Health promotion programs are important for the health care delivery. Traditionally, such program is created to solve a particular problem or improve a situation with health care for a target group of population (McKenzie & Smelter, 2001). In health promotion programs, various methods and interventions are used to achieve the goal, including spreading the information about risk factors and measures to improve the situation (U.S. National Institutes of Health, 2002). As an example of a recent health promotion program, The Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) could be cited (Jimenez, Reynolds, AlegrĂa, Harvey, & Bartels, 2017). To understand the particularities of health promotion program planning and performing, it is important to estimate the goal, objectives, planned changes, interventions, and evaluation of HOLA.
The Goal of the Program
The goal of the HOLA program was developed based on background investigations. As it was discovered, Latinos are a significant part of the elderly people population. These people are frequently suffering from mental illnesses, in particular, from anxiety and depression (Jimenez, Reynolds, AlegrĂa, Harvey, & Bartels, 2015). Chronic and recurrent depression is considered as one of the most common mental disorders among old patients (Izquierdo, Sarkisian, Ryan, Wells, & Miranda, 2014). However, because of cultural background, Latinos rarely apply for the help with their mental illness (Jimenez et al., 2015). Therefore, the goal of the HOLA program was to develop effective, acceptable, and scalable interventions to prevent the mental disorders development (Jimenez et al., 2017).
This goal could be considered as highly important due to several factors. First, the importance of depression and anxiety is often underestimated. It should be mentioned that these disorders can lead to other health problems (Izquierdo et al., 2014). Second, Latinos people are a vulnerable group of the population who is often suffering from mental illnesses (Jimenez et al., 2015) as well as heart diseases and diabetes (Zarate-Abbott et al., 2008). Third, it is easier to develop interventions for depression and anxiety prevention than their treatment.
Planned Changes
Health promotion programs provide specific interventions that should improve the particular unsatisfactory situation. These changes might be connected with behavioral factors of target group members, environmental factors, or both (McKenzie & Smelter, 2001). In the HOLA program, the planned changes are connected with both factors. Old Latinos were proposed to participate in the trial and attend physical and social activation sessions with community health workers which included walking, attending pleasant events, and communication (Jimenez et al., 2017). A possibility to attend such session was an environmental change, while the increased social and physical activity was a behavioral change.
Objectives of the Program
Old Latinos were the target group of the health promotion program. All potential participants were tested for depression symptoms. People with minor or subthreshold depression or anxiety were chosen for the intervention (Jimenez et al., 2017). The reasons for choosing Latinos was explained in the authors’ previous study: old Latinos frequently suffer from depression but rarely get appropriate treatment of mental disorders (Jimenez et al., 2015). The goal of the program was to develop preventive interventions (Jimenez et al., 2017). Therefore, all participants should not have clinical depression or other mental diseases which already require treatment. These factors were considered for establishment objectives.
Strategy and Interventions
The strategy of the HOLA program was to use community health workers for performing physical and social activation sessions for old Latinos with the purpose of mental diseases prevention. This strategy is an alternative low-cost approach which allows improving the situation with elderly people’s mental health. The main interventions included walking outside in groups, attending pleasant events, and communication with a community health worker and other group members. These sessions increased both physical activity of elderly people and their involvement in social life. Totally, the pilot study lasted 14 months. As a result, symptoms of depression and anxiety decreased, while the participants’ motivation increased (Jimenez et al., 2017).
In my opinion, this program was planned and performed in an appropriate way. However, several improvements could be done. First, communication and information sharing is important (US National Institutes of Health, 2002). Therefore, in this program, it is possible to provide an easy-acceptable information about mental disorders, their symptoms, and possible solutions. Authors underlined that participants also expressed their desire to obtain such information (Jimenez et al., 2017). Second, in my opinion, better results might be achieved if old Latinos participated in the group behavioral therapy. However, such intervention might increase costs of the program which can be a limitation.
Future Evaluation of the Program
As it was stated, developed interventions can be introduced into the practice (Jimenez et al., 2017). The HOLA program does not require significant costs, and it is acceptable for the majority of old Latinos. Therefore, authors postulated that HOLA might be an alternative solution to traditional mental health services (Jimenez et al., 2017). The obvious benefit of the program is that it allows preventing mental diseases and, therefore, the quality of elderly people’s life improvement.
Conclusion
HOLA is the health promotion program which was developed for old Latinos with the purpose of prevention their mental disorders, including anxiety and depression. This program provides the following interventions: walking, attending pleasant events, and communication with community health workers and other participants. As a result, the significant improvement of people’s mental health was demonstrated. Therefore, HOLA is a low-cost and efficient diseases prevention model.
References
Izquierdo, A., Sarkisian, C., Ryan, G., Wells, K. B., & Miranda, J. (2014). Older depressed Latinos’ experiences with primary care visits for personal, emotional and/or mental health problems: A qualitative analysis. Ethnicity & Disease, 24(1), 84-91.
Jimenez, D. E., Reynolds, C. F., AlegrĂa, M., Harvey, P., & Bartels, S. J. (2015). The Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) health promotion and prevention study: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Trials, 16(1), 579-586.
Jimenez, D., Reynolds, C. F., Alegria, M., Harvey, P. S., & Bartels, S. J. (2017). Preventing anxiety in depression in older Latinos: The Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) health promotion study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(3), S124.
McKenzie, J.F., & Smelter, J. (2001). Planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (3rd ed.). London, UK: Pearson.
U.S. National Institutes of Health. (2002). Pink book-making health communication programs work, CD. Web.
Zarate-Abbott, P., Etnyre, A., Gilliland, I., Mahon, M., Allwein, D., Cook, J.,… & Lowry, J. (2008). Workplace health promotion—Strategies for low-income Hispanic immigrant women. AAOHN Journal, 56(5), 217-222.