America is one of the countries in the world with the highest rates of childhood obesity. Various databases register over 13.7 million victims struggling with the health challenge. As a public health matter, various attempts have been made to help to stop or reduce the rising number of obese children. Notably, secondary and tertiary levels have commonly been used. Therefore, it is vital to create a health promotion model that relies on primary and secondary levels of obesity prevention. However, the model is built in line with Evidence-Based Research and Practice (EBP) including the components and the Evidence Research Practice (EBP) model itself.
If you were to turn the plan into a potential business, resources will need to be collected, objectives and goals established. To sustainably operate this idea, shareholders will be paramount, and more effort placed in outreach activities to guide parents and monitor the child’s progress will be needed.
Childhood obesity is best understood as a health challenge that affects both children and teenagers.
It is known to occur due to the existence of too many fats within the body. For a child to be declared obese, he or she must be overweight beyond the medically required normal measurement (CDC, 2018). However, age is also an important factor in determining if a child is in fact obese. This health challenge is noted to be on the gradual increase in the United States. Various strategies are hereby required to combat it. There are many public health initiatives that have been undertaken.
Five prevention levels have been streamlined and they include the primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and primordial levels of disease prevention. However, the most common types of prevention levels are the first three. In this paper it will review childhood obesity as it gradually rises in the United States and then propose the creation of an entrepreneurial plan in form of a health promotion that will be aimed at reducing it or if possible, solving the challenge completely.
There are possibilities of other health challenges occurring in the due course of the health promotion program. This significantly alters the goal thus interfering with the child’s results. Other health promotion components include advocacy and the emphasis on proper nutrition for obese children. In adherence to the outlined health promotion components in line with an evidenced-based research (EBR), it is more likely that the challenge can be reduced (Levels of Prevention, 2013). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the latest statistics show that 18.5% is a general prevalence of obesity in the United States with an approximated 13.7 million teenagers and children combined. This is only among children and teenagers between the ages of 2 and 19 years. To be exact, obesity of children between the ages of 2 and 5 years cover a total of 13.9% and children between the ages of 6 and 11 are 18.4%. If we are to take into consideration the various ethnicities, the prevalence of the disease is most common among the Hispanic with 25.8% in comparison to the 22% among the non-Hispanic blacks.
To address the matter above, a health promotion plan is required. First, the components of a health promotion plan must be identified. To begin with, goal setting is foremost to understand the direction of the health program. Here, the goal is to gradually reduce the weight of these obese children. This must be focused on solving childhood obesity as the core problem. During the initial training, the child’s parents/caretakers must be advised on the importance of healthy eating habits instead of stopping the child from specific diets or foods (Public Health & its Five Levels of Prevention, 2016). Parents must also learn and understand the psychological impact that some obese children can suffer from. Healthy, open communication must be introduced to deal with any resulting issues, for example isolation or depression. A child must feel as though the issue is being taken care of. The health promotion component of physical activity must be handled with ultimate concern. A child that is obese needs exercise to promote health. Another component of health promotion among obese children is the fact that the victim’s health must be maintained.
To support the health promotion for childhood obesity which is on the rise, it is required to suggest an evidence-based model that supports it. An evidence-based model is explained as a systematic framework designed for nurses to integrate well-formulated interventions that are clinically evidenced with ethical inclusions (CDC, 2018). One example of an Evidence-Based Model is the Parents as Teachers (PAT) model. This type of model offers the simple and visual explanation of the parents as teachers of their own child. (Morshed et al., 2018). The parents as teachers model is comprised of 4 key components that interconnect with each other. For example, a one-on-one with the parent and the child. Here, home visits are done to ensure that results are being attained. Others include group connections, such as health and developmental screenings for the obese child, and lastly, a resource-oriented network for the affected families.
Relating the identified Evidence-Based Practice model (EBP) to the health promotion model that is under creation, the two concepts potentially address the public health challenge as both primary and secondary levels of disease prevention. The suggested PAT model offers parents an avenue to teach their own children about problems or matters related to living a healthy life (Morshed et al., 2018). As a primary prevention for the health promotion strategy, talking to children about depression or feelings of depression/isolation is a paramount move. Parents must be taught that for their obese children to be responsible for their health/weight maintenance, they should lose the weight slowly instead of losing it at once and then work to maintain that healthier weight. Relating this to the health maintenance components of the health promotion program, the program becomes viable if the rules are followed. The PAT evidenced-based model offers regular visitations to parents and their obese children purposely to monitor progress. The attribution training component of the health promotion program demands parents to embrace the facts and beliefs that the children can potentially get better under their own guidance. Surely, the increasing obesity challenge among children in the United States can be helped by using the outlined health promotion strategy under the PAT Evidence-Based Practice. Interventions for childhood obesity yield more results when parents are involved.
