Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
In this assignment, we will discuss health promotion and disease prevention as it pertains to your scholarly project. Visit the South University Online library and retrieve two peer-reviewed articles pertaining to health indicators relating to health promotion and disease prevention. Identify a health indicator relevant to your project and provide a position statement on the health indicator of your choice for a specific population. Describe your reasons for selecting the particular health indicator and if you had all possible resources how would you explain this problem to the community and how you would correct the problem?
Write your initial response in 300–500 words.
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Lifestyle factors are the most important indicator for health promotion and disease prevention in mental health. In recent years, researchers have paid more attention to the association between severe mental illness and lifestyle-based psychosocial interventions, hoping to reduce the latter’s prevalence and impact on suicide rates (Silva et al., 2020). This is because patients with severe mental disorders have higher mortality rates, poor health, and a higher risk of suicide than the general population (Silva et al., 2020). Several strategies have been advocated for changing individuals’ lifestyle behaviors through the application of targeted psychosocial interventions. In this paper, I will discuss two articles that examine whether or not making positive changes to one’s lifestyle can alleviate or prevent medical and psychiatric disorders, with a specific emphasis on suicidal ideation.
The first article, “Lifestyle Interventions and Prevention of Suicide,” analyzed the correlation between adolescent mental illness, suicide risk, and lifestyle psychosocial interventions. The study’s findings suggested that poor lifestyle choices can affect mental health and suicidal behavior by altering one’s disposition and perspective. Berardelli et al. (2018) found that first-episode psychosis adolescents were more likely to engage in risky behaviors, including smoking, drinking, and using cannabis; eating disorders, and engaged in less physical activity and less leisure-time pursuits. Furthermore, the article described how excess weight, isolation, and depression increase one’s risk of taking their own life, further highlighting the connection between one’s way of life and their mental health and suicide. This study also found that regardless of gender, adolescent suicide risk and/or depression was significantly linked to negative relationships with parents and parental discord (Berardelli et al., 2018). This suggests that interventions targeted at the whole family may be effective in reducing suicidal ideation and behavior among adolescents and their parents.
The second study by Li et al. (2021) used a nationally representative sample of American adolescents to explore the prevalence of lifestyle behaviors and the association between them and suicidal ideation and behavior. This cross-sectional study included 13,677 high school students between the ages of 14 and 18. The study used 2019 data collected by the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Survey. Students self-reported their age, gender, grade level, race, time spent in front of the TV, amount of fruit consumed, and suicidal thoughts and actions (Li et al., 2021). The association between lifestyle behaviors and suicide-related behaviors was analyzed using logistic regression models. According to Li et al. (2021), higher rates of suicide attempts were seen among students who played video or computer games for more than two hours per day (OR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.30-1.85). A higher risk of suicidal ideation was found in people who slept less than 8 hours per day (OR = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.62-2.43). Suicide ideation was also more common among those who did not participate in any sports teams (OR = 1.50, 95%CI: 1.24-1.81) (Li et al., 2021). The results of this study suggest that high school students who engage in certain lifestyle behaviors (like spending a lot of time in front of the television or computer) are at a higher risk for suicidal behavior and ideation.
The research articles reviewed in this paper emphasize the role of lifestyle habits in both physical and mental illnesses. The research also suggests that positive lifestyle changes are essential for improving and maintaining physical and mental health. Each individual is unique and thus requires their own set of lifestyle modification programs. If I had all the resources necessary, I would educate the public about how inactivity, excessive consumption of unhealthy/inflammatory foods, obesity, and smoking are all linked to and influence other lifestyle factors through various underlying mechanisms. Even though it might be easier to take a step-by-step approach and change one lifestyle factor at a time, all lifestyle factors should be changed simultaneously. This is because they tend to work synergistically and have a greater impact on improving physical and mental health.
References
Berardelli, I., Corigliano, V., Hawkins, M., Comparelli, A., Erbuto, D., & Pompili, M. (2018). Lifestyle interventions and prevention of suicide. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00567
Li, X., Chi, G., Taylor, A., Chen, S.-T., Memon, A. R., Zhang, Y., Song, Y., Li, J., Luo, X., & Zou, L. (2021). Lifestyle behaviors and suicide-related behaviors in adolescents: Cross-sectional study using the 2019 YRBS Data. Frontiers in Public Health, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.766972
Silva, A. F., Júnior, C. A., Hinnig, P. de, Lima, L. R., & Silva, D. A. (2020). Suicidal behaviors and sedentary lifestyles among adolescents: A cross-sectional epidemiological study in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Clinics, 75. https://doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2020/e2015