Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Responses

From #

Response 1

My colleague indicates that according to her interpretation of the data presented, middle school problems are on the rise. She further observes that in her school, the most prevalent concerns have been physical fights/confrontations among students and cyberbullying. The latter appears to be problematic in most settings as I have also encountered students who happen to have fallen victim to the same. This could be attributed to the advent of social media. My colleague also indicates that she was surprised by data regarding the prevalence of chronic sadness and hopelessness. This also happens to be the piece of data that surprised me most. I am in agreement with my colleague that this could be triggered by modern way of life – where kids no longer engage in diverse outdoor activities and meaningful playground interactions. Life is likely to be dull when a majority of time is spent behind screens.

Response 2

As my colleague indicates, before the COVID-19 pandemic, school attendance was rather high but registered a slight drop as distance learning was embraced as a mitigation measure to rein in the spread of the virus. This was the case across the board. We are likely to witness increased attendance going forward as we return to normalcy and as the government deploys various measures to promote attendance and engagement. My colleague also indicates that she was surprised by data indicating that alcohol use and cigarette smoking had registered a decline. This, as she observes, is more so the case given that these happen to be a serious concern in her school district. In my opinion, this is a clear indication of the effectiveness of some strategies over others – and, thus, the need to engage in benchmarking.

From #2197722

Response 1

My colleague appears to be in huge favor of leading by example when it comes to disease prevention. For instance, she indicates that students routinely witness her using sanitizers to wipe down surfaces. This sends a message that the very same behavior is expected of them. This is in my opinion an ideal approach because as an old adage points out, ‘actions speak louder than words.’ Thus, we must be practitioners of the ideals we teach with regard to health promotion, behavior change, and infection/disease prevention. It is however important to note that I feel my colleague ought to have clearly listed, in point-by-point format, the steps she would take in efforts to prevent communicable diseases. At present, the write-up does not have a course of action in this regard.