Obesity in Children
Introduction
Obesity cases across the globe have been on the rise over the past years. The United States among the most affected countries in the world. Past research has shown that the number of obese children between the age of 2 and 19 years in high. In the US, the number of children with obesity is estimated at 31.8 per cent. Some of the factors facilitating the increasing obesity rate include unbalanced diet, lack of physical exercise, technological development and gene’s inheritance (Tripicchio et al. 1486). Obesity has been associated with technological advancement because children spend most of their time watching TV and playing video games instead of playing with friends as it used to be before technology transformed to another level. Besides the unhealthy lifestyle, obesity has strongly been associated with genetics of parents. A recent study has indicated that approximately 40 per cent of obesity cases are inherited from parents. This is an implication that children whose parents are obese are more likely to develop the health condition as well. The study has further indicated that the risk of obese parents giving birth to obese children is higher as compared to the probability of thinner parents giving birth to thinner children. Therefore, genetic inheritance is one of the leading causes of obesity among children. This paper will discuss the clinical problems that are associated with the PICOT question.
The paper will describe the problems associated with nursing practice by expounding on the intervention for the identified nursing problem, the barriers that the nurse may encounter in the intervention implementation process, identifying actions that can handle the barriers, discussing inclusion and exclusion criteria for analyzing the evidence and lastly, finding out the databases and keywords used to start the search.
Problem Description
Obesity among children in the United States has continued to increases significantly despite the efforts and cautions that have been put in place to control the rate of obesity. Past study has shown that obesity has continued to hit hard among children despite the efforts by parents to promote healthy living lifestyle among their children (Oulhote et al. 677). Even among the children doing regular exercise and eating a balanced diet, there were still numerous cases of obesity. The study findings imply that a good number of children genetically inherit obesity from their parents. Therefore, the main challenge is susceptibility to obesity as a result of epigenetics. Obesity has negative health consequences to the affected children, it increases the possibility of children to develop heart-related problems such as cardiovascular disease. The US-based study on the children and adolescent aged between 5 and 17 years have shown that about 70 per cent of children and adolescent with obesity were exposed to the risk of developing at least one cardiovascular disease. Obese children are also exposed to the risk of developing musculoskeletal, obstructive sleep apnea and injuries and fractures (Dangardt et al. 474). Besides childhood health complications, obesity can eventually lead to severe adulthood health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular, heart failure and kidney failure. Therefore, it necessary to come up with a way of controlling obesity among children to reduce the possible risk factor
PICOT Question
P-Children susceptibility to obesity
I- Use of exercise to lower the level of MBI
C- Compared to children who are susceptible to obesity as a result of epigenetics
O- Children who do not perform exercise are vulnerable to obesity
T- Six months
Importance to Nursing Practice
Obesity is a health condition in the United States and different countries globally. Efforts are being made by healthcare providers to counter the obesity rate in the US Being a major health concern, obesity control and prevention is essential in nursing practice. When nurses are well informed about the problem and possible intervention, they can play a critical role in ensuring that children and parents receive critical information about the health problem and suggested intervention.
Chosen Intervention
There are several ways of reducing the risk of developing obesity include physical exercise, balanced diet and general healthy living lifestyles. For this health issue, exercise was chosen as the preferred intervention for controlling obesity among children. Physical exercise is one of the most effective ways of living a healthy lifestyle and preventing the development of health conditions such as obesity and heart-related complications (Anderson et al. 3). Exercise has an impact on Body Mass Index (BMI) which is a key determinant of obesity. BMI refers to the weight of a person in kilogram divided by the height of the person on squire meters. An individual is considered obese if his or her BMI is 30.0 or higher. BMI depends on the fatness of an individual when a person is too fast, the weight is high and therefore the BMI is high thus increasing his or her possibility of developing obesity.
Impact on Outcomes
Exercise helps burn the fats in the body and reduces the weight of a person hence lowering the BMI number. When BMI is lower than, the person is not considered obese. Therefore, children who do exercises regularly will have a lower chance of becoming obese because their weight will match their height making the BMI fall below 30.0. Exercise will improve the health outcome of children suffering from obesity.
Barriers
Despite the efforts by healthcare providers to create awareness on the importance of exercise in controlling health conditions such as obesity and cardiovascular disease, many have not hidden the advice due to various reasons. Exercise among children is faced with many challenges. Even though have deliberately refused to do physical exercise, the majority are facing challenges that are beyond their control. Therefore, in the effort to implement the chosen intervention, a master’s prepared nurse might face the following barriers; lack of adequate exercise equipment to perform the exercise and preferences by many children to watch TV and play a video game rather than doing exercise.
Action One to Handle Barrier
Urging parents and schools to purchase exercise equipment for their children and students respectively
Action Two to Handle Barrier
Creating awareness of the importance of conducting a physical exercise regularly and informing the children on possible health effects that can result from excessive watching and video gaming.
Two Inclusion Criteria
Children and adolescent aged between 2 years and 19 years
Children with a BMI above 30.0
Two exclusion Criteria
The gender of the children was not taken into consideration for the intervention
The race of the children was also not factored in the implementation of the intervention
Databases
Some of the databases used in the study included the following: The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) that was used to access the nursing literature. Evidence Analysis Library that was used for systematic obesity review and lastly UpToDate to have access to peer-reviewed reviews (Clarke et al. 152). Some of the keywords searched include obesity, epigenetics, childhood obesity and interventions.
Conclusion
Obesity is a common health issue among children. Major causes of obesity include lack of exercise, unbalanced diet and susceptibility to epigenetics. Obesity among children can be controlled by eating a balanced diet and perming regular exercise. By performing the exercise, an individual burns excess fats in the body thus reducing the body and eventually lowering the BMI. A person who has a BMI above 30.0 is considered obese. Some of the barriers to exercise among children include lack of self-motivation and addiction TV watching and video gaming.
Works Cited
Anderson, Elizabeth, and J. Larry Durstine. “Physical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review.” Sports Medicine and Health Science 1.1 (2019): 3-10.
Clarke, Leigh, Michael Dillon, and Alan Shiell. “Health economic evaluation in orthotics and prosthetics: a systematic review protocol.” Systematic reviews 8.1 (2019): 152.
Dangardt, Frida, et al. “Association between fat mass through adolescence and arterial stiffness: a population-based study from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.” The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 3.7 (2019): 474-481
Oulhote, Youssef, et al. “Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function scores in young faroese adults and potential modification by prenatal methylmercury exposure.” Environmental health perspectives 125.4 (2017): 677-683.
Tripicchio, Gina L., et al. “Associations between snacking and weight status among adolescents 12–19 years in the united states.” Nutrients 11.7 (2019): 1486.