Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper Please make sure this paper is done right. I did not receive good points in my last assignment. This assignment is worth half my grade. Please make sure it\’s done correctly.
Thank YOU

Introduction

For the purpose of this assignment, an initial search using the EBSCOHost search engine in the scientific databases of Medline, PubMed, Cochrane and CINAHL was conducted. The search included full text articles published within the past 5 years whose subject was on preventing childhood obesity and used the following keywords: childhood obesity, lifestyle change, diet modification, parental education and physical activity. Data and information from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Control and Disease Prevention website was also used. Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

 Nursing Area of Interest

Childhood obesity has become a global epidemic in developed and developing nations and it continues to make prominent footprints in the lives of most families in the US today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.) 1 in every 5 school going children aged 6-19 years in the US has obesity. Besides, childhood obesity is the 5^th leading global risk factor for mortality among children. The CDC also highlights that the US is undergoing a rapid transition in nutrition that is primarily characterized by recurrent nutritional deficiencies which can be attributed to increased consumerism and a significant increase in processed foods. At the same time, there is a continuous rise in the incidence and prevalence of diabetes, childhood obesity and other chronic conditions related to nutrition such as cardiovascular diseases and other forms of cancer (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.).

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            The CDC defines obesity as having excess body fat as characterized by an individual’s BMI. Childhood obesity usually tracks to adulthood and escalates the overall lifetime risk of metabolic conditions, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal and orthopedic conditions (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). In the United States, childhood obesity impacts the community, individual health, and finances and is the major reason that it has attracted attention for health plans development and scientific research (Skinner et al., 2018).  In the past decades, several guidelines on identifying and managing obese children have been published. These guidelines mostly emphasize on secondary prevention as an effective approach of reducing the burden of disability and chronic diseases in adulthood. However, as recommended by Lobstein et al., (2015), it is important to also observe primordial and primary prevention as they have proven to result in better health outcomes.

Since the management of childhood obesity is complex as the diagnosis may be associated with social stigma and difficult to discuss with families, interventions tend to be also complex as compared to regular medication doses or surgery. Besides, relevant evidence on how effective some of the currently available interventions are is still limited. It is for this reason that it is essential that additional individual and population-based prevention programmes and novel interventions for managing childhood obesity are adopted in clinical settings.  Nurse Practitioners have a vital role in the diagnosis, management, and education of obese children since they comprise the first point of contact in the healthcare system.

Research Overview

According to Pandita et al., (2016), the most effective prevention levels in childhood obesity are: primary prevention whose purpose is to prevent children who are overweight from being obese, primordial prevention which purposes to keep a healthy weight and normal BMI in the entire period of childhood to teenage and lastly secondary prevention which focuses on treating obesity to reduce the associated comorbidities and reverse an obese or overweight state. In combination, these strategies can be incorporated into practice from the perinatal period to adolescence.

In the perinatal period, prenatal nutrition and maternal weight gain should be adequate and mothers who are diabetic should maintain optimum blood glucose control.  During infancy, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months should be initiated early and thereafter solid foods should be included. The solid foods should provide a balanced diet by avoiding calorie-rich snacks which are unhealthy (Herring et al., 2016) and infants’ weight gain should be closely monitored. For preschoolers, adequate nutritional education should be given to both children and parents   to ensure that they develop healthy eating practices, they should also be provided with healthy food preferences through early experiences of various flavors and foods and the rate of weight gain should be closely observed to prevent early adiposity (Benjamin et al., 2016).Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

According to the recommendations provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, simply educating parents and children on the health risks associated with obesity, physical activity and nutrition are not enough. The best counseling technique is that which uses a behavior change model as follows.  A child or parent should self-monitor target behaviors and maintain a log of activity and foods as this will help to recognize the behaviors contributing to weight gain (Brown et al., 2015).  This can be essential in evaluating stimulus control to reduce environmental cues which contribute to unhealthy behaviors such as removing specific food categories from the house or a TV from the bedroom. Alternatively, one can put in efforts to establish new and healthier routines.

According to Skinner,  Perrin & Skelton (2016), contracting a particular activity or nutrition goal where an agreement to reward a child when a particular goal is attained has also proven to be effective since children tend to particular behaviors and provide incentives and structures to their process of setting goals. As suggested by Lobstein et al., (2015), parents should also understand the significance of positive reinforcement of target behaviors which can be in the form of rewards for attaining particular goals or praise for behaviors that are healthy. It is important that rewards are negotiated by both the child and the parent and facilitated by a health provider to ensure that they are appropriate. It is also advisable that rewards be in the form of privileges or activities that a child can actively engage in more often as compared to toys or monetary incentives (Lobstein et al., 2015).

