Rogers

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Jonathan Rogers
Dr. Paul Anderson
12/8/15
English-1010-016
Exploratory Research Paper
Public Health Worries
Introduction
How is your health? Think about that, how healthy are you? Could you be healthier? In
our society there are many problems with public health such as obesity, tobacco, alcohol and
other diseases many of which are preventable. So many of the deaths of our loved ones are
preventable if we are knowledgeable and willing to help. This topic interests me because I plan
on working in healthcare and helping those who are sick or affected by these problems and
diseases. My main question that I was looking to answer was what were some of the problems in
public health and their causes. In this paper I will provide sources that show some of the
problems and causes in public health.
A History of Public Health
Public health has almost always been an issue, in 1798, John
Adams passed a law to help the sick sailors which lead to many
marine hospitals. Finally, in 1889, Congress created the United
States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. For over 200
1

years public health has been a concern in the United States. More

1
http://www.usphs.gov/aboutus/history.aspx

Figure 1
Source: Wikipedia

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recently we have Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health
Organization (WHO) that regulate and report on Public Health.

Advertising in Public Health

I began with this article because it shows that a main cause of our public health problems
come from advertising unhealthy items. I used Academic Search Premier in order to search for
this article. I originally searched Public Health which brought many results, I chose this article
in the end because I felt that it set up the background and one of the underlying causes of public
health problems. The authors of this academic article are Marla B. Royne and Marian Levy. The
article is titled Reaching Consumers Through Effective Health Messages: A Public Health
Imperative and is published in the Journal of Advertising Vol. 44 Issue 2, p85-87 in 2015. The
purpose of this article to make people aware of the problem in advertising against consumer
health. The intended audiences of the Journal of Advertising, is marketers and business owners.
In the article, the authors begin by explaining the problem we are facing now with the marketing
and advertising of unhealthy products. They explain that many marketing campaigns are focused
on those who are vulnerable like children or seniors. They also explain that we arent able to
advertise or market healthy choices as well because those trying dont have the funding that the
bigger companies have. The authors then give several sources of expert opinion to show the
options that we have to fix the problem. They compile many different sources to give several
options, all in the same place. They are able to explain the problem and give solutions. I agree
that there is a problem with advertising. Many companies pay a lot in order to advertise their
product. The products that are advertised the most are often unhealthy or they may cause
unhealthy habits. The people advertising the healthier options and lifestyles are not as

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experienced and they dont have the resources to make a very large impact. I like that in this
article the authors make this problem known, and they also give options to fix it. The main thing
that I learned from this article is that there are many ways we can fix this problem in advertising.
I also learned that many people are trying to help by looking for solutions. And I also learned
that there is a real problem in advertising and it is affecting us negatively at this time. This article
is of value because it shows what is causing some of the problems in public health, and gives
ways to fix this problem. This article shows the negative aspects in advertising but it lacks
detailed examples or explanations of the major problems talked about like obesity and tobacco.

Figure 2; Advertising to kids

Source: Google Images

Figure 3; Smoking Ad
Source: Google Images

Obesity
This article shows one of the problems in public health, obesity, something that can be
prevented and helped. And something that can be caused by advertising unhealthy foods a lot to
minors and to adults. It was written by Peggy Ward-Smith and is a Journal Article. It is titled
Obesity Americas Health Crisis and is was published in Urologic Nursing 30.4 in 2010. The

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authors main purpose is to inform of the health risks of weight gain or obesity and to encourage
nurses to set the example and help those who need it. The intended audience are urologic health
care professionals. In this article the author begins by explaining what obesity is. Then she is
able to explain the problem that it is. The author explains many of the less know health risks that
come from obesity. She shows that obesity can cause problems when treating other illness and
gives many examples to support this. She states In addition to the presence of these diseases,
treating the obese patient is medically challenging. There are weight-associated anesthesia,
positioning, and healing risks with any treatment. (page 243) The author then goes on and
speaks of Obesity Interventions which she explains, have three many points; energy
modifications, changing the persons diet, and
medications. She finishes the article by explaining
all of the benefits of changing and helping others
change. She explains that many patients after losing
weight not only felt better physically, but those other
problems and diseases calmed down as well. I agreed
that we need to do something to help those around us.
And I also agree that it is best to set the example and

