Paper Example on Managing Obesity in Houston, TX: Possible Measures

Research Question: What are the various Possible Measures for Managing Obesity in Houston, Texas? My research question was inspired by the notion of going around that everything in Texas is massive. Bumper stickers, belt buckles, key chains, and door signs all proclaimed that everything is bigger in Texas. I developed an interest in knowing what was causing "everything to be bigger" in Texas. One of the main causative agents was found to be obesity, and therefore I set out to find the various Possible Measures for Managing Obesity in Houston, Texas.Introduction

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For my research project, I have designed an interactive strategy for managing obesity among individuals, especially those living in Houston, Texas. The residents of this state have been found to have the problem of excess weight gain, which has been due to various known factors contributing to obesity in human beings. My idea was based on the quest to reduce or annul the effects of this chronic disease in Houston. Which would lead as an example to any human being around the world? Managing obesity in Houston has been very difficult due to the vast percentage of individuals having the problem, both the young population and adults (Botchlett atl. 2017). Looking keenly into the disease, it is caused by several factors that range from lifestyle to genetic factors. Most people suffering from excess weight are disadvantaged since; they cannot perform specific tasks with ease. Almost all the other chronic infections, such as hypertension and coronary thrombosis, are caused as a result of obesity. Even though there are some other causes of diseases, people with obesity are at high risk of acquiring other chronic dieses. Biologically, obesity can be prevented, controlled, or managed using the best medical and nutritive strategies that aim at reducing the overall weight of obese individuals. Texas is an example of a city with the highest number of obese people residing in Houston. Consequently, I have decided to design my strategies that are aimed at minimizing obesity in the state at an affordable cost possible.

Research Objectives

• To identify the various significant causes of obesity among individuals living in Houston and even beyond.
• To find out the most appropriate strategies for preventing and managing excess weight gain in the city.
• To involve various stakeholders such as teachers, parents, government, and community as a whole in fighting obesity.

Hypotheses

The first hypothesis of my research majored in finding the right sources of information about obesity prevention and management.

There was also a need to involve various people in fighting the disease, not only the health facilities alone, but also the community as a whole.

Lastly, my research was designed to answer the question of the vulnerability of individuals living in Houston, reasons why there is a large number of obese people in the city, and how this can be reduced.

Literature Review

Since my research was dealing with a common health problem, which has gained a lot of attention from different individuals, I realized the importance of consulting various sources of information to get different arguments about the disease (Kahan, Kushner, 2018). Most of my literature were secondary sources of information which I obtained from online sources such as websites. For instance, an article by Behrouz Zand, "how obesity is shrinking our lives," clarifies how obesity itself is a significant cause of other various dangerous illnesses. The article documents that obesity is a leading cause of some cancer diseases in Texas.

Additionally, obesity is also listed as a cause in heart diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, which leads to death of the obese persons. From the online articles, I also found out that obesity is a significant problem in the United States of America. The existence of the problem spans several years back, and the government was keen on eliminating if not reducing the menace to safer levels in the country.

From the online sources, I was also able to find out the causes of obesity. The various purposes were ranked as being behavioral, such as lack of exercise and dietary issues such as consumption of lots of fats, and some causes were generic, to mention a few (Medvedyuk, Ali, & Raphael, 2018). There are a lot of fried foods in the USA. The deep-fried foods have gained love from adults, teenagers, and students. Of the deep-fried foods, a majority of them are junkies who are the most loved ones. The consumption of junked food and subsequent lack of exercise leads to the accumulation of unwanted large amounts of fats in the body of human beings.

As a consequence of the excess fats, one becomes overweight. According to the Institute Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) report, overweight is determined by the measure of Body Mass Index (Greenhalgh, 2016). BMI is a measure that utilizes the weight and height of an individual to prove whether an individual is healthy or not. The standard BMI varies in different sexes. Males are supposed to have a BMI of 25, which indicates that they are healthy. On the other hand, females are required to have a BMI of 30, which suggests that they are healthy. An increase in both BMI indices indicates that one is suffering from obesity.

Despite being a threat to human life, I found out from the literature that obesity is a manageable condition. One of the significant recommended treatments for the disease is taking caution. One can be cautious by frequently visiting medical facilities to determine their BMI index. Additionally, a person needs to overlook on the diet that is taken and regularly exercise the body.

Apart from the online sources, I also extracted a lot of information about obesity in communities living in Houston, Texas. The communities included the health providers in various health facilities in the city and patients.

Research Methodology

I mainly used descriptive methods in designing the research. The main reason behind me using the descriptive method was to gain up to date information about the obesity from the interviewees.

Sample Size

I interviewed the senior members and medical officers in the five hospital companies in Houston 5-10 interviews by e-mail interviews and analyses the individual manager's viewpoint. I also interviewed the patients in patients at random to gauge the number of patients suffering from obesity and those who are not. The interviews with the patients were one on one. During the interview, the questions were mostly open-ended, and I allowed the interviewees to add any aspects of their life that they felt were essential to the research and which they were free to share. All this information I made known to the interviewees before the interview began together with the confidentiality clause.

Since the research topic was not new in the research field, I also used secondary sources as one of my primary data sources. The secondary sources of information consisted of various similar researches done by different individuals in the past. Furthermore, I used clinical methods or patients' past medical history as another secondary source of information that provided meaningful data pertaining to obese individuals in the city. Besides, I also needed to use primary sources of information, which formed the active part of my research.

Data collection method

This data collecting methods were concentrated upon 5- 10 interviews from the senior members and medical officers in the leading hospitals in Houston by e-mail interview and analyses the individual manager's viewpoint. Data was also collected from the patients that were admitted to the leading hospitals who I randomly selected without considering the type of disease.

From the research, I have realized that many people are suffering from obesity due to a lack of proper education on the topic. Many people suffering from obesity are also taking their daily physical exercise. To reduce the number of people suffering from obesity, we need to sensitize people about measures to avoid the disease.

References

Botchlett, R., Woo, S. L., Liu, M., Pei, Y., Guo, X., Li, H., & Wu, C. (2017). Nutritional approaches for managing obesity-associated metabolic diseases. The Journal of endocrinology, 233(3), R145.

Greenhalgh, S. (2016). Neoliberal science, Chinese style: Making and managing the 'obesity epidemic'. Social Studies of Science, 46(4), 485-510.

Kahan, S., & Kushner, R. F. (2018). Obesity medicine: a core competency for primary care providers. Medical Clinics, 102(1), xvii-xix.

Medvedyuk, S., Ali, A., & Raphael, D. (2018). Ideology, obesity and the social determinants of health: a critical analysis of the obesity and health relationship. Critical Public Health, 28(5), 573-585.

Yarborough III, C. M., Brethauer, S., Burton, W. N., Fabius, R. J., Hymel, P., Kothari, S., ... & Roslin, M. S. (2018). ACOEM Guidance Statement: Obesity in the Workplace: Impact, Outcomes, and Recommendations. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 60(1), 97.