Pediatric Obesity in Underprivileged Communities Literature Review
During my year of service with City Year Chicago, I worked alongside with students in North Lawndale, an underprivileged community, where I mentored and tutored students that were at high risk of dropping out from school. Many of the students were overweight and an alarming number suffered from early onset diabetes. They would come to school fatigued, which led to a decline in their academic performance. The experience of working in an underserved area taught me how external factors such as the unavailability of healthy foods, health care, and after-school sports programs can hinder a student’s education. As a healthcare professional, I would implement interventions to address this health behavior concern.
Pediatric obesity is considered a major public health issue in the United States and has affected other aspects of a child’s life. This health behavior has been found to be associated with chronic diseases, psychological issues, high medical costs as well as a higher rate in obesity throughout adulthood. In the United States, child and adolescent obesity dramatically increased from 1970 to 2000 (Yanovski, 2015). In 2012, 16.9% of children in the United States were diagnosed with obesity and has been related to primarily socioeconomic groups (Cheung, Cunningham, Naryan & Kramer, 2016). Developing interventions to address pediatric obesity would be important so that we can provide resources to children and their families and effectively treat this health behavior. In order to create an effective intervention, one must understand the subject in-depth by studying previous research, the significance it may have on a new and upcoming research by comparing and contrasting the findings.
Bevans, Sanchez, Teneralli & Forrest (2011) analyzed the impact of school nutrition programs on a children’s health in regard to healthy or unhealthy food offerings during school lunches and the associated eating behaviors during and after school hours. When it comes to permitting the sale of competitive foods and beverages, which are not regulated by federal nutritional guidelines, 58% of states and 61% of school districts take precautions. The cross-sectional observational study was able to gather 2039 students from twelve elementary and ten middle schools. The availability of healthier foods during school lunch periods, student participation in school lunch programs and student eating behaviors were all analyzed throughout the study. The data and results showed the positive impact school lunch programs have on children’s eating behaviors. By increasing the availability of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, we can see the true importance of providing nutritious foods to schools has on our community. In order to get a more in-depth explanation about obesity prevention strategies, we must focus on the educational base of healthy eating amongst the youth population.
The authors and researchers of Youth Understanding of Healthy Eating and Obesity: A Focus Group (2013) from Emory University focused on healthy eating and childhood obesity by collecting and analyzing qualitative data collected by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The study design focuses on group discussions to test potential concepts to develop obesity awareness within the youth. Data was collected in 2010 from healthy and overweight students from the 4th-5th grades as well as the 7th-8th grades. Researchers used late childhood and early adolescent students as children at this age become more independent in regard to their dietary habits and attitudes. Researchers were able to analyze data from overweight and normal weight youth, in order to get a general consensus of the population. The researchers conducted a secondary analysis to identify key themes related to family eating habits, barriers of healthy eating and knowledge about obesity and associated complications. The analysis showed that the urban youth of Georgia recognize the problem of obesity but are unable to connect to their own health development and lifestyle behaviors. The general consensus of the study was that the overweight students believed that their weight and health was attributed to genetics or slow metabolism. Health education programs and interventions are suggested for future development. We must recognize the although obesity is acknowledged amongst the youth, negative connotations around healthy lifestyle choices should be prevented.
Two years later, another study was conducted by Brown, Halvorson, Cohen, Lazorick & Skelton (2015) where they suggested the importance of childhood obesity and the psychosocial factors associated with the disease such as depression, health behaviors, poor self-esteem and stigmatization. The researchers analyzed the environmental behaviors and genetic risk factors to come up prevention opportunities for families and communities. The study focused on the ecological model of childhood obesity as it shows risk factors for pediatric obesity patients and discusses strategies for a successful intervention at the level of the family, school, pediatrician and government. Although there were many studies linked to this article, the researchers noted that more research is needed for the future to optimize strategies, and that interventions between the levels of the ecological model show success in prevention of childhood obesity. The body, mind and spirit approach to medicine is so vital as internal and external factors can hinder one’s health. The article addresses the obesity epidemic amongst children in the United States in regard to socioeconomic disparities, shorter sleep duration, decreased physical activity, increased intake of processed foods, and public policies. Breaking down barriers to reduce the obesity epidemic would be helpful for underserved communities with limited resources, as it would alleviate psychosocial complications and increase prevention opportunities.
Earlier this year, Roles of Mothers and Fathers in Supporting Child Physical Activity (2018), was published in the United Kingdom where researchers examined the extent that the mother and father play in associating and supporting their children’s physical activity using a cross-sectional mixed methods study. They collected data from forty-seven primary schools located in Bristol that comprised of 944 children ages 8 to 9 where 51 parents were interviewed. The children wore an accelerometer, which detected minutes of physical activity per day. Parents were asked who leads their children’s physical activities during the week and weekend. With the data collected, linear and logistic regression was examined and associated between the gender of the parent who supports the child’s physical activity and the physical activity obtained by the accelerometer. Interviews were conducted to explore the role of gender and how the parents support child physical activity. Results showed that parents had a stronger role of supporting boys to be more active than girls and that mothers primarily support child activity during the week. This study shows the impact parents have on their child’s physical activity and overall health behaviors. As a result, parents have a great impact on their children’s physical activity and overall health behaviors.
Physical activity is one of the main components to living a healthy lifestyle and parents have a strong influence when it comes to their children’s health. The Effectiveness of a Family-Centered Childhood Obesity Intervention at the YMCA (2018), indicates a more in-depth research on this subject matter. The key-component of the research was to implement monthly physical activity classes over a span of six months to improve knowledge attainment, increase healthy behaviors and improve BMI measures in children and their families. Fifteen families were a part of the intervention group that attended classes whereas the control group did not. It was found that the children in the intervention group had a significant improvement throughout the duration of the program. The intervention resulted in improved knowledge about healthy habits yet, did not significantly impact healthy habits or BMI. In the future, the improvement in the healthy habits in children should be evaluated on a grander scale with randomized participants as well as a longer duration of the trial to have consistent data. The article is relevant to my future research as it focuses on educating the youth in after-school programs as well as creating interventions to implement a healthy behavior in children’s eating habits and physical activity.
The purpose of this review is to understand different factors that have a significant role in pediatric obesity. It was found that there are socioeconomic disparities, decreased physical activity and increased intake of processed foods with underserved communities. In addition, social factors such as relationships with family members is important to a child’s health behaviors. There has been many research studies and discussions in regard to the topic of pediatric obesity, however future research would be needed to conduct further studies as to how our communities can better manage the obesity epidemic in the youth population.