In order to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States, a streamlined health promotion plan must be implemented. The objectives of the health promotion are to involve parents in the process of reducing obesity among the diagnosed children to 5%. Here, out of the 50 states in America, there are 24 others already using this program. This implies that 26 other states do not have PAT health promotion programs running (Morshed et al., 2018). Therefore, the 26 states are the potential markets in which the health promotion can be launched for the operation to reduce the increasing numbers of childhood obesity cases. The collaborating partners are the professional regulatory body known as N.N.A., the Ottawa Charter Groups who venture in creating supportive environments for health development, and the parent’s union who must undertake the overall responsibility. The health promotion program addresses the Healthy People 2020 which focusses on the planned action to reduce the obesity prevalence amongst the United States population.
Nursing entrepreneurship is a business-oriented concept that identifies a nurse or group whose interest falls in offering nursing services in a legal but financially beneficial manner. Here, nurses use their own creativity to develop unique concepts that help in providing solutions (International Council of Nurses, n.d). However, a nurse entrepreneur’s services must revolve around healthcare products or services under the regulatory system such as the National Nurse Association (NNA). Before venturing into the nursing alliance, a nurse is expected to consider the legally defined legitimacy, credibility from society and the operating conditions.
Today, nurses are moving out of their comfort zones to create and innovate concepts that enhance the quality of healthcare services but also offers a financial return. For example, a plan for the health promotion program if successfully implemented potentially addresses the public health issue of obesity in the United States (International Council of Nurses, n.d). Aiming interventions at the parents, intensive family therapy and comprehensive school-based programs has shown to improve success for weight loss, however, emphasizes that school measures alone would not work because kids then compensated by overeating while at home. (Hill, 2002) Therefore proving the importance of focusing on the parents and family.
My proposed health promotion business to reduce childhood obesity would be established facilities across various states with a kid’s gym, PAT departments and a highly qualified inspection team. This team would conduct follow-ups, create partnerships with schools with the purpose to reach out to the child/children’s families easily, and a counseling team. The purpose would be to fight the socially prevalent obesity among children at an affordable cost for every victim to afford. The goal is to arrive at an obesity-free and productive future generation. According to Dr Larimore and Dr Flynt’s book (2005), they recommend an 8-week family fitness plan to reduce obesity in the entire family.
Each week contains a variety of categories in which all work together such as a family project (i.e., start a family journal with goals, record BMI or BP an weights), healthier activities for the family (i.e. going to the gym together, or Zumba class), healthier meal times (i.e. NO phones or electronics of any sort), healthier nutrition (meals prepared with child’s help), proper rest (correct # of hours recommended for their age), and finally decreased media times as a whole (2-3 hours per day). However, they caution that doing too much and making too many changes too quickly could be harmful and stress the importance of child/ren’s involvement to be successful. Resources for these gyms/programs can be raised from donations, proprietor capital worth at least approx. $100,000 for the first five establishments. The venture would be sustained through annual shareholder advertisements and outreach actions to find and train parents, besides monitoring child progress.
To end, childhood obesity is understood as a persistently rising health challenge in the United States. Statistics show that over 13.7 million children and teenagers are struggling with obesity. Results from several studies also suggest that children from advantage backgrounds are more likely to be exposed to healthier lifestyles, choices and resource availability, which leads to inequalities. We must keep this in mind and target these disadvantage families and design interventions specific to their needs and make it available for all members of the society we are seeking to help. As a public health challenge, it is noted that the most strategic preventive action is done by applying a health promotion which incorporates both primary and secondary preventive levels.
The promotional components are incorporated with the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) which later derives a comprehensive health promotion model such as the Parents as Teachers (PAT) model. To implement the health promotion model, the objective, goal, sustainability, population and many other factors were explained. Nursing entrepreneurs nowadays creatively innovate solutions for patients at a fee. However, sustainability of any endeavor or entrepreneurship simply lies within outreach activities and shareholder advertisements.
Childhood Obesity and My Entrepreneurial Idea. (2021, Dec 03). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/childhood-obesity-and-my-entrepreneurial-idea/