Chapter 12

Chapter 12 centered around the use, misuse, and abuse of mind-altering drugs. It gave a general overview of how alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are used and abused on a community-level setting. For example, many people may use drugs because of coping with personal problems, giving in to peer pressure, more thoroughly enjoying social interactions, curious experimentation, a brazen attempt to escape from reality, and attempts to self-medicate.  A point that I can’t stress enough is that even though the chapter lists a large amount of reasons to take drugs does not mean that people should be more encouraged to take them!

Another topic in this chapter was that of drug dependency; the behaviors that I listed above are all factors that encourage drug dependency. Furthermore, if an individual experiences a drug abuse problem, their health and behavior will suffer greatly.  Drug misuse is the inappropriate use of any drug, while drug abuse refers to the taking of a drug that has not been medically approved for the specific individual with proper knowledge of the health risks.  Finally, drug dependency occurs when the user believes that taking a certain drug is absolutely necessary for everyday life.  Drug dependency is psychological problem that can be properly described as an illness; it needs to be treated as a medical problem in order to be resolved.

Drug abuse in the United States was a constantly rising trend in the 1990s, but proper educated has helped to stem the tide, and since 1998, it has decreased. Everybody knows that legal drugs, dependent on age, are alcohol and tobacco, while illegal drugs include stimulates, depressants, narcotics hallucinogens, marijuana, and others that are not prescribed by a doctor.  Surprisingly, illegal drugs are not as big of a problem as the abuse of prescription drugs; it is a common fad among teens to ingest a mixture of mystery prescription drugs at parties; however, this practice commonly leads to death.

The first step to negating drug use and abuse is to use preventative tactics. There are four elements of drug prevention and control: education, treatment, public policy, and law enforcement. Prevention has three levels, which are primary, secondary, and tertiary. The United States has been making a concerted effort in recent years to address prevention on the federal, state, and local levels.  For example, the government has implemented programs that involve drug testing in the work environment since 1987, a practice that steadily decreases workplace drug use.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 gives an in-depth discussion of the elderly community. This chapter exposes us to a plethora of different terms such as aged ‘geriatric’, ‘aging’ and many more.  The study of aging from the broadest range is called ‘gerontology,’ while the term ‘geriatrics’ is the medical practice that specializes with the treatment of those that are aging. The term ‘elders’ refers to the group of people that are currently 65 years old or older. Not only did this chapter define all of the important terms that goes along with aging but it also talked about the many different programs that are created to help assist the elderly. There are programs for healthcare such as medicaide along with a large amount of programs that help to assist the elderly in their living styles.  These services include programs to drive for the elderly, to bring them meals, and to provide housing. I’m glad that the book defined all these words because it helps the reader toddevelop a more thorough understanding of aging and getting old. Many questions that arose regarding the elderly, especially regarding the aging baby boomer generation came up in this discussion, including but not limited to: Will they deplete the social security fund? What does it mean to be “old”? Where can we house them comfortably? How do we afford living expenses and medical coverage? When does a person become classified as old? Essentially, “aging” is a set of changes that occur during the process of growing older.

Chapter 8

Abstract: Chapter 8 discusses the mortality rates and the causes for deaths of adolescents and adults. Some highlights of this chapter were: The leading causes of death among adolescents and young adults were: unintentional injuries (45%) homicide (16%) and suicide (12%).  It also talked about how there are 19 million new cases of STDs annually. Over half of all new cases came from this age group.  For the adult population the six leading are: unintentional injuries, cancer, heart disease, suicide, homicide, and HIV. The leading cancer for both men and women is lung cancer. Both sections end with ways to improve the health of each age group.

Summary: This chapter starts off with explaining the causes of deaths for adolescents and young adults aging from 15-24.  It explains that the three-fourths of all mortality can be attributes to three causes- unintentional injuries (mainly motor vehicle crashes), homicide and suicide.  It also talks about how some communicable diseases are specifically targeted at this age group.  The biggest ones are STD’s.  The reason for this is because this age group is more apt to have more than one sexual partner and to have unprotected sex.  The STD’s that are very prevalent are: HPV, HIV and AIDS. Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are also high on the list, but these are the most curable.  The chapter proceeds to talk about the behaviors of adolescents and young adults and how they have changed throughout the years.  It talks about tobacco use, drug and alcohol use and it even talk about unintended pregnancy and STD’s.  This part of the chapter concludes with strategies of helping all of these problems. It explains the four major principles which are:

1.     1.  Legal principle: you must be 21 to consume alcohol.

2.    2.   Abstinence principle: if you do not drink, don’t start; it is okay to abstain.

3.   3.    Social norming principle: not as many of your peers drink as you think.

4.   4.   Harm reduction principle: if you do end up drink, drink responsibly.

                This chapter ends with talking about the adult part of the population. It states “with life expectancy at birth between 75 and 80 years, most Americans can expect to live beyond their 65^th birthday”. The leading causes in this age group are: unintentional injuries, cancer, heart disease, suicide, homicide, and HIV. The leading cancer for both men and women is lung cancer and 87% is due to smoking. It also states that the best behavioral change that can be made is to stop smoking. 30% of the deaths in the United States are because of smoking.  This section also ends with strategies for improving health. It says that people need to engage in good behaviors that are health enhancing and for communities to continue to offer primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.

