Paper Example on Reducing Obesity in Emerald City: A Critical Challenge

Introduction

The chosen case scenario for this assignment is reducing obesity in Emerald City. Recent reports have shown that the majority of the community members in Emerald have been found to suffer from overweight and obesity, which has brought numerous health challenges. The magnitude of the obesity problem presents many severe consequences for both the individual and the authorities concerned. It is critical to note that obesity within this community is a huge concern because of the implication it poses the health of an individual. Broadly, it should be understood that obesity increases the risks of many diseases as well as health conditions. Individuals are said to be obese when their bodies have excess weights, which increases chances for their health. However, it should be known that being overweight is not only an opinion but a concern because having too much fat in the body constitutes obesity and overweight. In this sense, therefore, the problem of obesity raises an individual’s susceptibility to contact other diseases and health conditions such as heart attack, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and multiple types of cancer, osteoarthritis as well as respiratory disorders, among others (Fazli et al., 2017). As such, the selection of this topic is therefore based on the fact that it is a significant health concern in the world, including the Emerald City. It also affects a large number of people, including both children and adults.

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Recent research has focused on the influence of several factors regarding obesity. Ideally, the sociocultural and behavioral influences have been integral in contributing to the obesity problem. These factors imply specific behavior that may contribute to the weight gain through overeating or reduced physical activity as well as the mechanisms through which the environment can influence someone’s health. An increasing amount of literature has suggested that certain eating habits are linked to overweight, in addition to these behavioral factors, the sociocultural variables, such as the environment where individual lives and economic status of personal influence and impact on the food intake as well as the energy expenditure. Fundamentally, these are complex and specific to sex, age, and sometimes racial groups, as well as a type of society, with relationship patterns associated with things such as class, gender, and ethnicity.

Collaborative and Interprofessional coalition to address Obesity

Obesity is a tremendously complex issue that has numerous contributing factors, including an “obesogenic” environment (Fazli et al., 2017). Notably, these factors can promote excess calorie consumption as well as practical inactivity. There is no one solution to address this inherent problem, and the local action to enhance healthy weight across the life course needs a coordinated, collaborative approach to support change (Galani & Schneider, 2007). It is critical to note that the disproportionate impact on individuals and families living in more deprived areas implies that the status quo on obesity is no longer acceptable. This is a priority that needs alignment across the agenda as well as specific organizational boundaries to address this concern.

A whole-system approach will, therefore, be used in this case. It will enable collective effort and alignment actions towards addressing the problem of obesity in the city. Ideally, the stakeholders take into consideration a range of the actions that are required to address this issue and promote a healthy weight together. This approach is considered vital and preferred to individual works, which are usually done in isolation. Collaboration enables different parts of the system to move forward together and to maximize the synergies and creating a more impactful approach. It is critical to note that the local authorities and professionals are uniquely influential in leading the community as well as the local partners to address the issue of obesity. This will include working with the local organization through integrated care systems. A team of 8 individuals will be selected in the case of addressing obesity as a significant health concern in Emerald. These will include:

• Healthcare professional (preferably a medical practitioner or a nurse)
• Community health worker, local administration professional (administrators)
• Counselor/Psychologist
• Two local members of the community (youth and an elderly)
• Government representative
• A representative from a Community-Based Organization
• Myself

This selection is based on the fact that the members represented all the stakeholders involved in issues, efforts, and initiatives used to address obesity within the city. It takes into consideration all the categories of people affected, as well as those who are involved in tackling the concern, either for their personal or governmental or organizational aims. Each member will constitute a whole system approach, which will enable collective efforts and alignment of the actions. The members will further consider the range of the required steps to tackle obesity and promote a healthy weight instead of finding just individual acts. Some of the potential issues that might arise affecting Interprofessional collaboration, in this case, will include lack of the clearly stated, shared, and measurable purpose, the team is too large or small, the group not consisting of the appropriate professionals, and the insufficient mechanism for timely information exchange. To optimize the collaboration and efforts to address obesity in this team, a decent number of team members will be formed and a sufficient mechanism of timely exchange of information given. The appropriate members of the team will also be selected from the category of individuals who are either directly or indirectly affected by this health concern.

