PREVENTING CHILDHOOD OBESITYBALANCING HEALTH THROUGH PROGRAM PLANNING

Alexa Guarino

SCENARIO

• I am a senior at Kent State University. I will be graduating in May with a degree in Public Health: Health Education and Promotion.

• One of the requirements in my final semester is to complete a class called Program Planning in Health Education.

• In this class, I am asked to demonstrate the skills I have acquired over the past four years and use them to develop a health promotion program for my future employer.

• The workplace scenario on the next page is a demonstration of how I will have use my knowledge in research and health education and promotion in a professional setting.

WORKPLACE SCENARIO• I recently started working for the company called Health Promotion and Wellness

Resources.

• In our Monday morning meeting, my new boss presented the weekly public health topic for my leadership group to focus on, which happens to be the epidemic of obesity among children and adults and how it can be prevented.

• The group of new hires is then selected by my new boss, which includes me, and asked to use our researching skills from college to find and present information on the prevalence of obesity and the most effective ways to prevent it in the priority populations including children and adults.

• The information gathered and presented by my group is what will be used to plan, implement, and evaluate several health promotion program for childhood and adult obesity prevention.

• I was then asked by my leadership group to specifically focus my research on childhood obesity and prevention, while the other new hire focused on adult obesity prevention.

RESEARCH QUESTION

• Should health promotion programs focus on obesity prevention specifically for children or adults?

• What are the effects of childhood obesity (short/long-term) and how does it influence a child’s life?

• What methods work in preventing childhood obesity?

DEFINITION & PREVALENCE OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

• Defined by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Overweight is having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 year (CDC).

• As stated by Let’s Move, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese, and the numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are obese or overweight.

RISK FACTORS FOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY

• Maternal factors (weight prior to conception)

• Parental obesity (genetics)

• Psychosocial factors

• Racial/ethnic differences

• Socio-economic status

• Built environment

• Dietary patterns

• Activity patterns

• Sleep duration

• Time spent in front of a television/computer

HEALTH EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

• Immediate health effects:

• High cholesterol and high blood pressure

• Pre-diabetes; which is when blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes

• Bone and joint problems

• Sleep apnea

• Social and psychological problems; such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem

HEALTH EFFECT OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

(CONTINUED)

• Long-term health effects:

• Obese children are likely to be obese as adults which can lead to:

• Heart disease

• Type 2 diabetes

• Stroke

• Several types of cancer; including breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate

• Osteoarthritis

PREVENTION METHODS FOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY

• School-based healthy eating and physical activity programs for childhood obesity prevention (Veugelers, 2005)

• These programs can reach almost all children

• They can enhance learning and provide social benefits, enhance health during the most critical periods of growth and development, lower the risk for chronic diseases in adulthood, and help to establish healthy behaviors at an early age that will lead to lifelong healthy habits

• Schools can implement policies and practices that provide a healthy menu, a quality physical and health education program, and the elimination of vending machines

• P. Veugelers states in his article that “Intensive and multifaceted school programs that encompass the CDC guidelines were demonstrated to be effective in preventing childhood obesity” (Guidelines on next slide)

• School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (CDC)

• Use a coordinated approach to develop, implement, and evaluate healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices

• Establish school environments that support health eating and physical activity

• Provide a quality school meal program

• Implement a comprehensive physical activity program with quality physical education

• Implement health education that provides students with knowledge, attitudes, skills and experiences needed for a healthy life

• Provide students with health, mental health and social services

• Partner with families and community member in the development of school health programs

• Employ qualified persons for physical education, health education, nutrition services, mental health staff positions

PREVENTION METHODS FOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY (CONTINUED)

• Parental and home-based interventions for prevention (Skouteris, 2010)

• Feeding styles (pressure to eat, restriction, monitoring and control of dietary intake)

• Instrumental behaviors (using food as a reward)

• Availability (degree in which parents provide a health environment)

• Role modeling (weight-related behaviors)

• Parent’s nutritional knowledge

• These have all been shown to be associated with child eating, physical activity habits and child weight status

• H. Skouteris said in her article about childhood obesity prevention, “interventions that target parental beliefs and practices known to be associated with overweight may be beneficial in the prevention of excessive weight gain”

• Key goals to address in home-based interventions are to set firm limits on television watching and other media, establish habits of frequent physical activity at home, and limit restaurant eating and the consumption of junk food (S. Kar, 2014)

RESEARCH QUESTION && CONCLUSION

• Research Question: • Should health promotion programs focus on obesity prevention

specifically for children or adults?

• Conclusion: • After researching the definition, prevalence, risk factors, health

risks, and prevention methods for childhood obesity, I believe that the most effective way to prevent obesity in the United States is to tailor health promotion programs for children and adolescents.

CONCLUSION (CONTINUED)

• An obese child later grows up to become an obese adult, therefore, the role of primary prevention would be most effective when implemented at an early age (S. Kar, 2014)

• Primary and secondary prevention plans are seen as most important when aiming to control the epidemic of obesity

• Effective plans to prevent childhood obesity include one’s that target an individuals modifiable behaviors, their built environment, physical activity, and diet

• The strategies should be initiated at home, in-school settings, or after-school services

RESEARCH PROCESS• I began the research process by getting background information on the growing

epidemic of childhood obesity (e.g definitions, prevalence, risk factors, health effects)

• I searched government websites (e.g CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Let’s Move) to define the terms obesity and overweight. These were also used to find statistics and information on the history and prevalence childhood obesity.

• Since it is a growing epidemic, it was necessary to find information from the past and present.

• When searching for books, articles, website and statistics, I searched by relevance and by date. I needed information portraying how this epidemic has grown over the years and information on where we are at now with it.

• When searching for prevention methods it was necessary to use the keywords “effective prevention methods” for childhood obesity.

• It did not matter if the articles and websites were from the past or present. The search needed to be based off the word “effective”, since I was gathering research for a program plan that is effective in preventing childhood obesity.

RESOURCES USED

• I used OhioLINK and Google Scholar to find books.

• I used EBSCO Academic Search Complete and Google Scholar to find articles.

• The information found on the web was through the main Google search tool. I found a number of credible websites using Google, who are aiming to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity.

• I used aspe.hhs.gov, cdc.gov, and letsmove.gov to find background information and statistics.