In order to promote physical activity, parents and families are urged to monitor current media use before setting goals to reduce. The most essential recommendations that should be observed include: not having a television in a child’s bedroom, not watching TV during meals,   limiting the maximum time for media and TV viewing to 2 hours and children less than 2 years of age shouldn’t be allowed to view the media (Gurnani, Birken & Hamilton, 2015).  In order to accomplish the aforementioned goals, entertainment and healthier behaviors should be substituted. Among young children, active games such as hula hoops and tag can be substituted for media viewing. Pandita et al., (2016) alternatively suggests that non-media activities which are quite such as playing board games and aloud reading can also be substituted since they help to establish family interaction patterns which can ultimately result to active play.

Dissemination of Findings

The findings of this research will be disseminated to the target audience: clinicians, parents, and children through the use of posters, flyers, brochures and research briefs. The choice of these methods is supported by the fact that they provide a visually-appealing and concise way that relevant information can be disseminated to huge audiences (Kielhofner, Fossey & Taylor, 2017).  More specifically, flyers and brochures will be given to parents and children during routine wellness checkups a well, those enrolled in obesity prevention programmes and those in community settings. Posters will be strategically placed within the care setting and in community settings with relevant information regarding behavior change, dietary and lifestyle modification (Kielhofner, Fossey & Taylor, 2017).   Research briefs will also be used to disseminate the findings amongst nurses, children, and parents and will include appropriate care tips discussed in this paper that should be observed by children and parents.Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

Conclusion

            Childhood obesity is undeniably a public health issue in the 21^st century that affects low, middle and high-income nations, more so in urban settings. Its prevalence has increased in a rate that is very alarming. In the year 2018, the total number of children who were overweight aged 5 years and younger was estimated at 42 million. The best management approaches are those that combine primordial, primary and secondary prevention approaches and focus on the behavior change model as discussed earlier. Should this strategy plan be implemented in clinical practice settings, the quality of life of most obese children will be improved. Apart from being healthy, children will have more energy to perform activities of daily life with very minimal or no assistance. For children whose self-worth and self-image had been destroyed, it will be improved. Children will also develop confidence in other areas of life such as education and their risk to chronic illnesses later in life will reduce significantly.

References

Benjamin Neelon, S. E., Østbye, T., Hales, D., Vaughn, A., & Ward, D. S. (2016). Preventing childhood obesity in early care and education settings: Lessons from two intervention studies. Child: care, health, and development, 42(3), 351-358.

Brown, C. L., Halvorson, E. E., Cohen, G. M., Lazorick, S., & Skelton, J. A. (2015). Addressing childhood obesity: opportunities for prevention. Pediatric Clinics, 62(5), 1241-1261.

Center for Control and Disease Prevention (n.d.). Childhood Obesity Facts. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm

Gurnani, M., Birken, C., & Hamilton, J. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes, consequences, and management. Pediatric Clinics, 62(4), 821-840.

Herring, S. J., Cruice, J. F., Bennett, G. G., Rose, M. Z., Davey, A., & Foster, G. D. (2016). Preventing excessive gestational weight gain among African American women: a randomized clinical trial. Obesity, 24(1), 30-36.

Kielhofner, G., Fossey, E., & Taylor, R. R. (2017). Disseminating Research: Presenting, Writing, and Publishing. Kielhofner’s Research in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice, 447.

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Lobstein, T., Jackson-Leach, R., Moodie, M. L., Hall, K. D., Gortmaker, S. L., Swinburn, B. A., & McPherson, K. (2015). Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The Lancet, 385(9986), 2510-2520.

Pandita, A., Sharma, D., Pandita, D., Pawar, S., Tariq, M., & Kaul, A. (2016). Childhood obesity: prevention is better than cure. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity: targets and therapy, 9, 83.

Skinner, A. C., Perrin, E. M., & Skelton, J. A. (2016). Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in US children, 1999‐2014. Obesity, 24(5), 1116-1123.

Skinner, A. C., Ravanbakht, S. N., Skelton, J. A., Perrin, E. M., & Armstrong, S. C. (2018). Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in US children, 1999–2016. Pediatrics, 141(3), e20173459.

