Obesity in Children/Adolescents and Prevention Plan

Lorayna Lucero

Califonia State University Channel Islands

HLTH 405: Fundamentals of Health Education

Prof. Juan Betancourt

May 18, 2022

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Obesity in Children/Adolescents and Prevention Plan

Introduction

Obesity is a rising epidemic globally, but it is more known in the United States and it

affects about half the nation when adding children and adults together. The definition of obesity

is when a person is abnormal or excessive in fat and it poses a risk to their health. A number of

risks that can happen with a person who is obese are chronic diseases, including heart disease,

diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers. Obesity can be linked to individual

behavior, genetics, or environmental and physical influences. The reason I chose this topic is that

I have two little nephews, and both of them love junk food already and I am just concerned we

are starting bad habits. I want to do more research so that my family and I can do a better job of

giving them nutritious substitutes instead of junk food. In the past decade or so, obesity is a

growing epidemic among children and adolescents. However, there have been known

interventions to combat this growing epidemic including, the Let’s Move, Myplate, and Healthy

HungerFree Kids Act. All of these interventions are public health campaigns that are advertised

on television or through social media, nonetheless, in public schools, nothing is mentioned about

these health campaigns. Since obesity is a growing epidemic among the youth, I will be

examining the severity of obesity, the Let’s Move Campaign an intervention that was launched to

combat childhood obesity, and its target population, and my own recommendation for an

intervention a school-based intervention, and including my goals and outcomes for the programs.

The Severity of Health Issues

In the United States, obesity is a rising epidemic that affects children and adolescents.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), obesity affects about one in five children

and adolescents, and about one in sixteen children and adolescents have severe obesity. Severe
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obesity is being twice as heavy then the recommended weight for a child’s age and height. Many

factors can contribute to obesity among children and adolescents such as genetics, and

environmental and physical influences. In most cases, children and adolescents are more exposed

to obesity genetically. According to Sanyaolu et al. 2019, “Obesity is found in individuals that

are susceptible genetically and involved the biological defense of an elevated body fat mass, the

mechanism of which could be explained in part by interactions between brain reward and

homeostatic circuits, inflammatory signaling, accumulation of lipid metabolites, or other

mechanisms that impair hypothalamic neurons.” This sample explains how genetics play a role

in obesity, explaining how the body reacts to eating food. Obesity and severe obesity in children

and adolescents have a significant impact on not only physical but also psychological health.

According to Bhadoria et al. 2015, “Childhood obesity can profoundly affect children’s physical

health, social, and emotional well-being, and self-esteem. It is also associated with poor

academic performance and lower quality of life experienced by the child.” This example shows

how significant the consequences of obesity can have on a child’s body and school performance.

In the long run, obesity in children and adolescents will negatively impact their overall health

and will cause future problems.

A Current Intervention

There are many health campaigns and interventions that are fighting to combat childhood

obesity. I will be focusing on one in particular called Let’s Move. The Let’s Move campaign was

a public health campaign to reduce childhood obesity and was launched by former first lady

Michelle Obama in 2010. The objective of the campaign was to solve the growing problem of

obesity amongst children and adolescents and promote a healthier future. At the time President

Obama created a task force on childhood obesity to review every single program and policy
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relating to child nutrition and physical activity and develop a national action plan. A few

programs partnered up with the Let’s Move campaign, such as Chef Ann Foundation, National

Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, United Fresh Start Foundation, and Whole Foods Market. The

campaign partnering up with the programs was an initiative to incorporate salad bars throughout

schools nationwide. A partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and

Healthier America was to grow opportunities for physical activity. A few accomplishments the

campaign did was announcing the Food and Drug Administration modernizing the nutrition facts

label, launching the US Department of Agriculture MyPlate, providing three million students

with a salad bar increasing access to fruits and vegetables.

Target Population

The target population for the Let’s move campaign was parents or caregivers, education,

community leaders, and healthcare professionals to promote physical wellness among the youth.

The Let’s Move Campaign targeted parents and caregivers because they play a huge role in

preventing obesity. Parents or caregivers are more likely to prevent their children or adolescents

from becoming obese by providing healthy snacks and meals, daily physical activity, and even

education on eating nutritiously. Parents and caregivers can also set up individual values amongst

the youth such as integrity, respect, responsibility, and leadership. Education was also targeted in

preventing childhood obesity because children and adolescents learned about what to put into

their bodies, and how physical activity would set them up for a healthy future. Community

leaders were also a target because they could ensure that schools have healthy options for food

and beverages. The last target was towards healthcare professionals because they can help

parents with routine check-ups of children and adolescents, and provide guidance on healthy
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eating and activity. The Let’s Move campaign has put a huge amount of pressure on society to do

a better job of educating individuals on physical activity and eating nutritious meals.

