What Information Would A Community Gather About The Existence Of Childhood Overweight And Obesity In This Community Case Study

Transition to 1st Main Point: To begin with, I will inform you, how and where Childhood Obesity starts.

They are on a regular diet with few restrictions on fried foods and fat intake. The children eat school lunch and the parents from outside restaurant choices. Mom tries to cook a meal a day after work or they seldom eat Subway or Pizza Hut. No variation in weight gain or weight loss reported. They try to eat dinner as a family at home on a regular basis. However, this was not feasible all of the time due to dad’s late night work hours and CH basketball practices after school. They generally get 6-7 hours of sleep per night and denied any sleep deprivation. No exercise program has been implemented by this family. CH is the only physically, athletic member. DH stated that he likes to ride his bike. The children are active in Sunday school and participate in summer camp.

Public health issue refers to a health issue that affects the populations as a whole and its financial burden to the society. Childhood obesity is a major public health issue that has impacted the public population health and the cost to prevent and control it. The primary concern deals with obese children growing into obese adults in the future posing an increase in health care cost to obese related health conditions. Strongly linked to mortality and morbidity in adulthood, childhood obesity can cause low self-esteem, eating disorders, negative body image, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular health factors and decreasing the quality of life (Thorpe, et al., 2004). Social determinants of health impact the risk behaviors of childhood obesity from diet and built environment. At the family level, examples of both determinants can be seen in changes to family structures, socioeconomic status, and perceptions and attitudes toward health and nutrition. Children spend most of their time in a school setting, so school setting changes have been made to nutritional and physical activity policy, physical education equipment, and the sales if unhealthy food and drinks.

Childhood obesity fast becoming a worldwide epidemic, and according to the Bureau of Statistics (cited in Browne 2012, p.20), 23 per cent of children are overweight or obese in Australia. Browne (2012, p.20) suggests that by children being weighed regularly by their doctor, just as they were when they were babies and toddlers, it will help doctors and parents to closely monitor their weight. Although obesity is caused by an imbalance of the calories consumed with the output of energy through metabolism and exercise (O’Gorman et al., 2011; Wang, 2008), the reason/s for this imbalance can arise from several of the 10 social determinants (the social gradient, stress, early life, social exclusion, work, unemployment, social support, addiction,

Obesity has been a major health issue in the community for the past three decades, and has recently become a spreading concern for children (Black & Hager, 2013). Childhood obesity leads to many health and financial burdens in the future, and has become a public health priority. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016), childhood obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Black and Hager (2013) state that pediatric obesity is a major public health problem that effects a child’s mental and physical health. Having childhood obesity also increases the risk of developing adult obesity and many other chronic illnesses. Childhood obesity will be further explored in the following sections and will include: background, current surveillance methods, epidemiology analysis, screening and diagnosis, and the plan of action.

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, “approximately 12.7 million of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese.” (Childhood Obesity Facts 2011, para.1) There are many factors that cause this outrageous number of obese children. Family history, genetics, community environment, and lifestyle are a few factors. We have also become very complacent and made ourselves too busy to perform a

Additional research needs to be conducted on the accuracy and effectiveness of alternate forms of health screening, such as body fat percentage. Schools must educate teachers and staff on the causes of obesity so attitudes do not negatively affect overweight or obese students. Schools should implement additional obesity prevention methods, rather than just screenings. As previously stated, physicians often do not have conversations with parents about the weight of their children until after the children are already overweight or obese. Schools need to be an environment where health is a priority but size discrimination is not tolerated. Schools should also ensure that programs are available for children who are overweight or obese. If schools communicate health information with parents, they must do so confidentially, appropriately, and offer support and follow-up

The topic of childhood obesity has been widely discussed in the community recently. It is an important issue because it concerns our children’s health and wellness. In the simplest form, overweight can be described as having more fat than is healthy. We all have some body fat but too much can cause serious health issues. A person who is overweight weighs more than the healthy range for his or her gender, age and height. Thirty five years ago, only 15% of children were overweight in Canada. Today, children are getting bigger and it is only getting worse. According to Stats Canada, almost a third of Canadians aged 5 to 17 are overweight or obese. Boys aged 5 to 11 were three times more likely to be overweight than girls. Unfortunately many children do not overcome obesity and continue to gain weight into adulthood. Dr. Mark Tremblay, Director of Active Living and Obesity Research at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, feels that Canada is too caught up in continuing pilot studies on obesity and feels more action needs to be taken. If we want our children to live long healthy lives, preventing childhood obesity is crucial. We have to encourage healthy food choices and physical activity. Because of the quantity and quality of food choices, sedentary lifestyles and family influences and/or genetics, child obesity is becoming a rising disease in today’s society. Child obesity is a growing epidemic that is detrimental to the health of our future generation.

When looking at the distribution of childhood obesity, it is clear that there are differences in the prevalence of obesity among living conditions, minority groups, and low socioeconomic status (CDC, 2015). The

Prevalence of obesity in the children introduced in Elementary School is an article published by Journal of Nursing discussing childhood obesity in elementary schools. Obesity is defined as excessive accumulation of body fat (deWit & O’Neill, 2014). The article is based on studies performed in Brazilian communities. Topics of the different studies consisted of private school setting, lower income families in different locations, different child age groups and socioeconomic differences.

To educate the audience on the key causes of the increasing obesity rate in the U.S. among adults, but especially among youth.

Obesity is a burgeoning and threatening epidemic that is becoming more pervasive in the United States and around the world as time goes on. While life expectancy in the United States continues to rise, the incidences of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer are rising alarmingly fast as well. Children are among the hardest hit as they are some of the more vulnerable members of society due to their inability to care for themselves in many ways, their parents are often oblivious and/or uninformed as it relates to proper diet for the parents themselves or their kids and social pressures exerted on obese children in social situations such as school.

Children that are have severe weight issues, (i.e. overweight or obesity) is a major concern to their health, (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). Obesity is difficult to address within society as most habits are formed during childhood and recent studies have shown that those who suffer from obesity during their childhood show tendencies of staying obese through their adolescence and in their adulthood, (Office of the Surgeon

based on goals of lifestyle changes for the entire family. The goal is to modify the way the family eats, exercises, and plans daily activities. (Rausch et al, 2015). It is imperative to provide direct services to children and their families, education, and counseling to promote healthy lifestyles. Obesity appears to be more prevalent in low-income family sectors of American society regardless of the type of community. Diet is one of the most significant contributors to health and illness. It is widely known and accepted that excessive intake of certain nutrients, or lack of nutrients can adversely affects health. Research mentioned that the importance to be aware of the dietary practices of members of the family with which we are teaching to recognize potential threats to health and to attempt to modify them (Rausch et al, 2015).

Ji Li, PhD and Neal Hooker, PhD conducted a study on the links of childhood obesity and children who are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), clubs such as sports and others, and different living and household factors. This study utilized the conceptual framework of the literature review from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) during 2003 and 2004, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study utilized the common quantitative research method called a survey which is a form of questionnaire. The survey was a telephone