Program for Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity Strengths and Barriers to Program Implementation for Childhood Obesity With any plan to implement a program, there are both strengths and barriers. The program addressed here will be on childhood obesity. The strengths of the program will be community and organizational, while the barriers will be environmental and ethical. By carefully considering and addressing all of these, it can be determined how best to move forward with implementation of the program.

That will provide the highest level of success for the program and will raise the value of it in such a way as to provide children and their parents with ways to combat obesity in their families and in their community. Strengths -- Community and Organizational The main strengths of the childhood obesity program are community and organizational in nature. When a community comes together, issues like childhood obesity can be mitigated (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002).

Additionally, communities can find ways to help parents learn more about healthy eating habits, which can lead to fewer children who are overweight or obese within that community (Must, et al., 1992; Reinehr & Wabitsch, 2011). Losing weight is not always easy, but good habits must begin in childhood or it will be harder to start those habits in later life. That can put children at a disadvantage, but strong community support at a young age will help them have more success with their weight throughout their life (Janssen, et al., 2004).

Proper organization is the second strength of this program, and is closely tied to community. When people throughout a community are interested in working together to help the children, they can organize many opportunities to reduce childhood obesity. For example, camps and other activities that are community-based and well-organized can go a very long way toward ensuring that children have plenty of options for exercise in their own neighborhoods (Janssen, et al., 2004).

It is also possible to work with schools and daycares in the area on organized plans that provide for healthier eating options, so children consume fewer calories when they are away from home (Janssen, et al., 2004). Less can be done about how children eat at home, but organized information can still be sent home with children so they are more likely to adopt healthy eating and activity habits. Barriers -- Environmental and Ethical Any type of childhood obesity program is not without its barriers.

There are those who are resistant to change, and those who feel it is an intrusion into their private life to have obesity programs. The two issues addressed here will be environmental and ethical. From an environmental standpoint, obesity can be hard for children to avoid (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002).

They are products of both genetics and their environment, and if they do not have an understanding of healthy eating and the value of exercise on a family level, they may not develop them from the community as easily (Reinehr & Wabitsch, 2011). While communities can do a lot to help reduce childhood obesity, children who live in poor environments and do not get the help they need at home can really struggle to lose weight and to keep in off over time (Reinehr & Wabitsch, 2011).

Ethical issues are also at play, because what a person does with his or her body may not be something that others are entitled to address. In other words, one has to determine if it is ethically acceptable to allow children to be obese, and also whether it is ethically acceptable to force those children (and their parents) to change their habits in order to reduce their weight (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002). There are numerous arguments for both sides of that debate.

Strategy for Addressing the Environmental Barrier In order to address the environmental barrier, there are several things that can be done. The community should model good habits at any and all community events, such as having healthy food at neighborhood get-togethers and providing plenty of organized activities for children who live in the area. The schools in the community should also be focused on this issue, so that the environment children are exposed to outside of the home is the healthiest one possible when it comes to reducing childhood obesity.

That cannot completely address the issue, of course, but it can make a significant difference for children who are influenced by those in the community. The hope is that these children will then carry the knowledge they gain in their neighborhood environment back to their home environment, which may also help their parents and siblings with weight loss. Class Questions While it is relatively easy to determine how environment will be addressed, it is less easy to.