The health-related behaviors of a person can have a significant influence on his or her health. Diet, exercise, hygiene, and tobacco, as well as alcohol consumption, are all capable of causing severe conditions if not appropriately addressed. As such, ensuring that the population’s attitudes and practices related to health are conducive to good health. Identification of the current situation and potential issues is an essential part of this task, as it helps medical workers know what issues should be addressed. This essay will address reasons for measuring health behaviors, identify smoking assessment methods, and support the use of the practice.
Reasons for Measuring Behaviors
Educational programs for the population, conducted through a variety of methods and media, are among the most frequently used approaches to health behavior change. However, as the range of various possible issues and the corresponding measures is broad, it is impractical to conduct education for them all at once continuously. As such, health behavior measurement plays an essential role in determining what aspects require attention at the moment. By determining which areas are problematic, healthcare workers can set a direction for their efforts that will lead to the best results. The adjusted programs will incur lower costs while possibly achieving better effects than broader, less focused ones.
Furthermore, health behavior measurement can help workers determine the effects of a program. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that the evaluation of a specific initiative can give rise to a variety of questions, all of which require statistical data. According to Mokdad and Remington , its collection requires a more precise evaluation than an assessment of the prevalence of a specific habit would. However, if a program proves itself effective at reducing the prevalence of a specific unhealthy practice, it may deserve implementation elsewhere. As such, successful interventions will spread throughout the country and potentially worldwide, improving global population well-being.
Adolescent Smoking Behavior Assessment
The primary method used to assess the prevalence of behavior, such as smoking, in a community is to ask its members. However, adolescents are unlikely to admit to cigarette use in an interview, as the practice is generally seen as socially unacceptable for minors. Mokdad and Remington suggest that parties that would decline a personal interview or refuse to answer specific questions may feel more inclined to do so in a format such as a telephone, mail, or Web interview. The last option, in particular, is attractive, as, with proper implementation, it can guarantee complete anonymity to the participant, making them more likely to answer truthfully.
Nevertheless, it can be challenging to engage the target population in any form of the interview due to the rebellious traits typical of adolescence. Chriqui et al. make use of information that is available from authorities, schools in their case. The same institutions likely collect data on the incidence of adolescent smoking alongside a variety of other agencies. The gathering and analysis of their information may be considered another potential evaluation method. While possibly inaccurate due to teens’ tendencies to conceal their smoking behaviors, it can provide an insight into the scope of the issue by providing a bottom estimate.
The Necessity of Health Behavior Measurement
Humanity is continuously advancing, creating new technology and opportunities faster than ever due to the rapid growth of production and information technology. These changes can lead to the emergence of issues that were not possible on a large scale previously, and so the medical system may struggle to recognize them before they become a large-scale concern. Mokdad and Remington provide the example of the obesity epidemic, which began on the East Coast of the United States and spread throughout the entire country before it was recognized as a significant concern. A timely determination of the reasons why people in the eastern states were becoming obese and the appropriate intervention in the rest of the country may have reduced the scale of the issue.
The cost-saving aspect of health behavior measurement is also noteworthy. The U.S. healthcare system is well known for its inefficiency, with its massive budget failing to improve the population’s health in many categories. Accurate measurement can help identify the potential issues and concentrate interventions there. Money and effort would no longer be wasted on areas where the population’s practices are acceptable. As Mokdad and Remington note, health behavior statistics are different across cities as well as states. As such, the application of the same program on a large scale without prior measurements of its applicability can lead to subpar results in some locations that would only be discovered later on.
Conclusion
Health behavior measurement is essential for the planning and evaluation of educational programs. It allows medical workers to identify problematic areas and assess the effects of specific interventions. In the case of adolescent smoking, evaluations should be conducted using anonymous online interviews as well as data available from various community institutions. However, both methods have to deal with the possibility of inaccurate information, making them best suited to the determination of a bottom estimate. Nevertheless, health behavior measurement is essential, as it can help prevent issues from spreading and becoming significant concerns and improve the efficiency of the healthcare system.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). Developing process evaluation questions [Evaluation Briefs No. 4].
Chriqui, J. F., Schneider, L, Chaloupka, F. J., Gourdet, C., Bruursema, A., Ide, K., & Pugach, O. (2010). School district wellness policies: Evaluating progress and potential for improving children’s health three years after the federal mandate.
Mokdad, A. H., & Remington, P. L. (2010). Measuring health behaviors in populations. Preventing Chronic Disease, 7(4), A75.