Health Interventions And Health Programs

Currently, in Australia more than seventy percent of teenagers (14-19 years age) have consumed alcohol at some point (McBride, Farringdon, Midford, Meuleners & Philip, 2004). For this reason many health programs have set their sights to try and prevent or at least minimise harm caused by these health problems such as alcohol and smoking. However, in order for these specific programs, interventions and health goals to be achieved many things need to be in place. One of the important steps looks at health programs being created through an evidence based approach. This looks at programs that focus on not just prevention but takes into account the theory being produced behind it, the evaluation of the program, the dosage given (timing and at what age) as well as well trained staff being used that is who present the program (Nation, Crusto, Wandersman, Kumpfer, Seybolt, Kane & Davino, 2003). Farringdon (2014) suggests that at the very least it should do no harm for those involved. The effectiveness of evidence based programs, what is required from them, looking at the effects of non-evidence based programs and understanding what harm minimization is will all be looked at an analysed in this essay.
Health education has often been looked at as a means of providing ways to fix or improve the person’s behaviour only through strict prevention. Nutbeam (2000) explains that this in turn has led to minimum effort being put into promoting the behavior side of things and how to change it in order to reduce the risk of that certain health problem. Good health evidence based education allows it to be a tool in which it can be used in any public health involvement and environment (Nutbeam, 2000). Butterfoss, Goodmanl and Wandersman (1993) also s...

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... positives and overall reduce harm towards themselves and others in any health circumstance. Avoiding abstinence-only programs is a must as it ensures that minimum harm is done to those involved. Meanwhile, using the evidence based approach has shown positive outcomes in regards to it actually improving the outcomes through testing. As Farringdon (2014) stated, the reasoning behind the importance of evidence based practice lies in the overall factors that it comes with; knowing that it can actually positively change behaviour, knowing that it’s a tested resource that shows outcomes as opposed to non evidence based programs where you cannot predict the outcome or future prospect. In conclusion if evidence based programs were used earlier, then the future would seem a lot more certain for the younger generation coming through in regards to a safe healthier lifestyle.