Using Behaviorism Learning Theory to Promote Obesity Awareness

The Importance of Diet and Exercise among African Immigrant Ages 25 to 50 Years Old Living in Grande Prairie Alberta Canada.
Obesity is a serious health concern in world today. The health effect of obesity is that it predisposes one to health complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension. Such health complications that are often associated with a state of overweight makes it a concern to health care providers and the public. The state of obesity has been prevalent among immigrant communities who come from developing countries and Africa in particular. The prevalence of obesity in this population has been attributed to factors such as exposure to foods with high calories and presence of technology that lessens the amount of manual labor required (Gele & Mbalilaki, 2013). One study found out that obesity has the effect of increased mortality rate in any population due to its ability to cause diseases. In their study, Twells et al., (2014) established that 34.5% of African immigrant women in Alberta aged between 25 and 50 years were abnormally obese. This worrying trend requires immediate attention. The basic solution to the problem of obesity is exposure to healthy foods as well as exercise. An extensive educational framework should be put in place to educate the African immigrants on healthy diets. Moreover, some extensive infrastructure should be established to promote physical exercise among the member of this target population.
African immigrants in Alberta have several resources that can help them in managing their weight gain. This includes the services provided by the healthcare sector in advising and helping the public to manage their weight. Under this health care framework, they can access dietary advice that will help them understand the type of foods that they should consume daily to lower their uptake of calories (Anis et al., 2010). Secondly, the existence of pedestrian work ways, and designated cycling paths within Alberta serve to encourage cognitive-behavioral interventions to the problem of the prevalence of obesity among this population. These resources have not been effectively utilized in managing the problem of obesity among this population. Very few African immigrants in obese conditions have sought the advice of primary health caregivers (McDonough et al., 2013). Secondly, the infrastructure provided requires cognitive-behavioral discipline although this has not been largely achieved because of the low levels of awareness.
The most effective learning theory to be used in informing the target audience on the importance of healthy diet and physical exercise in weight management is the behaviorism learning theory. This theory assumes that the learners are initially neutral in behavior and can adopt either a positive behavior or negative behavior. The propagation of positive behavior through learning helps the learner to adopt such positive behavior. In this case, the positive behavior is the adoption of physical exercise as a lifestyle as well as the behavior of consuming healthy foods. Through continuous public education and demonstration, the learners will gradually adopt this behavior and consequently manage overweight in an effective manner.
My planning process will involve the assembly of primary health caregivers and the formation of the learner group. The group will gather on a daily basis with the healthcare provider. The healthcare provider will then take them through the list of high-calorie foods that they ought to avoid as well as the list of healthy foods that they out to form a habit of eating. Moreover, the learning will include the various ways of carrying out physical exercise. This teaching plan will be effective in changing the behavioral pattern of the patients. The overall teaching experience is very effective in instilling a positive behavior. However, I would promote learner participation and give practical examples when undertaking such a teaching program. Most importantly, the teaching program is effective in creating a healthy behavior among the African immigrants in Alberta Canada.


References
Anis A., Zhang W., Bansback N., Guh D., Amarsi Z & Birmingham C. 2010. Obesity and overweight in Canada: an updated cost-of-illness study. Obes Rev. 11(1):31-
McDonough C, Dunkley AJ, Aujla N, Morris D, Davies MJ & Khunti K. 2013. The association between body mass index and health-related quality of life: influence of ethnicity on this relationship. Diabetes Obes Metab. 15(4):342-8.
Gele A. & Mbeleke A. (2013). Overweight and Obesity among African Immigrants. Biomed Central, 6(1): 419-523
Twells LK, Gregory DM, Reddigan J, Midodzi WK. 2014. Current and predicted prevalence of obesity in Canada: a trend analysis. CMAJ Open.3; 2(1):E18-26.