My recommendation and Background

From examining the Let’s Move campaign, my recommendation for addressing the

epidemic of obesity in children and adolescents is to start with a community assessment and use

a school-based intervention for preventing obesity called Feel4Diabetes. From the Let’s Move

campaign that intervention was launched nationwide from the start, I would start with one state

at a time and assess which state needs the most attention in combating child obesity. I

recommended a school-based intervention for battling the epidemic of obesity because primary

schooling is for all children throughout the nation, and children and adolescents spend a

significant amount of time at school getting at least two meals a day, children and adolescents are

required to do physical education. According to Lambrinou et al. 2020, “... primary schools seem

to be the ideal setting for childhood obesity prevention interventions since it offers many

opportunities for physical activity promotion and nutrition education and reduction of sedentary

behavior through practice, policy, and a supportive environment.” This example shows how

schools can play a huge role in health promotion amongst the youth. Using a school-based

intervention children and adolescents can education on eating healthy and how daily physical

activity can be beneficial to the human body. A school-based intervention can use two theoretical

frameworks, the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Social

Cognitive Theory is an interaction between the individual's environment, cognitive process, and

behavior (Bandura, 1986). The Theory of Planned Behavior is an intention to perform a given

behavior as a function of their attitude toward behavior, their belief of what others think they

should do, and their perception of the level of ease or difficulty of the behavior in which they
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considering action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). According to Lambrinou et al, 202, “Using a solid

theoretical framework as a basis in an intervention’s design is vital to its chances of success, as

evidence suggests that such interventions are more effective compared to those that are not based

on a theory.” This shows that no interventions would be effective without a solid theoretical

framework because health promotion programs often rely on two frameworks or more.

Rationale

The reason for using a health education program to address public health issues is

because it is for promotes and improves individual overall wellbeing. A health education

program is a strategy for implementing health and promotion and disease prevention programs.

A is a school-based program and is considered a health education program because education is

free and open to the public. This is one strategy to end the epidemic of childhood obesity because

it targets a certain population, provides information on the threats obesity can do to a child,

provide ways to give a child a healthier lifestyle, and promotes motivation and support for

behavior change. According to Don Nutbeam 2000, “...educational programs directed at

achieving critical health literacy will improve capacity for social action which may, in turn, be

directed towards changing public policy and organization practices related to health.” This

example shows how a health education program can address public health issues by providing

indirectly improving social action and directing a change related to health.

Goals and Outcomes

A few goals and outcomes that I hope would come out of a school-based intervention for

preventing childhood obesity are either to slow down the epidemic or promote a healthier

lifestyle for children and adolescents. I think the one main goal of this school-based intervention

is to slow down or even stop obesity in children and adolescents. I know the goal is unattainable,
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but that should be a target goal if we reach low levels of obesity in children and adolescents. The

second goal of promoting a healthier lifestyle is more attainable because that’s all we could do.

A school-based intervention can’t force parents or caregivers to give their children healthier food

options, the best we could do is to educate parents or caregivers on the importance of nutritious

foods and why physical activity is important. One outcome I hope could happen with this

school-based intervention is making the intervention nationwide. First, assessing which

communities needs the most attention for childhood obesity and then implementing the

school-based intervention. Implementing the school-based intervention to those who need it first

would be a trial run, to see if the intervention actually improves childhood obesity rates and if

any changes need to be made to the intervention.

Conclusion

To bring everything to a close, obesity is a rising epidemic in the United States among

children and adolescents, oand adults. Obesity is when a person is abnormal in fat which poses

a threat to their health. Mant risks come from obesity including chronic diseases such as heart

disease, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders, and can cause some cancers. Many factors can

contribute to obesity examples include genetics, environmental, individual behavior, and

physical influences. However, there is a growing epidemic of obesity among children and

adolescents. Many public campaigns have fought to combat the rising epidemic examples like

the Let’s Move or Healthy HungerFree Kids Act. These interventions were part of public health

campaigns and were rarely heard of in schools. The Let’s Move campaign was an effort to solve

the growing problem of childhood obesity and made a few accomplishments since it first

launched in 2009. However, the Let’s Move campaign has been quiet in the past few years and

has been less effective. I have recommended a school-based intervention that uses the social
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cognitive theory and the theory of planned behavior to change behavior in children and

adolescents. Using a theoretical framework for a health intervention is been noticed as the most

effective way to change behavior. The rationale for using a health education program to address

public health issues was because it will promote and improve an individual's overall wellbeing.

A goal of using a school-based intervention was to slow down the spread of the obesity epidemic

and promote a healthier lifestyle. An outcome of the intervention was to become a nationwide

intervention for public schools. Overall, the best way to combat the obesity epidemic is by

promoting a healthier way of living which include physical activity.

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References:

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

Nutbeam, Don. (2000). Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary
health education and communication strategies into the 21st century, Health Promotion
International, 15(3), 259–267, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/15.3.259

Lambrinou, C.-P., Androutsos, O., Karaglani, E., Cardon, G., Huys, N., Wikström, K., Kivelä, J.,
Ko, W., Karuranga, E., Tsochev, K., Iotova, V., Dimova, R., De Miguel-Etayo, P., M.
González-Gil, E., Tamás, H., JANCSÓ, Z., Liatis, S., Makrilakis, K., & Manios, Y. (2020).
Effective strategies for childhood obesity prevention via school-based, family-involved
interventions: A critical review for the development of the Feel4Diabetes-study school-based
component. BMC Endocrine Disorders, 20(S2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-020-0526-5

National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration.
https://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/about

Sanyaolu, A., Okorie, C., Qi, X., Locke, J., & Rehman, S. (2019). Childhood and adolescent
obesity in the United States: A public health concern. Global Pediatric Health, 6.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794x19891305

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Overweight & Obesity Statistics. National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity