Needs Assessment For Tackling Type 2 Diabetes In Playford

The Prevalence of Diabetes in Australia

Question:

Discuss about the Medical Complications and Implications.

Before the commencing of any valuable program, there is, on many occasions the need to conduct a needs assessment. A needs assessment is mainly conducted to determine whether the development of the project at hand is appropriate, or there are other better ways through which the available resources can be utilized to avoid wastage of resources with certain projects when there are many other projects that are more appropriate for use with the same resources. A good example that has a significant need to carry out the needs assessment of projects before they begin is the Government. Almost all governments have a large list of many pending projects, and thus there is the need to choose the projects to utilize the available resources and those to forgo for future development (Marks, Coyne, & Pang, 2001). This paper provides a needs assessment for a project that will be utilized to tackle type 2 diabetes in the region of Playford.

According to Greg Johnson, the chief executive of the Australian Diabetes, there are more than 1.18 million individuals that are currently registered to have the condition of diabetes in Australia. Considering that this number is only inclusive of the individuals that have registered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme, then it implies that there is a significantly large number of individuals in the country who are suffering from the condition (LGA, 2013).

Australia has had significant challenges in improving its general health for the people that reside in the region. Health provision has been an issue for a long time. There has, however, been a significant effort from the government in the establishment of many schemes through which the citizens and individuals residing in the region can be able to maintain a high level of living standards with the health problem is solved completely. Diabetes is the recent major problem that the country is facing. 280 new cases are reported on a daily basis, regarding the same condition on more people to understand this issue closed, Professor Greg Johnson decided to establish a diabetes map which can reveal different Australian regions and the number of individuals in those regions that are suffering from the condition (Kwong, 2009).

Like it was required, the map managed to provide clear information regarding the condition in the country and the specific regions that have significant problems in the regions. One of the main revelation by this map is that South Australia is the region with the highest concentration of diabetes, with about 58 individuals being diagnosed with the condition for every 1000 tested individuals. Another significantly important revelation by this map was that the city of Playford had the largest number of individuals with this condition, where about 7.2 percent of the total population has the condition. In that city, therefore, there are more than 6000 individuals that are registered to have the condition. Among this population, 88.6 percent have type 2 diabetes, whereas 8.8 percent have type 1 diabetes. The map also made significant assistance for an individual to view the distributions and regions where more people are affected by the condition (Bunyip, 2013).

Diabetes in Playford

The first important aspect that was easy to view is the aspect of how the regions with poor populations are more affected by the condition compared to the regions that are considered to have individuals with much higher living conditions and standards. This observation reveals the fact that people who live in better conditions can avoid the condition compared to those whose living conditions are significantly low. The prevalence is also more on the elderly men and women that are middle-aged compared to children and the youths. With this regard, therefore, the vulnerable group of individuals who can easily obtain the diabetes condition is the individuals that live in poor areas and have low living standards together with majority of the elderly men and women. These are thus the individuals that are at a much higher risk of obtaining diabetes compared to others (Kagan, 2010).

Morbidity and mortality of individuals caused by Diabetes is another major aspect of consideration in this city that should be considered when making the decision on whether or not to have the diabetes intervention program project established. Statistics reveal that in Australia, the trend of death caused by diabetes type two has been increasing significantly. In the year 2004, for example, 1428 individuals died from diabetes type 2 while 364 individuals died from type one. In the year 2013, the number of type 2 diabetes deaths were 1964, and thus there was a significant increase from the previous years. In this number, the Playford city has been making a significant contribution in the number of deaths, being the region with the most population of individuals that have reported to have this chronic disease. This implies that it is highly appropriate t

Having described this data, use the resources supplied to outline: Which stakeholder groups (health professionals, community leaders and community members) you might contact in Playford,

Playford is one of the main towns where a large number of individuals reside. The place has many individuals that work in the healthcare industry. Due to this reason, these individuals can offer significant assistance on how to establish an intervention plan in the city that will help in the reduction of the number of individuals suffering from the condition. To begin with, the city has a large number of healthcare organizations. It is in these organizations that the individuals suffering from healthcare in the region visit and obtain treatment regularly. These are the first important individuals to contact, since they have access of all the individual that may be suffering from this condition. The individuals can help in providing any necessary strategy established. These individuals are also important to contact because they are also the places where people report to, when they realize that they may have become diabetic. This group of individuals, therefore has a significant need for contacting. Another group that may be contacted regarding this issue is the authorities of the city. The city authorities have the connection with the government and thus any funding of the intervention program may be availed or provided by this group. The city authorities is thus another important group of contacting in the city. The last important group to consider is the city’s community members. These are the individuals of the city, whose intervention program of the diabetes type II condition will be established. It is important to contact them in order to provide awareness of the intended plan.