Figure 4
Source: Google Images

really try to help others follow. I also feel that her call to action for other nurses was good. I
dont however think it was strong enough. I feel that she spent the whole article giving facts and
showing problems, which is good, but if her intention the whole time was to help nurses take
action, I feel that she should have tried to focus on them throughout rather than just at the end. I
learned that there are many other problems that come with obesity other than just being
overweight. I also was surprised to learn that many obese patients cannot receive the care they

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need for other problems due to their obesity. It has opened my eyes more fully to this problem.
This is article helps show one of the greatest problems in public health and one of the biggest
causes for preventable death in the U.S. although this article was written in 2010 it is still
relevant, according to WHO (World Health Organization) In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults,
18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese.2 This article gives
things we can do to help those who are obese but I feel that it lacks what we could be doing to
prevent the problem from starting.
Physical Activity
This article shows one of the things that we can do to prevent or reduce obesity,
physical activity. This research article is the write-up of a study in Spain and was written
by Natalia Maria Arias-Palencia, Monserrat Solera-Martinez, Luis Gracia-Marco, Pedro
Silva, Vicente Martinez-Vizcaino, Jorge Canete-Garcia-Prieto, and Mairena SanchezLopez. The article is called Levels and Patterns of Objectively Assessed Physical
Activity and Compliance with Different Public Health Guidelines in University Students
and was published in Plos ONE 10.10 on 11/4/2015. The purpose of this article was to
give the results of studies done to show the level of physical
activity in college students. The purpose of the study was to
be able to create programs specifically for college students in
order to help them with their physical activity and prevent
future problems. This article begins by explaining the study
and research that was done. They explain what physical
activity is and they show that there are many

2
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

Figure 5 Source: Google

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recommendations from different sources on the amount of physical activity we should do.
They also show the benefits of physical activity and explain why it is necessary. They
then explain the experiment in detail, and give the results. In the end they show that the
students were not meeting the recommendations for physical activity. They also explain
that more activity is done during the week than the weekend and also that in the
university students they studied, there was a lot of sedentary time. Although this study is
done on students in Spain, it can apply to us too. Physical activity is an important part of
our lives and if we would meet the recommendations many of the health risks we face
such as obesity would be less prevalent. I learned that we arent doing enough physical
activity to help ourselves. I would have thought that many university students would be
doing a lot, but I was surprised to find out that in this study, the students didnt do as
much as expected. I learned that we need to do more so that we may be healthy and help
prevent the deaths that come from obesity and other factors that are preventable. This
article gives one way that we can combat one of the many problems in public health.
Through physical activity as stated here we can prevent many of the diseases affecting us.
It only talks about one way to help our public health, there are many other issues that can
be addressed one of which is tobacco.
Smoking Risks
Smoking tobacco is a major problem and risk in public health. According to an
article in The Oxford Journals Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of
premature death and disability in the world3 The article is titled Smokings Toll on
Health is Even Worse Than Previously Thought, a Study Finds. This newspaper article

3
http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/05/21/her.cyu022.full#ref-1

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was written by Denise Grady and published in The
New York Times on Feb. 11 2015. The main
audience of The New York Times are those who are
college graduates. People from around the world
also read it. The authors purpose is to inform of the
new findings and health risks of smoking. This
article is focused on sharing the results of a recent

Figure 6
Source: Google Images

study. It explains that we already know of many diseases and problems related to
smoking and that there are even more. The recent studies show that there are many more
problems caused by smoking now. She shares the findings of the study and explains that
like most smoking research it is observational because ethics does not allow us to tell
someone to smoke just for research. Observational means that they can only observe the
behaviors and outcomes of smokers. I do agree that there is a lot to be worried about
when it comes to tobacco. The results of this study arent very shocking, because we
know that smoking is bad, but it they are very sad results. I learned some of the specific
cancers and diseases caused by smoking. I learned also that it is hard to study these things
and get solid evidence. But we have found out so much and it is likely we will find more.
The diseases that had previously been established by the surgeon general as caused by
smoking were cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, larynx, lung,
bladder, kidney, cervix, lip and oral cavity; acute myeloid leukemia; diabetes; heart
disease; stroke; atherosclerosis; aortic aneurysm; other artery diseases; chronic lung
disease; pneumonia; influenza; and tuberculosis. (Paragraph 18) This article shows yet

