Childhood Obesity: Clear Focus And Paragraphs Developing Central Point

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12 July 2019
A Research on the Most Effective Strategy
to Help Reverse the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity (CO) has been identified as the most serious global public health concern of the 21st century since it has risen more than 10-fold since 1975 (Sharma et al, 2009). Any endeavor directed toward solving CO has the potential for positively impacting the health care problems of this country. In response to the epidemic, effective strategies have been continuously developed, altered, and implemented in the attempt to decrease the prevalence of childhood obesity. Currently, obesity affects over 340 million children and adolescents between the age of 5 to 19 years old (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). But a simple fact remains: it is preventable. Therefore, CO is a public health problem that is being poorly managed worldwide, so a research on the most effective strategy to help reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity is necessary.
This research paper identifies and compares the most effective strategies implemented across the globe to reverse childhood obesity. The consequences are significant if these issues are not addressed. If obesity is left untreated in children, the health effects can become severe. Children who are obese may experience physical limitations that can lead to further health complications such as sleep apnea and even psychological impairment. Children will be faced with life-threatening diseases as they get older. Obese children will not only be faced with physical and psychological challenges, but also financial hardships due to increased medical costs. Additionally, childhood obesity can have a devastating impact on a child’s quality of life in the future. The overall health and well-being decreases gradually over time and according to Thomas and Irwin (2009), the consequences of health problems that arise from CO are significant and last throughout one`s lifetime.
Several peer-reviewed research articles will be analyzed and interpreted to identify best practices used in strategic prevention programs for childhood obesity. Each article and intervention will be examined for effectiveness. Reducing obesity not only entails prevention strategies, but also requires support from role models/support groups such as parents, teachers, public officials and heath care professionals. Each support group will also be reviewed to investigate the importance their role has in the prevention of childhood obesity.
Approximately 15 studies were reviewed for the purpose of this research. Keywords that were used in the search criteria for article selection included prevention, childhood obesity, strategies, interventions and impact of childhood obesity in order to filter search entries. Databases utilized in the selection process included Medline, CINAHL and National Institutes of Health. After review of all articles, only 8 were selected for review. Articles excluded from research were those older than 10 years.
Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategies
This paper explored various prevention strategies to assess program effectiveness. Each program has been analyzed using three sub-categories that include educational counseling, behavioral counseling, and a combination of prevention tactics used to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity. A comparative analysis was conducted to highlight the best practices used for the prevention of childhood obesity. Each program presented in the articles was assessed to identify both the negative and positive impacts that contributed to program effectiveness. Conducting evaluations on childhood obesity interventions is important to determine which elements have the largest impact on children and their lifestyle choices. Developing a well-constructed intervention should include different approaches to prevent and promote healthful living for children. The literature reviewed that was analyzed, revealed the use of multiple interventions to help reverse the epidemic. There were a variety of tactics used in prevention including educational counseling, behavioral counseling, exercise and healthful eating promotion and policy development. Some strategies strictly focused on a single aspect to decrease childhood obesity while other strategies used more than one strategy to prevent children from being diagnosed with obesity.
Educational Counseling
Education provides individuals with the opportunity to learn new information or obtain a skill that was either absent or previously limited. The basis of education is grounded in the concept of gaining experience through enlightenment. Engaging children and parents in nutritional and physical activity education was presented in multiple studies as a way to prevent children from gaining excessive weight at a young age by learning alternative behaviors for healthy eating and engaging in physical activities.
BFCC. Creating the ECE ignited a fire across America to begin educating families and children in early childcare centers. One educational aspect that has become popular among several organizations is the importance breastfeeding. Research indicates that breastfeeding has been associated with decreasing risk of childhood obesity, along with many other health benefits (CDC, 2016). In Carolina, the Wake County Breastfeeding-Friendly Child Care Initiative (BFCC) was launched in 2009 to evaluate breastfeeding knowledge and practices in Wake County North Carolina and too develop an intervention to improve breastfeeding support in ECE centers (Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute [CGBI], 2016). The BFCC initiative directed its efforts strictly through an educational approach. The initiative created a chain reaction of education starting with staff and ending with the parents and guardians of children. The program relied heavily on educating families about the importance of breast feeding and how it is connected to lower obesity rates in children. After participants received educational counseling about breastfeeding approximately 86 percent improved on their post-test assessment. Improvement in post-test results may indicate that families understood the importance of breast-feeding and the impact it can have on a child’s weight.
Staff was also tested for adaptability within the centers and 72 percent reported taking the initiative to inform families about the benefits of breast-feeding (CGBI, 2016). Implementing the program into centers was fairly simple to accomplish. The BFCC required a commitment to the “Ten Steps” of breast feeding and staff training that entailed two hours of pre-training work and 3 hours of in-person contact. On-site training could potentially affect low participation rates due to lack of time and money that the company or agency is unable to provide but to help with expenses, all materials and resources were provided free of cost through online sources.
The BFCC initiative presented a lack of information in follow-up assessments. The study did not administer a follow-up assessment to the centers that participated in the educational training sessions. The initiative could have benefited by measuring whether or not participants continued to educate their patients on the benefits of breast-feeding and the impact it has on childhood obesity.
Behavioral Counseling
Altering behaviors is a difficult goal to achieve and can be especially challenging for children as their behavior can be directly impacted by their parents. The article, The Roll of Parental Motivation in Family-Based Treatment of Childhood Obesity (Gunnarsdottir, 2011) stated that “Having the readiness to change is shared between both the child and parent when combating childhood obesity, which can make the challenge much more difficult” (p.1655). The participants involved in the study by Gunnarsdottir et al. (2011), focused on parental motivation and behavioral treatment as the main prevention tactic for childhood obesity.
Dropout rates for treatment of childhood obesity is a limitation that many studies eventually encountered. High dropout rates reduce the cost-effectiveness of intervention and can limit results. The reasons for discontinuing treatment sessions in the Gunnarsdottir et al. (2011) study included children that were unwilling to cooperate, an unexpected changed in family situations and participants that felt satisfied with results by week four. However, there were other underlying variables identified within the study that were also associated with high dropout rates.
The study observed an unexpected correlation between lower parental confidence and reports of a parent working fewer hours. Both of these factors were correlated to increased dropout rates and higher parental BMI at baseline. When treating a child for obesity, parents are encouraged to actively engage in their child’s treatment recommendations so that the child may continue treatment in their own home. However, parents who have low confidence levels and low parental motivation are less likely to motivate their children to complete treatment and prevent further weight gain (Gunnarsdottir et al., 2011).
Combination of Prevention Tactics
Many of the intervention programs that target childhood obesity incorporate more than one component to combat obesity. The Fit N Fun program, CHL CHP, Let’s Go!, and CATCH programs developed programs that included two or more components of educational counseling, behavioral counseling, and physical activity and healthy eating promotion. Because these programs coordinate more than one tactic into their prevention programs, implementation can become more complex and requires proper attention to details.
The Fit N Fun program provided nutritional education sessions that informed parents and children on ...