Stakeholder Groups in Playford

How you might engage them and the methods you would use to determine levels and types of need (normative, felt, expressed and comparative) in the area of Diabetes with a focus on health promoting activities eg healthy diet, exercise, weight reduction.  

The city of Playford has a significant problem of Diabetes. The first main method before any intervention plan is making the determination of the reasons why this city has this problem and not all other cities. Information or answers to this questions can be established through the utilization of a study as the first intervention plan section. The study would be organized by the healthcare providers of the region, since they are the experts on the area of healthcare. Its provisions and result would provide a clear explanation of this condition and its cause in the country. (Goldstein, & Wieland, 2008).

After carrying out the study, it is likely that the results would provide information why the condition is significantly worse in this city compared to other regions of the country. With these reasons, the next step is establishing an intervention plan which will help the people manage to improve and those that have not obtained the condition to manage avoiding it. The plan would require to be communicated to the people and thus for that purpose the community members would play a significant role. Community members have the ability to create awareness of an issue in the city and thus they would provide the information to the individuals of the city. If for example the strategy involves a regular check up of all the individuals on this condition and helping those who may obtain the condition to receive early treatment before the condition worsens, then this information would be communicated to the individuals by the community members.

From the conditions of the city, it is clear that the main cause of this problem is the large number of individuals being extremely busy with their operations to an extent that they do not have time to involve in exercises and manage to remain fit. Another reason is the large population of individuals that lack good eating habits which eventually lead them to attaining condition. With this understanding, the most appropriate intervention plan is creating an awareness to the people on the most appropriate diet that they should embrace and the importance of regular exercises in order to help stop the condition of this issue from escalating. The city officials should provide funding for this intervention plan to be established.

Engagement Methods and Types of Need

The needs assessment is likely to have a number of challenges. The first main challenge is the issue of the city officials being reluctant in providing funding for the obtained intervention plan. For this plan to be successful, funding is appropriate. The most appropriate way through which I could address this challenge is making sure that I completely explain the importance of the plan and the means through which it could benefit the city. Another possible challenge is possible unwillingness by the community members to communicate about the issue to the rest of the people. I will overcome this challenge by making sure that I completely explain the ways through which the society is negatively affected by the condition and revealing how effectively the intervention plan can handle the issue if they take part in it successfully (Colagiuri, 2003).

Conclusion

Effectiveness and improvement of living standards is a major goal that both the government and individuals seek to improve. The government invests its resources in projects that are aimed to help people manage to improve their lives, while people establish living strategies that will help them manage to increase their daily earnings and thus obtain better lives. The condition at Playford is, however, making it extremely difficult for all individuals living in the region to improve their living conditions and become even better regarding development and operational effectiveness. With this understanding, a major aspect of consideration is the means through which change can be established in the region, which will help the individuals manage to live in a much better way. Since the main problem facing the city is the health issue of diabetes, the most important project to establish in the region is an intervention strategy that will help fight and completely suppress the issue of diabetes in the region. This action will improve both the society and the lives of many individuals (Campbell, & Rubin, 2012).

References

Blas, E. & Kurup, A. (2010). Equity, social determinants and public health programmes. Switzerland: World Health Organization.

Bunyip, (2013). Playford’s diabetes problem: Gawler Bunyip. Retrieved from https://www.bunyippress.com.au/playfords-diabetes-problem/

Campbell, L. & Rubin, A. (2012). Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Colagiuri, S. (2003). DiabCo$t Australia : assessing the burden of type 2 diabetes in Australia. Randwick, N.S.W: Australian Centre for Diabetes Strategies.

Goldstein, B. & Wieland, D. (2008). Type 2 diabetes : principles and practice. New York: Informa Healthcare.

Kagan, A. (2010). Type 2 diabetes : social and scientific origins, medical complications and implications for patients and others. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.

Kwong, T. (2009). Medical communication skills and law : the patient centred approach : made easy. Edinburgh New York: Churchill Livingstone.

LGA, (2013). Population Health profile Of the Playford Local Government Area, South Australian. Local Government Association.

Marks, G., Coyne, T. & Pang, G. (2001). Type 2 diabetes costs in Australia : the potential impact of changes in diet, physical activity and levels of obesity. Canberra: Dept. of Health and Aged Care.

Playford, (2014). City of Playford public Health Directions Report: Public Health Directions Report