There has been an increasing incidence rate of adult onset diabetes among young adults over the past decade in the US. In public health, a stakeholder is defined as persons, organizations, or other groups who share a stake in the issue at hand. One of the biggest stakeholders in the issue presented in the problem definition are the patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes. As most of the key determinants of the disease revolve around unhealthy eating and/or a lack of physical exercise among young adults, a logical intervention would be to help these young adults eat healthier and to increase their physical exercises. However, this is easier said than done. It would be relatively difficult to cause such immediate change in the general population of young adults who have spent their entire lives eating whatever they wanted and not exercising. Changing their habits is something they would have to comply with, and it requires cooperation and agreement. In order to give these young adults incentive to comply with these guidelines, public health officials should begin by educating these patients and the general population about how important it is to treat your body correctly. Further, officials should do their best to surround the patients with healthier options; for example, they should impose guidelines that schools must follow about Physical Education and cafeteria food options, as well as reach out to the parents of the young adults in order that they provide a healthier environment for their child.
Another stakeholder in the issue presented in the problem definition are policymakers of the institutions/the parents of the patients that are to abide by the public health guidelines set by officials. For example, following from the argument regarding PE requirements and healthier food options in schools, the state and local governments, as well as the boards of the schools, must agree to comply with these actions. Getting these stakeholders (who are all authority figures) to comply should not be as difficult as getting the patients to comply- they will not be AS affected. Though, the biggest way to increase compliance is to inform these authority figures about how important health is among the affected young adults.
Lastly, another stakeholder in the issue present in the problem above would be those that must fund the change to healthier behaviors, namely, the parents of the young adults affected by type 2 diabetes. For example, parents might find that allowing their child to lead a healthier lifestyle can be more expensive, time consuming, and harder in general. Fully engaging in a healthier lifestyle appears to entail buying healthier foods (which are sometimes more expensive), seeking education about diabetes, finding exercise facilities, etc. However, public health officials may deal with this issue by portraying to these parents that being healthier is not always harder and more expensive; rather, it is just a different lifestyle. It is important that these officials show the parents that following these guidelines is not such a burden.
I really liked your blog. However, another stakeholder that you can take into account are the food companies especially such as the ingredients in fast foods or something like that. Also I really liked how you reinforced the physical education as stakeholders. It will be nice if you could also mention more specifics such as any medical services or any big organization that is going to be affected in your paper.
ReplyDeleteHowever it is good!
Nahyr
I liked that your descriptions of stakeholders and the interventions were clearly written and easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteThink too of other stakeholders involved - using your interventions as a guide. Like Nahyr mentioned, the food industry is a good one.
Others may be: mayors of cities (who may have to set up parks/centers) to allow for physical activity in the neighborhood, Public Health Officials addressing the problem of diabetes, Clinicians managing diabetics, media/communication, etc
How would Public Health officials show that being healthier is not necessarily harder?
Think of some things that they can communicate to families that can help the transition to increasing physical activity and improving diet. Perhaps starting with walks instead of hard physical work can be more encouraging?
What other issues would policymakers be concerned about? Would educating them about health necessarily get their buy in?
Being specific about what exactly you would do is very important. For example, setting up a campaign using posters and commercials using social media (that targets young adults) helps the reader understand exactly what you mean