Areas of Risk for Older Adults
Old people are prone to risks due to their reduced function status. Two of the most common risks are poor nutrition and violent falls. The violent falls in older adults usually leads to loss of consciousness, seizures, and even abrupt onset of paralysis. Thus, violent falls and its associated injuries are a major cause of reduced quality of life and increased mortality among the geriatric population.
Likewise, poor nutrition, especially under-nutrition is a health problem which disproportionately affects the geriatric population, mainly due to changes in diet and eating patterns as well as lower socio-economic status due to loss of income (Yellowitz, 2016). It is thus patent that these two identified areas of risk for older adults need to be checked through developing and delivering a health promotion strategy which would address these specific areas of risk within the community with the intent of improving the quality of life as well as increasing the length of life among the geriatric population living in the society. This health promotion strategy is discussed below in relation to its development phases and delivery modes.
Health Promotion Strategy Nutrition
The main challenges that need to be addressed with regards to poor nutrition among old adults are discussed hereafter. First of all, the change in eating habits among old adults drives them to consume meals which have low nutritional value. Secondly, older adults do not actively seek nutrition-related information, and those who seek for nutrition-related advice encounter difficulties in getting the right advice from reliable sources. Thirdly, most of them are socially isolated and this further increases their nutritional risk. Furthermore, most of their informal caregivers or family members are unaware of existing services and programs which serve to improve the nutritional status of older adults.
Additionally, long-term planning is inadequate at the system level. Moreover, the current arrangements in the health-care system undermine provision of proper nutritional information to older adults (Somes & Donatelli, 2015). Thus, it is evident that the nutrition-related challenges are deeply-rooted in causes which go beyond the health-care system.The aforementioned challenges can be addressed in the following ways. First of all, there is need to strengthen the capacity of older adults to make healthy nutritional choices by availing the necessary nutritional information to them as well as providing the proper meals and food at affordable or subsidized costs. This would ensure that they consume nutritionally-rich meals. Secondly, there is need to improve the process of identification of older adults at the highest risk of malnutrition, and then supporting them to obtain and consume healthy diets. The identification process can be done using anthropometric measurements such as mid-arm circumference, body weight and the body mass index. Those at the highest risk …
