Essay Example on Childhood Obesity in Alabama: A Community Health Assessment

Introduction

My previous community health assessment was aimed at addressing the problem of childhood obesity in the State of Alabama. Pasts studies have revealed that there is a high prevalence of childhood obesity in the State of Alabama. If findings of the community health assessment show that childhood obesity is attributable to sedentary lifestyle or inadequate physical exercise, then efforts will be made to address the issue using existing community resources. First, my community health assessment might promote social change is that the results of the assessment will be shared with relevant stakeholders (especially individuals and organizations who work with or for children).

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First, data collected from the community health assessment will be shared with the schools and the teachers. I will inform the teachers that one of the factors associated with childhood obesity is a sedentary lifestyle. Apart from informing them where the problem emanates from, I will also educate them on ways of addressing the problem. Specifically, I will urge the teachers to ensure that the children increase their participation in physical exercise. Consequently, I will recruit the physical education teachers to implement the physical exercise intervention aimed at ensuring that the children have at least 30 minutes of intense physical activity. This is because physical exercise has been empirically validated as an intervention to childhood obesity (Cradock et al., 2017; Nishtar, Gluckman, & Armstrong, 2016; Sahoo et al., 2015).

Promoting Social Change: Sharing Community Health Assessment Findings with Stakeholders

Increased physical exercise will lead to social change (decreased prevalence of childhood obesity) because it decreases weight and body mass index (Hall & Guo, 2017; Wiklund, 2016). Moreover, the results of community health assessment and interventions needed to address the problem of childhood obesity will be shared with the parents through various media outlets. When the parents are aware of the dangers associated with childhood obesity and are aware of effective interventions needed to address the problem, they are more likely to enforce the interventions. For instance, I will inform the parents that sedentary lifestyle is the leading cause of childhood obesity and that they should ensure that their children spent time playing in open fields rather than sitting on the couch and watching TV programs.

Primary Health Issue, Data Supporting the Issue, and Justification of Intervention

For my community health assessment, the primary health issue that I am interested in is childhood obesity in the State of Alabama. I will examine the prevalence of childhood obesity in the State of Alabama. The most recent obesity prevalence data show that the prevalence of obesity among 2 to 5-year-old children across all income groups is 12.1% (Knol et al., 2019). It was further reported that obesity prevalence varies across children from different ethnic groups. Specifically, it was established that the highest prevalence of obesity is found among the minority groups. Specifically, 18.2% of 2 to 5-year-old children from non-Hispanic Blacks were reported to have diabetes (Knol et al., 2019). Similarly, Hispanic children were found to have the second highest prevalence of obesity at 16.2% (Knol et al., 2019).

The prevalence of childhood obesity was also reported to be high in children from low-income families. Specifically, it was reported that obesity among low-income, pre-school children in Alabama varied from between 13.8% to 14.4% from 2008 to 2011(Knol et al., 2019). Moreover, obesity rates were reported to vary across children from different age groups. Overall, the prevalence of obesity was reported to increase with age in US children. Specifically, obesity rates of 2 to 4-year-old kindergarteners was found to be 14.1% while their counterparts aged 6-11 years had obesity prevalence rates of 18.6% (Knol et al., 2019).

Another sociodemographic factor that was found to affect obesity prevalence is gender. Among the kindergarteners, the prevalence of obesity was found to be higher among girls than boys. Specifically, 15.3% of kindergarten girls were reported to be obese in 2011 compared to 14.9% of the boys (Knol et al., 2019). Similarly, 14.7% of kindergarten girls were reported to be overweight compared to 13.8% of kindergarten boys (Knol et al., 2019). Apart from the kindergarteners, gender differences in the prevalence of obesity and overweight were also found among the 3rd graders. Specifically, 22.0% of 3rd-grade girls were reported to be obese in 2011 compared to 21.4% of the boys (Knol et al., 2019). On the other hand, 17.0% of 3rd-grade girls were reported to be overweight compared to 16.2% of the kindergarten boys (Knol et al., 2019).

Children from White, Black, and Hispanic ethnic groups were also reported to show differences in the prevalence of obesity (Knol et al., 2019). The highest prevalence of obesity among kindergarten children is found in the Hispanic group (25.0%), followed closely by the Black group at 17.1% (Knol et al., 2019). However, kindergarten children from White ethnic group had the lowest prevalence of obesity (12.9%) (Knol et al., 2019). Similarly, among the 3rd-grade children, Hispanic children had the highest prevalence of obesity (28.8%), followed by Black children at 24.7% while children from White ethnic group had the lowest obesity rates at 19.0% (Knol et al., 2019).

Physical exercise intervention will be used to decreased the prevalence of childhood obesity in my chosen community. This is because physical exercise has been reported to be effective in reducing obesity (Katzmarzyk et al., 2015; Lee & Kang, 2015; Mastellos, Gunn, Felix, Car, & Majeed, 2014; Parschau et al., 2014; Torrijos-Nino et al., 2014; Xu & Xue, 2016).

References

Cradock, A. L., Barrett, J. L., Kenney, E. L., Giles, C. M., Ward, Z. J., Long, M. W., ... Gortmaker, S. L. (2017). Using cost-effectiveness analysis to prioritize policy and programmatic approaches to physical activity promotion and obesity prevention in childhood. Preventive Medicine, 95, S17-S27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.10.017

Katzmarzyk, P. T., Barreira, T. V., Broyles, S. T., Champagne, C. M., Chaput, J.-P., Fogelholm, M., ... Church, T. S. (2015). Physical activity, sedentary time, and obesity in an international sample of children. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 47(10), 2062-2069. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000649

Knol, L. L., Sinsky, R., Goode, S., Lee, K., Gaines, M., & Shepherd, C. (2019). Obesity Rates among Kindergarteners and 3rd Grade Children in Alabama, 2011-2012. Retrieved from https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/obesity/assets/RevisedObesityRates_Kindergarteners3rdGraders.pdf

Lee, S. S., & Kang, S. (2015). Effects of regular exercise on obesity and type 2 diabete mellitus in Korean children: improvements glycemic control and serum adipokines level. Journal of physical therapy science, 27(6), 1903-1907.

Mastellos, N., Gunn, L. H., Felix, L. M., Car, J., & Majeed, A. (2014). Transtheoretical model stages of change for dietary and physical exercise modification in weight loss management for overweight and obese adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008066.pub3

Nishtar, S., Gluckman, P., & Armstrong, T. (2016). Ending childhood obesity: A time for action. The Lancet, 387(10021), 825-827. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00140-9

Parschau, L., Barz, M., Richert, J., Knoll, N., Lippke, S., & Schwarzer, R. (2014). Physical activity among adults with obesity: Testing the health action process approach. Rehabilitation Psychology, 59(1), 42-49. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035290

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: Causes and consequences. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 4(2), 187-192. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.154628

Torrijos-Nino, C., Martinez-Vizcaino, V., Pardo-Guijarro, M. J., Garcia-Prieto, J. C., Arias-Palencia, N. M., & Sanchez-Lopez, M. (2014). Physical fitness, obesity, and academic achievement in schoolchildren. The Journal of Pediatrics, 165(1), 104-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.02.041

Xu, S., & Xue, Y. (2016). Pediatric obesity: Causes, symptoms, prevention and treatment (Review). Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 11(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2015.2853