Introduction of Nursing Area of Interest

Childhood obesity has become a global epidemic in developed and developing nations and it continues to make prominent footprints in the lives of most families in the US today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity is the 5^th leading global risk factor for mortality. It is undeniable that the US is undergoing a rapid transition in nutrition that is primarily characterized by recurrent nutritional deficiencies which can be attributed to increased consumerism and a significant increase in processed foods (Williams, et al., 2015). At the same time, there is a continuous rise in the incidence and prevalence of diabetes, childhood obesity and other chronic conditions related to nutrition such as cardiovascular diseases and other forms of cancer.Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

According to the World Health Organization, obesity refers to having excess body fat as characterized by an individual’s BMI. Childhood obesity usually tracks to adulthood and escalates the overall lifetime risk of metabolic conditions, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal and orthopedic conditions. In the United States, childhood obesity impacts the community, individual health, and finances and is the major reason that it has attracted attention for health plans development and scientific research (Skinner et al., 2018).  In the past decades, several guidelines on identifying and managing obese children have been published. These guidelines mostly emphasize on secondary prevention as an effective approach of reducing the burden of disability and chronic diseases in adulthood. However, as recommended by Lobstein et al., (2015), it is important to also observe primordial and primary prevention as they have proven to result in better health outcomes.

Since the management of childhood obesity is complex as the diagnosis may be associated with social stigma and difficult to discuss with families, interventions tend to be also complex as compared to regular medication doses or surgery. Besides, relevant evidence on how effective some of the currently available interventions are is still limited. It is for this reason that it is essential that additional individual and population-based prevention programmes and novel interventions for managing childhood obesity are adopted in clinical settings.  Nurse Practitioners have a vital role in the diagnosis, management, and education of obese children since they comprise the first point of contact in the healthcare system.

Research Overview

According to Pandita et al., (2016), the most effective prevention levels in childhood obesity are: primary prevention whose purpose is to prevent children who are overweight from being obese, primordial prevention which purposes to keep a healthy weight and normal BMI in the entire period of childhood to teenage and lastly secondary prevention which focuses on treating obesity to reduce the associated comorbidities and reverse an obese or overweight state. In combination, these strategies can be incorporated into practice from the perinatal period to adolescence.

In the perinatal period, prenatal nutrition and maternal weight gain should be adequate and mothers who are diabetic should maintain optimum blood glucose control.  During infancy, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months should be initiated early and thereafter solid foods should be included. The solid foods should provide a balanced diet by avoiding calorie-rich snacks which are unhealthy (Herring et al., 2016) and infants’ weight gain should be closely monitored. For preschoolers, adequate nutritional education should be given to both children and parents   to ensure that they develop healthy eating practices, they should also be provided with healthy food preferences through early experiences of various flavors and foods and the rate of weight gain should be closely observed to prevent early adiposity (Benjamin et al., 2016).

According to the recommendations provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, simply educating parents and children on the health risks associated with obesity, physical activity and nutrition are not enough. The best counseling technique is that which uses a behavior change model as follows.  A child or parent should self-monitor target behaviors and maintain a log of activity and foods as this will help to recognize the behaviors contributing to weight gain (Brown et al., 2015).  This can be essential in evaluating stimulus control to reduce environmental cues which contribute to unhealthy behaviors such as removing specific food categories from the house or a TV from the bedroom. Alternatively, one can put in efforts to establish new and healthier routines.

According to Skinner,  Perrin & Skelton (2016), contracting a particular activity or nutrition goal where an agreement to reward a child when a particular goal is attained has also proven to be effective since children tend to particular behaviors and provide incentives and structures to their process of setting goals. As suggested by Lobstein et al., (2015), parents should also understand the significance of positive reinforcement of target behaviors which can be in the form of rewards for attaining particular goals or praise for behaviors that are healthy. It is important that rewards are negotiated by both the child and the parent and facilitated by a health provider to ensure that they are appropriate. It is also advisable that rewards be in the form of privileges or activities that a child can actively engage in more often as compared to toys or monetary incentives (Lobstein et al., 2015).