Ethical Issue for Consideration

Ethical issues form an integral component of Interprofessional collaboration. In coordinating work with other professionals, professionals need to consider some of the ethical issues that may facilitate or impede cooperation. The teams involved in the discussion must, therefore, be able to identify major ethical concerns that are likely to affect them. The fundamental moral issue that is anticipated in this case is the client’s protection. The team members will have to obtain informed, written consent before sharing any information regarding the clients suffering from overweight or obesity. The variation in training and professionalism will be another factor that will form the core of the team’s ethical considerations (Maggio & Pi-Sunyer, 2017). The selected team consists of the professionals and paraprofessionals involved in a collaborative approach towards finding a solution to obesity. The members may have potential in collaboration work may possess a range of training and knowledge regarding the practices of the informed consent, appropriate use of information, and other practices that ensure a consistent standard of care (Nester, 2016).

Finally, the promotion of professionalism throughout the process of team collaboration will be a vital ethical aspect worth considering. This will be manifested through the quality and degree of communication of each member. Within this context, professionalism will imply to whether an individual behaves professionally through maintaining high and consistent care standards, record-keeping, and ethical practice. Based on the training and professional membership, all professionals in the team, including the counselors, psychologists, physicians, and nurses, are expected to knowledgeable of the ethics and must follow the procedures and practices in line with the existing standards.

Principles of Diversity and Inclusion Applicable

According to Nester (2016), the actions to tackle health concerns at local people do not provide benefits to people. Ideally, these actions can also have positive outcomes on other local issues or agendas, such as the employability and productivity of the local populations. This can lower the demand for social care. It is critical to have a better understanding of these benefits so that the stakeholders in the whole system can be easily engaged. The preliminary assessments in this project revealed that the local community is highly interested in having the issue of obesity addressed sufficiently. Thus, a diversified team of professionals, as in this case, will add value by providing an opportunity to engage stakeholders across the broader systems to develop a common or shared vision and access towards tackling the more upstream drivers of obesity, that are found outside the public health realms. Collective actions from a diversified group are immensely more significant than the sum of individual works (Nester, 2016). This is because such efforts help identify, implements, and aligns the steps that have broader outcomes across the local system. Moreover, team diversity will help recognize the range and complexity of causes of obesity, supporting a system-wide approach to understand and address health inequalities that exist within this locality (Maggio & Pi-Sunyer, 2017).

Evidence-Based Intervention about Obesity

The prevalence of obesity and overweight is rapidly rising. Notably, the evidence-based treatment recommendations have been widely published. In line with this, recent research has demonstrated that lifestyle interventions, such as weight loss and increased physical activities, are highly effective in preventing obesity. This should be integrated into a response called the individually adapted health behavior change programs. Broadly, these behaviors are tailored to each interest, preferences as well as readiness for change. As part of this intervention, the skills that our team will teach will include goal establishment, self-assessment, and building social support for the new behaviors (Galani & Schneider, 2007). The team will further encourage behavioral supports through self-reward and positive self-talk. Individuals will, therefore, be prepared to develop various problem-solving approaches to maintain the behavior change, such as the prevention of relapse into sedentary behavior.

The team will further encourage patient-oriented interventions, combined lifestyle interventions, especially for children and adolescents (Fazli et al., 2017). These interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in various occasions. The rationale behind this approach is that the combined behavioral lifestyle interventions will effectively reduce the chances of becoming overweight in both children and adolescents (Galani & Schneider, 2007). Finally, the team will encourage obesity prevention and control, though at a community level. While there is insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of the range of provider-oriented responses, studies have shown that obesity prevention and control are useful in providing education, provider feedback, provider reminders, and clinical response have been shown to promote a reduction in obesity incidences (Maggio & Pi-Sunyer, 2017). It is anticipated that these evidence-based intervention strategies will be helpful to the community by enabling individual patients themselves to participate in the weight reduction processes in their lives (Fazli et al., 2017). In reality, this approach is effective in addressing the questions that many primary care physicians face daily. It measures the outcome that is important to health practitioners and patients, and this includes symptoms, morbidity, quality of life, as well as morality.