Treating Obesity In Children And Adolescents Writing Assignment

 
 
 
 
Treating obesity in children and adolescents with metabolic syndrome secondary to second generation anti-psychotic medication using dietary modification and physical activity
Chapter 3 Methodology
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Chapter III. Methodology
Study Design.
The project is quantitative,   focusing on the effectiveness of the 5210 in preventing childhood and adolescent obesity participants, ages 12-18. The 5210 lifestyle survey is a questionnaire that assess adherence to the recommendations, and the 5210 has been used as a behavioral screening tool and to deliver healthy habits messages (Polacsek et al., 2014). The 5210 intervention refers to (5 or more fruits and vegetables, 2 hours or less of recreational screen time, 1 hour or more of physical activity, 0 sugary drinks)  and is recommended pediatric weight management programs by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Polacsek et al., 2014). The four courses of action ought to be carried out together to prevent the risk of obesity in children and adolescents to and improve their health.    There is assessment progress by evaluating the changes in preventing, attitudes practices, knowledge, and experiences of the children and adolescents. While dietary modification and promoting physical activities are the main focus of the project, behavioral change will facilitate zero choosing sugar-sweetened beverages and reduction of time spent watching television and computer games.
The 5210 Let’s Go campaign is a nationally recognized obesity-prevention program that has implemented in different states and communities of the target population including schools, and has been effective in encouraging and increasing the intake of more fresh fruits and vegetables (Gibson, 2016).  One of the crucial change components of the intervention is learning session for the children and adolescents where there is to deliver of healthy habits message of the 5210 program, and they learn better self management skills. The nurses and other healthcare providers deliver the healthy habits message and ensure that the set goals are met to improve the well-being of children and adolescents who visit Zimella Wellness Center in Maryland. To assess the changes, there are measurements of height, weight, and waist circumference for BMI as lifestyle changes such as dietary modification and participation physical activities.
Population and Sample
A total number of  50 male and female children and adolescents ages 12-18, above the 95th percentile for weight/BMI, treated with second generation antipsychotics, recruited randomly from Zimella Wellness Center in Maryland The participants were evaluated at the Wellness Center  and  the 50 met the inclusion criteria  (the 95^th  percentile for weight/BMI)  and absence of contraindications  for physical exercise, were referred  for further assessment, the success of lifestyle intervention would provide insights on whether the proposed changes are effective and what needs to be done to improve health outcomes.  The structured program included the dietary/ nutritional intervention, the physical activity intervention, and the lifestyle intervention.  The families were made informed about objectives of the project and this also facilitated follow-up. Parents and patients received the corresponding information and agreed to participate voluntarily in the program.
All the participants spoke fluent English and their parents understood the aim of the project. The health practitioners who participated in the project recorded changes and worked closely with both the children and parents to facilitate effective implementation of the program. The results were for those participated fully in the intervention including session to assess knowledge on self-care management and the importance of healthy lifestyles.  This is indicated by comparison of the measures before, during, and after implementation of the 5210 program.   Changes in weight status between the baseline and after treatment reflect the benefits of the intervention.
Changes in the healthy behaviors among children is partly influenced by the adults behavior and attitudes and since the program is implemented in health care and wellness setting, facilitating access to information and parent knowledge will be valuable to evaluating the success of the intervention strategies.  The staff and families at Zimella Wellness Center are all involved in the success of the interventions as they encourage healthy choices and participate in the intervention program to promote wellness, healthy eating and participation in physical activities.  Additionally, all participants followed the healthy eating and physical activity components of the intervention
Instrumentation
The quantitative approach is well suited to use questionnaires and surveys to collect data on intervention to prevent obesity relevant for this project. Health professionals or trained personnel are directly involved in the intervention and are knowledgeable about the 5210 program. Similar studies on interventions to prevent obesity have involved lifestyle changes and modifying eating habits in schoolchildren and their parents  who are overweight or obese  (Rogers et al., 2013). The 5 program was implemented to nurses, patients and families where there is emphasis on increasing knowledge on childhood obesity among the health practitioners and participants and the nurses use evidenced-based guidelines to guide decision making.
The reliability and validly of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire version 2 (GPAQ in different countries was evaluated and shown to be acceptable in assessing physical activities in various studies such as Herrmann et al.  (2013) The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) ) and  the  GPAQ  to measure physical activity (Herrmann et al., 2013). However, for children and adolescents the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A) are more appropriate (Kowalski, Crocker & Donen, 2014) and (Voss et al., 2014). While the PAQ-C and PAQ-A are the chosen questionnaires, even as there are limitations because they rely on self‐report measurements and most studies focus on healthy children and adolescents when using the surveys. PAQ has been developed to assess the physical activity information, estimate on the levels of physical activity and determine the usual physical activity levels. The longer formats of the questionnaires have been used in varies studies they provided detailed information on different dimensions of physical activity. However, even the shorter versions show reasonable validity and are acceptable when classifying the level of physical activity, the questionnaires are self-administered and record the physical activity in 7 days (Orisni et al., 2008).
In a study by Gentile et al. (2018), the researchers proposed the use of 5-2-1-0 Knowledge Acquisition Survey and Modified healthy habits survey as some of the instruments to gather data on childhood obesity interventions. There was also demographic characteristics and BMI measurement, which provided useful information whereby the results of the survey were recorded at the baseline and after 6-month follow-up. The procedure to carry out the intervention is useful in the project since there is incorporation of the 5210 program in obesity prevention in a family-centered approach.  Taking into consideration the parent’s  behaviors helps to gauged whether the children are following the program recommendations and how parental involvement affects self-monitoring since it is expected that children engage in healthy eating  and active living when the parent sets a good example (Braden  et al., 2014).
The 5210 Healthy Habits Questionnaire has been used in 5210 programs that have mainly been adapted in schools, but still focusing on behaviors where the school staff and teachers are involved in preventing childhood obesity. In such cases, the questionnaire is relevant to evaluating whether the health needs of different communities are met and adaptation makes it culturally relevant and ensures linguistic accuracy (Serpas et al., 2013).  The 5210 Healthy Habits Questionnaires in English and Spanish are for ages 2-9, and ages 10-18 (Serpas et al., 2013).    When the questionnaire is used health practitioners need to focus on healthy eating and active living and if possible utilize motivational interviewing to engage the patients and their families.  Furthermore, the parents input is required to determine whether the children have attained the  5210 program’s health recommendations and this is crucial in supporting health promotion.
The questionnaire utilized has been assessed for reliability and validity in previous studies, which makes them appropriate for the project. The demographic features of the children are collected since the differences in changes based on age and sex can indicate how effective the intervention is. Another aspect, is information on dietary habits since there is emphasis on facilitating health eating including increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetable, while eliminating the consumption of sugary drinks. The responses of the participants are an indicator about their eating behavior prior during and after the intervention.  They also indicate the attitude, self-efficacy and behaviors of the participants, and attitudes ...