Intro to health improvement

Question 1

What are the 4 key concepts of health improvement?

Answer 1

1. Action at improving health
2. Prevention of development of clinical conditions
3. Mitigation of the impact of existing conditions to improve QoL
4. Reduction in inequality in health

Question 2

What are modifiable risk factors?

Answer 2

Risk factors that can be targeted by interventions to reduce their impact on health

Question 3

What is population attributable risk?

Answer 3

The proportion of incidents of a disease attributable to a risk factor.

Question 4

What can act as protective factors to prevent disease?

Answer 4

1. General socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions
2. Social and community networks
3. Individual lifestyle factors

Question 5

What are some general socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions that impact health outcomes? (8)

Answer 5

1. Agriculture and food production e.g. pesticides
2. Education
3. Working environment
4. Living conditions
5. Unemployment
6. Water and sanitation
7. Health care services
8. Housing

Question 6

When is health improvement most effective?

Answer 6

When the problem is addressed before people can become unwell

Question 7

What are two approaches for health improvement?

Answer 7

1. Population approach
2. High- risk approach

Question 8

What is the population approach?

Answer 8

• targeted at whole community
• reduce risk factor irrespective or individuals
• shift the mean of entire population distribution
• risk-benefit balance for whole community

Question 9

What is the high-risk approach?

Answer 9

• targets those within the population most as risk
• screening or case finding for those at risk
• the preventative measures are targeted
• the risk-benefit balance is individually assessed

Question 10

What is an example of a population approach intervention?

Answer 10

Sugar tax

Question 11

What is the prevention paradox?

Answer 11

When a large number of people with a small risk give rise to more cases of a disease than the small number of people at high risk.

Question 12

What prevention approach is more likely to lead to a prevention paradox? Why?

Answer 12

High-risk approach

There is still a population risk for those people not targeted by the intervention so having less cases in the high risk population, means that those at a small risk will make up a larger percentage of those presenting with a disease.

Question 13

What interventions are included in the intervention ladder (from less to more intervention)?

Answer 13

• Do nothing/monitor
• Provide information to educate
• Enable choice (allow people to change on their own)
• Guide change through changing the default option
• Guide choice through incentives
• Guide choice through disincentives
• Restrict choice
• Eliminate choice