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Childhood Obesity
Many health issues that children have been faced with in the United States have decreased in intensity and prevalence over the past few decades, but they have been replaced by new problems that could cause even more serious long-term effects. One such, childhood obesity, is troublesome because it is can be the root cause of many more serious problems. Childhood obesity leads to an increased incidence of heart disease, diabetes and other serious health issues. The primary method for combatting childhood obesity is education of both the children and the parents, and nurses are among the most important means of providing that education. This paper examines the seriousness of childhood obesity and how nurses can be advocates of change.
Nurses are guided by a set of principles much like other professionals in health care and other occupations. For nursing, these guidelines answer the who, what, when, where, and why of decision making and general practice. Childhood obesity is just one area of nursing in which practitioners are guided by the standards and adhere to the scope of their profession. In particular, the scope and standards document gives nurses an outline to follow with regard to how they will react to and teach children, parents and communities with regard to this issue. By understanding research and the realities of the epidemic that is childhood obesity, the individual nurse can better understand how to assist patients in their fight against it.
Research has shown that during the last three decades children obesity rates have either doubled or tripled depending on the age range examined. This can result in serious...
Childhood psychosocial development can be damaged due to peer reaction to obesity. Children, especially in their teen years, are very influenced by peer pressure and can be psychologically scarred by abuse received due to being overweight. Also, obese children have an increased chance of becoming obese adults and this has a significant effect on healthcare costs. According to a National Academy of Science report (2005), "The national health care expenditures related to obesity and overweight in adults alone have been estimated to range from approximately $98 billion to $123 billion…" These costs have been rising quickly over the past decade and will continue to go up unless significant changes are made in the levels of obesity in children.
These costs, both financial and physical, can be directly related to lifestyle changes that have occurred in the past three decades. Whereas children used to spend significant amounts of leisure time out of doors, electronic entertainment has decreased the likelihood that children will play outside. This means that they are much more sedentary and the chances of gaining weight are increased. The relevance of an education program can be traced to research that has been conducted on the best practices that can be used to encourage parents and children to change their habits.
The report from the National Academy of Sciences (2005) states that nutrition balance is the most important method of decreasing the incidence of obesity. This balance, the difference between the energy…
References
ANA. (2012). Scope and standards of practice. Nursing World. Retrieved from http://nursingworld.org/scopeandstandardsofpractice
The National Academy of Sciences. (2005). Preventing childhood obesity. Health in the Balance.
Childhood obesity is becoming prevalent with every passing day, almost uniformly in the developed parts of the world. This problem needs to be discussed on important forums so that substantial solutions can be sort for this issue as this is creating a lot of burden on the government as well as the parents of the children who become obese. Childhood obesity is defined as a condition in which the child has
Childhood Obesity Study The research study titled, "Parents' perceptions and attitudes on childhood obesity: AQ-methodology study" by Akhtar-Danesh et al. (2010) details the perceptions that parents have toward the cause of obesity, how much obesity affects health, and the obstacles that exist in successfully implementing an obesity prevention program for children. Due to the nature of the research experiment, the test that was used was an appropriate method to attain the
The conductors of the study relied upon past information indicating that children born with low birth weights have an increased likelihood of suffering from health problems later in life -- many of these health problems are results of obesity. Generally -- the study found -- children born small but who catch up to average children by age two, tend to have higher central fat distributions later in life. The
Childhood Obesity Healthy People 2020 Objectives include the growing acknowledgment in the areas of research, clinical practice and policy that the early and middle years of childhood make provision of the "physical, cognitive, and social-emotional foundation for lifelong health, learning and well-being." (p.1) Healthy nutrition is among the goals of Healthy People 2020 and included in these nutrition goals are consumption of various foods that are nutrient-dense across all the groups
Childhood Obesity Imagine living as an obese child. What are the trends with this phenomenon? Will he or she discover a way of changing his or her lifestyle? These children have a number of issues that arise because of this occurring at such a young age, which one will investigate further. In the United States, childhood obesity has become a health problem. "The number of adolescents has tripled since 1980 and the
197). Further, Robinson and Sirard posit that applying a "Litmus Test" helps to identify the specific research questions, study designs, and methods that will most likely contribute to improving individual and overall population health (198). The researchers suggest that a study should only be performed if the researcher(s) knows what the conclusion from each possible result (negative, null, positive) will be, and how the result will incline intervention to address