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another preventable risk to our public health. This may show the risk but it doesnt show
what we are doing to combat that risk.
Smoke-Free Laws
This final article shows one of the many things we are doing to stop or prevent
smoking from being a major risk. This is a magazine article publish online at
healthland.time.com on Oct. 30, 2012, Time Magazine is generally targeted towards
educated successful people. Smoke-Free Laws Are Saving Lives was written by Laura
Blue and the purpose of the article is to inform of the benefits of new smoke-free laws.
The author explains the benefits of new laws that make restaurants and other public
places smoke free. She Explains that these laws started in the United States and are now
expanding to other countries because of success. She
gives a couple of examples where positive health effects
were seen after the laws were enacted. The article also
explains that these laws are still new and that the studies
that have been done arent concrete. But we can see from
the article that there are benefits to these laws. I believe
Figure 7
Source: Google Images

that these laws are a very good way to combat one of the
highest causes of preventable death, smoking. I agree

that these laws are doing good. I was shocked that people are thinking that these laws are
bad because it is restricting smokers and taking their freedom away. I think the benefits
are much better, as a non-smoker I do not enjoy inhaling secondhand smoke. These laws
help prevent inhalation of secondhand smoke. I learned that there is research on these
laws and that the primitive results are showing good things. I also learned that there are

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people who feel that these laws are unfair. This shows something we are doing to fight
the bad effects of smoking. It shows that there are things in place to help prevent this
public health problem.
There Is More to Do
While we have explored a few of the problems and causes in public health, there
are still many more issues we could look at. As we can see there are a lot of dangerous
risks out there and we need to be doing all we can in order to win this battle. I began
wondering what the major risks in public health were and what we were doing to reverse
and stop them. By researching I was able to see that there are far too many problems to
address in one research paper, but I also learned a lot about the few issues I looked into.
Public health is really important for all of us because if we do what we can and follow the
guidelines set for us, many preventable deaths will be prevented. Knowing what I do
know, I will continue studying and researching so that I may do my part in helping those
who are suffering.

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Works Cited
1 Royne, Marla B., and Marian Levy. "Reaching Consumers Through Effective
Health Messages: A Public Health Imperative." Journal Of Advertising 44.2
(2015): 85-87. Business Source Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
2 Ward-Smith, P. "Obesity -- America's Health Crisis." Urologic Nursing 30.4
(2010): 242-245 4p. CINAHL Complete. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
3 Arias-Palencia, Natalia Mara, et al. "Levels And Patterns Of Objectively Assessed
Physical Activity And Compliance With Different Public Health Guidelines In University
Students." Plos ONE 10.10 (2015): 1-15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
4 Grady, Denise. "Smokings Toll on Health Is Even Worse Than Previously
Thought, a Study Finds." Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 11 Feb. 2015.
Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/health/smokingshealth-toll-worse-than-previously-thought-study-says.html?_r=0>.
5 Blue, Laura. "Smoke-Free Laws Are Saving Lives." Healthland.time.com. Time
6 Magazine, 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
<http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/30/smoke-free-laws-are-saving-lives/>.

Appendix A
Source 1
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=709fae5b-81c1-4f8a-86eb-
aff2c9df8d54%40sessionmgr114&hid=104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=102578
551&db=buh
Source 2
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=4449e1dc-22da-43e4-aa95-
5e870701c520%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=105
015935&db=ccm

Source 3
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=4449e1dc-22da-43e4-aa95-
5e870701c520%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=110
717709&db=aph

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Source 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/health/smokings-health-toll-worse-than-previously-
thought-study-says.html?_r=0

Source 5

http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/30/smoke-free-laws-are-saving-lives/