Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs (Research Paper Sample)

Evaluating the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs.
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Abstract
Introduction: Childhood obesity is a major health challenge not only in the United States but also worldwide. Well over 30 percent of children and adolescents in the America are obese or overweight. Childhood obesity is an outcome of several economic, environmental, social, behavioral, and biological factors and the complex interactions between these factors that promote positive energy balance. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of prevention programs for childhood obesity through a review of interventional studies. More particularly, the study tool a lot of interest in reviewing studies that aimed at improving diet and nutritional standards for children, improving access to high-quality foods , and increasing the opportunities for physical activity in homes, childcare settings, schools, primary care clinics, and the community.
Methods: The study collected data and information by reviewing existing literature on prevention strategies for childhood obesity. Data, examples, obesity prevention programs was retrieved by conducting an extensive analysis and search of the electronic databases and resources from the university library.
Results: More than 1000 broad articles were retrieved for the study. Out of the 1000, 36 were narrowed down for analysis out of which eight were picked for literature review based on the relevancy of the topic. The results of the study are extracted from the eight reviewed articles. The major findings of the reviewed articles focus on the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs. The effectiveness of both school based and non-school based programs were majorly evaluated in the study
Conclusion: Several childhood obesity prevention interventions have been studied and conducted in the United States, and several other high-income nations. More importantly, a lot of focus has been shifted towards school-based intervention programs, most of which have proved effective. Schools therefore provide a significant setting in which effective prevention programs can be implemented.
Evaluating the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs
Introduction.
Childhood obesity has become a serious health concern in the American population and in several other nations globally (Wojcicki, & Heyman, 2010). Many infants, young children and adolescents globally are obese or overweight. Adolescents and children who are obese or overweight have increased emotional distress and physical disease. Additionally, obese or overweight children and adolescents have less of cognitive ability, and hence their school performance is highly dented (Wojcicki, & Heyman, 2010). In the wake of these challenges, there is need for effective obesity prevention programs that will improve the lives of children and adolescents not only in the United States, but also globally. Therefore, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of obesity prevention programs such as physical activity, improvement of diet and nutrition practices, reduced screen time, change of eating habits, improving school feeding programs, and maternal prevention programs.
Purpose.
The purpose of this research paper is to outline some of the available childhood obesity prevention programs such as physical activity, improvement of diet and nutrition practices, reduced screen time, change of eating habits, improving school feeding programs, and maternal prevention programs. More importantly, the paper will evaluate the effectiveness of these prevention interventions to determine which ones are more relevant given the prevalence of childhood obesity in schools, homes, and at the community level. Additionally, the paper will shed more light on the impact of obesity on the life of children and adolescents at both in academics and their general lives.
Methods.
The collection of data and information for the study was done by reviewing existing literature on prevention strategies for childhood obesity. Data, examples, obesity prevention programs was retrieved by conducting an extensive analysis and search of the electronic databases and resources from the university library. The following engines were used in conducting the primary search on the study: Google, PubMed, EbscoHost, Embase, and Medline.
Initially, the study used the following key works in conducting the primary search from the mentioned engines: childhood obesity, overweight children, childhood obesity risk factors, childhood obesity causes, and childhood obesity prevention programs. From the initial search, the study gathered more than 1000 articles. Most of these articles were however did not address the topic of study and hence, a further matching had to be done in terms of relevancy and content.
Therefore, the articles were trimmed down from over 1000 to just about eight articles which will be used for gathering adequate data and information for the paper. The study put a lot of emphasis on the relevance of each article and its contribution to the topic, and therefore the search was rigorous and thorough. More importantly, the literature reviewed for this study was extracted from articles which had been published from 2010 through to 2017. Therefore, all the articles used in the study are not older than five years.
The reason for using this criterion was to capture some of the latest childhood obesity prevention methods as well as overlook those which had been overtaken by events and time. In reviewing the literature for the study, most of the studies were similar in terms of the childhood obesity prevention programs discussed and hence most of them will be generalized without going into detail of the particular articles used. The effectiveness and relevancy of these prevention strategies was however important in selecting the reviewed literature. The results of the literature review is documented in the next sections of the study.
Results.
More than 1000 broad articles were retrieved for the study. Out of the 1000, 36 were narrowed down for analysis out of which eight were picked for literature review based on the relevancy of the topic. The results of the study are extracted from the eight reviewed articles. The major findings of the reviewed articles focus on the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs. The effectiveness of both school based and non-school based programs were majorly evaluated in the study.
More than five of the reviewed articles emphasized on the effectiveness of the school based programs on preventing and reducing incidences of obesity. More importantly, the review established that school based physical activity reduces the amount of screen time for children under the age of 13, and hence improves their aerobic activity, which reduces obesity or prevents it all together. Secondly, school-based prevention programs with a home component was found to be moderately affective in addressing the problem. More than half of the reviewed articles mentioned the effectiveness of school-based prevention programs with a home component.
The third result concerns school-based prevention interventions with community and home components. Most of the studies which supported this prevention intervention concentrated on provision of education to improve physical activity and diet. This prevention strategy was found to be completely favored and important in six of the studies reviewed. However, the study found non-school based interventions as either ineffective or moderately effective because of the more time children spend in school.
Literature Review.
Bleich, Segal, Wu, Wilson, and Wang (2013) in the article “Systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention studies,” systematically reviews community based prevention programs for childhood obesity in America and high income nations, especially in Europe and some Asian countries. The authored searched the Cochrane Library, clinicaltrials.gov, CINAHL, PyschInfo, Embase, and Medline for relevant English-language literature on these programs. The eligibility of studies used in the article was based on prevention interventions in community settings.
The article used nine-community based studies in which five were randomized controlled trials while the other four were non-randomized controlled trials. According to this study, there is considerable evidence that a combined physical activity and diet interventions conducted in the communities with some school aspect is more effective at prevention of overweight and obesity (Bleich, Segal, Wu, Wilson, & Wang, 2013). Diet and physical activity as prevention interventions are important in this study since they have been considered as effective strategies for preventing the problem. This article is significant to the study since it evaluates the effectiveness of community based childhood obesity prevention programs.
“Modifiable Risk Factors and Interventions for Childhood Obesity Prevention within the First 1,000 Days” by Dattilo (2016) is another article that has a close connection with the topic of study since it addresses obesity risk factors which can be modified and interventions for childhood obesity prevention. The addresses the prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide, with an estimation of 42 million as the number of obese or overweight children (Dattilo, 2016). According to the author, the origins of childhood obesity occurs within the first a thousand days. Early childhood obesity antecedents according to the article are multicultural (Dattilo, 2016). This article is particularly significant to the study because, apart from outlining some of the effective prevention programs for childhood obesity.
The author goes ahead to ...