Epidemiology Case Studies

This assignment will look at an 18 year old girl who is two months pregnant, and a smoker. It will be a reflection on a real life situation from practice, so all names and information that could identify the client, will be changed in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council guidelines to protect patient confidentiality (2004). For the purpose of this assignment the client will be called Hannah. Hannah left school at age 15, she lives in a council flat with her parents in Devon, and currently works 16 hours a week in a supermarket. This paper will look at the issue of smoking and smoking during pregnancy, in terms of its epidemiology. The main focus will then be on Health Promotion, and certain models and approaches will be addressed
The British Medical Association (BMA) has made links between smoking during pregnancy, and women’s educational backgrounds, economic and employment status (2004). Certain statistics show that Hannah’s individual circumstances may have put her at risk of becoming a teenage mother who smokes. Both Hannah’s parents smoke, and there is a direct correlation between children and young people starting to smoke, if they live in an environment with smokers (Fergusson et al 2007). She left school at age 15, and since then has been working in the supermarket. The BMA say women lacking in education are 10 times more likely to smoke during pregnancy, than women who stay in education until the age of 21 (2004). Studies have shown that around 26 per cent of women in unskilled occupations smoke, compared to only 4 per cent of women with professional jobs (BMA 2004). This indicates that Hannah is likely to be in a working environment where she is surrounded by many other smokers, which could make the process of quitting more
Firstly I discussed this matter in terms of its epidemiology, looking at statistics and figures for the south west, which is Hannah’s area. I also looked at the epidemiology of smoking more broadly throughout the UK, which highlighted just how many women find themselves in Hannah’s situation, and the possible factors that may count towards this occurring. I discussed health promotion models which may be suitable to aid education, and help to facilitate Hannah and other pregnant smokers towards taking a healthy path. I touched upon the Governments policies and actions which have been adopted to help people like Hannah choose to make a lifestyle change, and the push towards creating a healthy environment in which to sustain this. The ethical issues that arise from women smoking during pregnancy have been talked about, and possible ways to over come these