Chapter 7

Maternal, infant, and child health ranges from women of childbearing age from pre-pregnancy, through pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and the postpartum period of the child prior to and after birth, throughout adolescence. Maternal, infant, and child health are important indicators of a community’s health status. They are important indicators of the effectiveness of disease prevention and health promotion.

            This chapter discusses the issue of teenage births, which causes financial and social burdens on families and communities as a whole. Not to mention that teenage pregnancy can result in serious health consequences for both the mother and child. This is why one of the most important aspects of child bearing is family planning. Unplanned pregnancy can have an adverse effect on the health and lives of families and communities. Planned pregnancy also lowers the chances of an abortion being performed. Family planning agencies, such as Planned Parenthood, offer a range of services such as nutrition counseling, immunizations, prenatal care and physical examinations.

            There are many aspects that may have an effect on the health of an infant. Since infants are under total control of their parents, the lifestyles of parents will impact the health of the infant. Risky behaviors such as alcohol or tobacco use could have an adverse effect on the health of an infant. The leading cause of death in children is unintentional injury. Every year about one-fourth of all children sustain an injury severe enough to require medical attention, and injuries are the leading cause of disability in children. 

Chapter 6 Blog

           Chapter 6 primarily focused on the coordinated school health program and its impact on the health of children, their families, and the community.  The aforementioned impact is great because the school is the one institution through which all members of society must pass.  I think this fact is lost on most administrators when they make cuts on school budgets; beyond anything else, attending school is the one single thing that all Americans have in common and students need to be the best chance they can.  In this respect, the full potential of school health has not been reached due to lack of support and interest.  If implemented properly, however, coordinated school health programs can improve access to health services, educate students about pressing health issues, and provide a safe and healthy learning environment.

            The main foundations of the school health program include: (1) a school administration that supports such an effort, (2) a well-organized school health council that is genuinely interested in providing a coordinated program for the students, and (3) written school health policies.  These school health policies are critical for ensuring accountability, credibility, and the institutionalization of programs and efforts to make schools a healthy learning environment.  In a related aspect, it is important to focus on the eight components of a coordinated school health program.  They are: (1) school health services, (2) a healthy school environment, (3) school health education, (4) counseling, psychological, and social services, (5) physical education, (6) school nutrition services, (7) family/community involvement for school health, and (8) school-site health promotion for staff.

            On a broader level, the eight National Health Education Standards emphasize a skills-based curriculum focusing on the following: (1) core concepts; (2) analyzing influences; (3) accessing valid health information, products and services; (4) demonstrating interpersonal communication skills; (5) utilizing decision-making skills; (6) utilizing goal-setting skills; (7) practicing health-enhancing behaviors; and (8) advocating for personal, family, and community health.  These are important because they focus on a broader and less direct form of community health.

            There are a number of registries of effective health education programs that are maintained in order to assist health educators in locating and assessing available curricula to aid with education and informational purposes.  In addition, there are a number of issues that face school health advocates, including a lack of support for coordinated school health, dealing with controversy in the health curriculum, the implementation of school-based health centers, and violence in schools.

Chapter 4 Abstact

            In this chapter, it was important to note than diseases can be classified into different categories: communicable (infectious) or noncommunicable (noninfectious), and acute and chronic.  As we have previously learned, acute illnesses last for less than three months, and chronic illnesses last for longer than three months. 

Communicable diseases are caused by biological agents and are transmissable from a source of infection (wound) to a different person (host).  To best describe how communicable diseases are transmitted, the book details the chain of infection model.  In this, the interruption of disease transmission can be visualized as the breaking of one or more links in the chain.  On the other hand, noncommicable diseases are often the result of multiple risk factors that can genetic, behavioral, and environmental in origin.  Although they aren’t transmissible, several of the noncommunicable diseases rank among the leading causes of death in America.

There are three levels of disease prevention; primary, secondary, and tertiary.  Primary prevention includes measures that forestall the onset of disease or injury, while secondary prevention encompasses efforts aimed at early detection and intervention to limit disease and disability.  Tertiary prevention, on the other hand, includes measures aimed at re-education and rehabilitation after significant pathogenesis has occurred.  Both the spread of communicable diseases and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases can best be reduced by the appropriate application of the three preventative measures by the community and the individual.  And, as always, the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases require both individual and community efforts.

Chapter 3

Epidemiology: The Study of Disease, Injury, and Death in the Community

This chapter explored the idea of epidemiology. Epidemiologists are concerned with the course of disease in a population. The definition of epidemiology is the “study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control health problems”. The use of rates (birth, death, injury and disease) is frequent. Three different types of rates are incidence, prevalence and attack. The data collected by epidemiologists are used in the planning of health programs and facilities. There are many ways in which the data can be obtained. The U.S. Census, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), and National Health surveys are some of the most popular sources of information. There are two types of studies conducted by epidemiologists to help determine the cause of disease outbreaks: descriptive and analytic. Descriptive studies aim to describe the who, when, and where of an outbreak, while analytic studies focus on the idea of diseases and risk factors.