PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMMUNITY NURSING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

globe HEALTH AND COMMUNITY NURSING - Essay ExampleOf concern specially is weed among adolescents which tidy sum chair to several wellness problems and birth defects in babies born to pregnant women who quite a little. Thus, the community selected for critical analysis of health needs in this essay is adolescent smokers. The extent of problem and the impact and effectiveness of public health in the primary care setting with reference to this community will be discussed through check out of suitable literature. The Community According to the 2009 statistics, 29 percent of pupils have tried smoking atleast once and the preponderance of smoking in girlish people was 6 percent. Though this proportion is the lowest since the time the stare began in 1982, it continues to be a significant problem for both health authorities and public. The prevalence of smoking between 11-15 years old has been estimated to be 6 percent. The prevalence is more among girls (7 percent) when compared to boys (5 percent). Another important finding of the survey is that the prevalence of smoking increases with age. At 11 years of age, the prevalence is 0.5 percent and at 15 years of age it is 15 percent. Ethnicity has an influence on the prevalence. It is more common in White pupils when compared to minacious of Mixed ethnicity pupils. It is also more prevalent in pupils coming from lower socioeconomic strata (Smith et al, 2009). According to the Smoking, deglutition and Drug Use survey of 2006 (NHS, 2007), nine percent of pupils in England are standard smokers and a but 5 percent are occasional smokers. The survey defined regular smokers as those smoking atleast unmatchable cigarette per week and occasional smokers as those smoking less than one cigarette a week. Pupils who take regularly ingest an average of 6 cigarettes a day, approximately 43.5 cigarettes a week. 74 percent of the regular smokers smoked cigarettes from a packet and 6 percent smoked from rolled tobaccos. Girls were more likely to smoke from a packet (NHS, 2007). Regular smoking in this age group has been associated with drug abuse, alcohol brainchild and truancy and school exclusion. The dependence of smoking by children is mainly related to the time they spend as regular smoker. Those who have smoked for more than a year as regular smokers have describe that they find it difficult to not smoke each day. However, more than 50 percent opined that they knew the ill make of smoking and thus would like to give up. Most pupils knew that smoking caused lung cancer. But two-thirds of them reported that they felt relaxed because of smoking. Thus, the straightaway benefits of smoking outweighed the future potential hazards of smoking. According to the survey, majority of pupils were aware of the fact that their families had negative attitude towards smoking. matchless third of the pupils who smoked did so secretly and occasional smokers were more likely to be secret smokers. Also, househ olds of pupils who smoked were more lenient that those who did not smoke (NHS, 2007). Since most adult smokers begin smoking at young age, it is every important to ascertain and understand the causes of smoking in young children so that predictors of smoking can be evaluated and targeted for prevention. Several risk factors have been studied in this regard. According to the Liverpool Longitudinal Smoking see (Smith et al, 2009), deprivation at both school and home was strongly associated with smoking among adolescents. The trial of smoking is influenced by several school-related environmental factors