Capella 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan NURS-FPX 4060 Practicing in the Community to Improve Population Health ​​​​​​​Community Health Concern: Tobacco Use

Tobacco use is common among communities and is considered a major community health concern due to its harmful and lethal effects on humans. Every year, approximately 7,000,000 deaths occur due to direct use of tobacco products and 1,200,000 people die due to exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke (WHO, 2022). Tobacco is utilized in the form of smoked tobacco and smokeless tobacco. The smoke tobacco cigarette release smoke which leads to many dangerous health problems.

Capella 4060 Assessment 1

Smoking tobacco products are vaping e-cigarettes, hookah, and traditional cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco products are loosely packed and chewed tobacco leaves in the form of chewable tobacco leaves, snus, tobacco paste, etc. These products contain nicotine which is the culprit behind all tobacco-related diseases. Nicotine has a direct or indirect effect on the brain’s reward system which causes addiction (Le Foll et al., 2022; Omare et al., 2021). 

The underlying assumptions and uncertainties in tobacco use can be the lack of knowledge about the health consequences of tobacco use, fear of not being able to quit smoking, and feeling of dependence on tobacco in daily life. These factors contribute to increased use of tobacco products and reduce smoking cessation. Therefore, this health promotion plan is developed to promote awareness of the harms of tobacco and practical ways to quit the use of all types of tobacco products.

Tobacco Use and Need for Health Promotion Plan

People utilize and inhale tobacco in the form of vaping e-cigarettes, hookah, chewing tobacco, and smoking. All  these tobacco products pose serious health issues such as lung cancer, respiratory issues, heart diseases, and type 2 diabetes (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2022). Tobacco use not only causes health disorders but also costs hundreds of billions of dollars in one year leading to an unstable economy in the country. According to CDC, 11.5% of adults in the U.S. used tobacco in 2021 in the form of smoking cigarettes comprising 13.1 % of men and 10.1% of women. In another report by CDC, the statistics of using smokeless tobacco in the U.S. are about 2.1% of adults which makes 5.2 million adults (CDC, 2023).  

A similar situation was found to be present in the Joseph community of Colorado in the U.S. The community health survey was conducted prior and results showed that 75% of community members were tobacco users. Around 30 % of tobacco users were those who smoked cigarettes, 15% of them are utilizing chewable tobacco, 20% are using e-cigarettes, and 10% used hookah. The majority of the people are young adults and older people who are active tobacco users.

Capella 4060 Assessment 1

The results of the survey also identified the causes of the immense use of tobacco in this community. This included a lack of knowledge about the lethal effects of tobacco use, overcoming addiction barriers, and the unavailability of rehabilitation services for smoking cessation. This shows that the community deprives of healthcare services and is facing health disparities. Underlying factors contributing to these issues recognized through surveys can be poor socioeconomic conditions and racism.

This demands the development of a health promotion plan for the native members of the Joseph community. Therefore, being a community nurse, I developed a health promotion plan for this community which will include overall tobacco cessation interventions and awareness to promote education on tobacco use to prevent youngsters become future tobacco users.

Population Demographics

The population of the Joseph community of Colorado actively participating in this health promotion plan is 40% teenagers, 50% young adults, and 10% older people being chain tobacco users. The majority of these individuals are males and few are females. All of these participants are avid to acquire knowledge about how tobacco use is damaging to the body and practical interventions for its cessation.

60% of these participants are unmarried and studying. 40% are married and working with low income. 50% of community dwellers are educated to high school level and 20% were studying in high school, 30% were reluctant to reveal their education levels. Their lifestyle is simple due to limited resources. Ethnically they are all black people who happen to face health disparities in healthcare systems. 

Agreed-Upon Health Goals with the Population

An educational session was planned for the community members of Joseph’s community to create a health promotion plan in order to quit using tobacco products. The population was classified into three groups. One was for teenagers, other two were for young adults and older people. To each group, questionnaires w