Health Promotion Plan: Tobacco Cessation (Essay Sample)

Health Promotion Plan: Tobacco Use
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Tobacco Use: Introduction
Health promotion is an integral part primary care approach that enables individuals to enhance control over health associate problems and improve the quality of life. The strategy entails involving the community and empower individuals to choose healthy lifestyles and shun behaviors that predispose them to chronic illness or poor health. Tobacco smoking is one of the social problems in the local community that increases the risk of lifestyle diseases such as lung cancer, vascular condition, arthritis, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as described in Healthy People 2030. The paper is a hypothetical health promotion plan addressing tobacco use among adult US Hispanics in the local community.
Tobacco Use Among Hispanics
The data provided by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) (2021), Hispanics or Latinos have a lower prevalence of cigarette smoking and other tobacco-related uses than other racial groups across the United States. However, adults born in the United States had a higher tendency to smoke than those born outside the country. About 1.3% consume smokeless tobacco, 3.5% smoke cigars, while 16.6% smoke cigarettes. However, the trend of tobacco use among Hispanics varies across various subgroups. The daily cigarette smokers among the Hispanics are above 18 years.
The health effects of tobacco use in the population warrant a public health intervention. Cancer, stroke, and heart disease highly associated with smoking tobacco is among the top five leading cause of mortality among Hispanics. Among other chronic illnesses, diabetes, with a higher prevalence of 30%-40% among smokers, is the fifth leading mortality cause among Hispanics.
Hispanics have a lower desire to quit tobacco use than African Americans, Asians, and Whites. The healthcare promotion plan seeks to reduce prevalence by preventing teenagers from abusing tobacco while encouraging those using tobacco to quit. The intervention is of socioeconomic importance as Hispanics have lower health insurance coverage than whites. The smoking population also exposes the other members to secondhand exposure, especially the adolescent age groups. Therefore, quitting smoking reduces the cost of care and burden of tobacco use in the population from direct cost and hospitalizations secondary to chronic illness associated with smoking. Luckily, the population shows a better prognosis regarding quit tobacco use (Felicitas-Perkins et al., 2018).
Approach to Promotion Program
The goal of health promotion is first to determine the social structure that facilitates smoking in the population. Establishing the social context of the factors that influence smoking helps determine the targets crucial in controlling the prevalence in the Hispanic population. Social constructs, such as family, peers, and neighbors, enable the interactions that influenced the smoking behavior in the target population. Other factors such as social norms and parenting practices also influence smoking trends observed (Kalkhoran, Benowitz, & Rigotti, 2018).
Fig. 1.1: A sociogram highlighting the influence of smoking in the target population
Data provided by Healthy People 2030 indicate an increasing burden of smoking individuals. Over a 16million Americans have cigarette smoking-associated illnesses. The healthcare promotion plan is part of the great objective of Healthy People 2030 to prevent tobacco use and help users quit smoking. The interventions highlighted in this health prevention plan apply evidence-based strategies. Although Healthy People 2030 suggests smoke-free policies, health education, and price increases, working with a smaller Hispanic community makes it difficult to implement the plan.
Preventive and Cessation approach: Education and Awareness
The feasible approach to prevention and cessation of smoking among the local Hispanic population is through education to foster behavior change. The first approach is to increase public awareness of the outcome of tobacco use. The common harmful effects of tobacco to highlight include lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, and exposure of others to second hands smoking (Kalkhoran, Benowitz, & Rigotti, 2018). The economic burden of tobacco such as cost of care for the chronic conditions and misappropriation of money meant for other life important factors such as food, shelter, and clothing.
The second intervention achievable in the local population is reducing the access of tobacco products to minors. The strategy is important to prevent early exposure to tobacco which has associated long-term use and premature death. Parents have a role in enforcing proper control strategies by enforcing various measures that prohibit bad influence (Kalkhoran, Benowitz, & Rigotti, 2018). The strategy focuses on the family unit as the center of power to control the early exposure of teenagers to tobacco use.
The third approach education of the environmental effects of tobacco use will ensure a communal approach as smokers and