In order to promote physical activity, parents and families are urged to monitor current media use before setting goals to reduce. The most essential recommendations that should be observed include: not having a television in a child’s bedroom, not watching TV during meals,   limiting the maximum time for media and TV viewing to 2 hours and children less than 2 years of age shouldn’t be allowed to view the media (Gurnani, Birken & Hamilton, 2015).  In order to accomplish the aforementioned goals, entertainment and healthier behaviors should be substituted. Among young children, active games such as hula hoops and tag can be substituted for media viewing. Pandita et al., (2016) alternatively suggests that non-media activities which are quite such as playing board games and aloud reading can also be substituted since they help to establish family interaction patterns which can ultimately result to active play.Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

Dissemination of Findings

The findings of this research will be disseminated to the target audience: clinicians, parents, and children through the use of posters, flyers, brochures and research briefs. The choice of these methods is supported by the fact that they provide a visually-appealing and concise way that relevant information can be disseminated to huge audiences (Kielhofner, Fossey & Taylor, 2017).  More specifically, flyers and brochures will be given to parents and children during routine wellness checkups a well, those enrolled in obesity prevention programmes and those in community settings. Posters will be strategically placed within the care setting and in community settings with relevant information regarding behavior change, dietary and lifestyle modification (Kielhofner, Fossey & Taylor, 2017).   Research briefs will also be used to disseminate the findings amongst nurses, children, and parents and will include appropriate care tips discussed in this paper that should be observed by children and parents.

Conclusion

            Childhood obesity is undeniably a public health issue in the 21^st century that affects low, middle and high-income nations, more so in urban settings. Its prevalence has increased in a rate that is very alarming. In the year 2018, the total number of children who were overweight aged 5 years and younger was estimated at 42 million. The best management approaches are those that combine primordial, primary and secondary prevention approaches and focus on the behavior change model as discussed earlier. Should this strategy plan be implemented in clinical practice settings, the quality of life of most obese children will be improved. Apart from being healthy, children will have more energy to perform activities of daily life with very minimal or no assistance. For children whose self-worth and self-image had been destroyed, it will be improved. Children will also develop confidence in other areas of life such as education and their risk to chronic illnesses later in life will reduce significantly.

References

Benjamin Neelon, S. E., Østbye, T., Hales, D., Vaughn, A., & Ward, D. S. (2016). Preventing childhood obesity in early care and education settings: Lessons from two intervention studies. Child: care, health, and development, 42(3), 351-358.

Brown, C. L., Halvorson, E. E., Cohen, G. M., Lazorick, S., & Skelton, J. A. (2015). Addressing childhood obesity: opportunities for prevention. Pediatric Clinics, 62(5), 1241-1261.

Gurnani, M., Birken, C., & Hamilton, J. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes, consequences, and management. Pediatric Clinics, 62(4), 821-840.

Herring, S. J., Cruice, J. F., Bennett, G. G., Rose, M. Z., Davey, A., & Foster, G. D. (2016). Preventing excessive gestational weight gain among African American women: a randomized clinical trial. Obesity, 24(1), 30-36.

Kielhofner, G., Fossey, E., & Taylor, R. R. (2017). Disseminating Research: Presenting, Writing, and Publishing. Kielhofner’s Research in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice, 447.

Lobstein, T., Jackson-Leach, R., Moodie, M. L., Hall, K. D., Gortmaker, S. L., Swinburn, B. A., & McPherson, K. (2015). Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The Lancet, 385(9986), 2510-2520.

Pandita, A., Sharma, D., Pandita, D., Pawar, S., Tariq, M., & Kaul, A. (2016). Childhood obesity: prevention is better than cure. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity: targets and therapy, 9, 83.

Skinner, A. C., Perrin, E. M., & Skelton, J. A. (2016). Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in US children, 1999‐2014. Obesity, 24(5), 1116-1123.Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper

Resources & Requirements for Strategy Plan/ Scholarly Paper.

Each student will select a nursing area of interest in which to develop a project that will lead to improved health outcomes. The student will utilize evidenced-based practice to support his/her stated project and submit a scholarly paper as validation of meeting the achieved competency. Grading Rubric provided.

Your Strategy Plan Development should contain the following labeled sections:   

• Nursing Area of Interest: A brief description of the “nursing area of interest” and why you consider that additional research is needed to improve health outcomes.
• Research overview: Provide an overview of what research currently exists in the “nursing area of interest” and whether or not that information is translated into current clinical practice.
• Dissemination of Findings: Discuss what research or practice methods you would use to help disseminate relevant information regarding the “nursing area of interest”.
• Conclusion: Provide a conclusion summary that addresses beneficial effects that would occur in professional practice settings if you were able to institute your Strategy Plan.

Essay format:

• Maximum of 6 pages
• Title page and APA reference page do not count towards required page count.
• Minimum of 10 references, one of which must be your course textbook.
• A statement included in the introduction of the paper that identifies databases and credible websites used to obtain references. The statement must include key terms and filters identifying a minimum: dates and peer review process.Childhood Obesity Scholarly Paper