. Presently, very few health care providers have adopted this practical strategy. Computers installed with specialized software should be an excellent tool for tobacco use prevention among the minority. The software should be packed with chat rooms that advocates for non-smoking as a norm. Counter-advertising techniques including Truth Campaigns will impact and deformalize use of tobacco among the juveniles. A more aggressive youth based advert may be of effect in reducing smoking.

The rationale for Prevention Model

The model offers a golden chance to access essential information to facilitate the prediction of health behaviors and thus initiate and implement an efficient and most appropriate health promotion program for the minorities. These model has been successfully used in the past to guide experts in alcohol counseling and even in tobacco intervention campaigns, and this makes it the best candidate.

Literature Review

Tobacco use is responsible for over 440,000 deaths per annually in the US, and it accounts for at least 157 million dollars of both direct and indirect medical expenses annually. Statistics indicate that deaths are resulting from tobacco use, unlike any other causes. The method of tobacco has been linked etiologically to cardiovascular diseases, stroke, emphysema, chronic bronchitis as well as cancer (pharynx, bladder, pancreases, kidney, mouth, and esophagus) (Kettner, Moroney & Martin, 2017). The Cancer Society of America approximates that eighty-seven of deaths due to lung cancer is caused by tobacco use. Ironically, tobacco use is the most preventable death causer that contributes to more than 20% of all the deaths. It is anticipated that tobacco use will be the cause of over 5 million deaths among the people under 17 years of age (Springer, & Evans, 2016). Despite the available enormous data and research findings, an approximated 6, 000 youngsters initiate smoking currently, 3,000 get addicted whereas 1,200 dies daily from tobacco use.

Needs Assessment

One of the critical things in the workplace health plan is the needs assessment. The assessment will guide the team to lay down the health promotion program correctly. First, the evaluation will help in the identification of those areas of the program that have failed to meet the program expectation. Second, it will help me to determine the areas of priority for the program and facilitate implementation efficiency. To conduct a robust needs assessment, the following will be stakeholders will be the key stakeholders: health care providers, community-based organizations, government public health official, health providers, health care consumers, academic experts, school districts, advocates, and nearby hospitals (Springer, & Evans, 2016). The assessment aims to establish the effectiveness and success of health care promotion (Laureate, 2011). Additionally, the needs assessment tea will be interested in determining the areas that failed and the reason as to why so that prompt measures could be implemented to cater for the inefficiencies.

The prime sources of data for the assessment will be schools, clinics, the interment, hospitals, and government databases. Additionally, more information will be gathered by use of questioners, focus groups, interviews as well as public forums. The data will be critically analyzed and accorded with in-depth reports indicating what has been learned from the assessment (Springer, & Evans, 2016). The findings will be shared after every assessment, conducted after every two years.  Some challenges are anticipated, and this includes luck of conduct interviews, lack of data analysis experts, irrelevant information and lack of adequate funds to facilitate the 3-month long assessment. To address the personnel challenges, the team will seek to hire experts in the respective areas, and for information, secondary data sources will be used to countercheck and validate the data collected. Regarding the lack of funds, the team will write grants to the relevant government ministry to ask for financial support.

Tobacco use prevention among the youth in the minority populations requires a multipronged and continuous approach which should begin at home and extend to the community, school, the health centers, and computer as well as in counter advertisements and these efforts must be comprehensive. As much as the fight to prevent tobacco usage may be cumbersome, the prevalence of this behavior will be substantially inhibited and reduced.

References

County, C. (n.d.). Tobacco Prevention. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://www.co.crook.or.us/Departments/HealthDepartment/HealthPromotion/TobaccoPrevention/tabid/2181/Default.aspx

Kahari, K. (2018, December 19). Needs Assessment. Retrieved from https://homeworkgig.com/needs-assessment/

Kettner, P. M., Moroney, R. M., & Martin, L. L. (2017). Designing and managing programs: An effectiveness-based approach (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Design and evaluation of programs and projects [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. “Needs Assessment” (featuring Dr. Rebecca Lee, Shiniche Thomas, and Dr. Donna Shambley-Ebron)

Springer, A. E. & Evans, A.E. (2016). Assessing environmental assets for health promotion program planning: a practical framework for health promotion practitioners. Health Promotion Perspectives, 6(3), 111–118 doi: 10.15171/hpp.2016.19