Community Health and Population-Focused Nursing

Several American communities are not based in environments that support healthy nutrition followed by regular physical activities. These communities also lack awareness of the benefits of physical activities and dietary health. The risk of obesity in adults and children around and Dallas County, Texas is highly attributed to the lack of affordable heathy dietary options as the population is largely obese. Out of the ten largest United States counties, Dallas and Harris in Texas have the highest morality rates. This is according to research conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) (Brady & Beausoleil, 2017). The findings also reveal that by living in Houston or Dallas, one is 20% -30% more likely to die sooner than when one lives in Miami, L.A or New York. There are numerous reasons why to why, this counties have higher mortality rates compared to all the others; such factors include ethnicity, socioeconomic status and access to quality healthcare. Also, behavioral factors affect life expectancy, such behaviors include, smoking, lack of physical activity, obesity and other metabolic causes such as high blood pressure and diabetes. 

Problem Description 

Obesity in my community is the primary prevention topic. The primary audience is to both adults and children as obesity affects people of all ages. The main or underlying causal agents of obesity include poor dietary options, lack of regular physical activities, inactive lifestyles and the lack of awareness or information on how to prevent or reverse obesity in the community. In my community Dallas, Texas, obesity is the health problem that sticks out to all other diseases. A study conducted in 2014 reveals that while other large counties has obesity rates at was 20%, Dallas and Harris counties were already at 30%. There is no doubt or evidence that can deny that obesity is a health menace in whole state of Texas. The 2016, State of Obesity report, Texas has is 10 th in the highest in obesity rates, with Louisiana at the top. Out of three Texas residents one is obese, a tremendous increase from 1990, whereby out of 10 residents only one was obese. As time goes by, obesity continues to be a major health burden to the state and the government as well. Obesity increase mortality rates caused by stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease and diabetes. The more one is obese the more risk one is exposed to. And the more cases of obesity in a county, the more the burden and other expenses a county government is exposed to. The National Cancer Institute conducted a research study in 2014 and the finding revealed that individuals with a BMI higher than 40 live 14 years less that those with a standard BMI. 

By 2017, states of obesity ranked Texas as the 14 th highest state in cases of adult obesity and also the 7 th highest in youth or child obesity rates. The obesity rate in Texas has increased to 333.0% from 21.7% in 2000 and 10.7% from 1990 (Brady & Beausoleil, 2017). The state’s obesity profile data is inclusive of child and adult obesity, policy actions and obesity related complications. Texas is taking initiative to reduce and prevent obesity in all its counties. And in reference to current data, adult obesity is marked at over 35% in seven U.S states, 25% in 48 and 30% in 29 states (Brady & Beausoleil, 2017). 

Health Inequity/Disparity 

This task aims to discuss the health disparity or health inequity, or the problem connected to the subject. There are several reasons for obesity prevalence in the U.S today is the quick and easy access to unhealthy fast foods, super-sized offers in fast food restaurants. Also, the price of healthy foods overrides that of unhealthy fast foods. Therefore for the poor, students and parents easily opt for fast foods other than buy and cook healthy meals (Gonnering & Riley, 2018). Another root cause of obesity in America is that the society is electronically driven; there is an electronic solution to almost all physical activities in and out of the home, the mass lack of physical activity contributes largely to increased obesity in the country. 

In Dallas, those majorly largely affected or the target populations are women and men between the ages of 18- 45 living below or are at poverty levels and mostly reside in low socioeconomic zones. These category of people are high susceptible to obesity as they are unable to afford healthy foods and even pay for trainers and gym memberships (Gonnering & Riley, 2018). Often, this category of low-income families depend majorly on some form of money or food support therefore making it more economical for them to purchase cheap and more filling foods like carbohydrates and fatty foods just to survive a little longer with the money they have. The continuously growing gap in socioeconomically statuses is putting this population and a higher risk for obesity compared to financially stable families that can afford gym memberships and healthy dietary options. 

Data Supporting Inequity 

Data that supports the socioeconomic status effects on obesity is given by the American Heart Association which reveals that an estimated 70% of American adults are obese or overweight. Further, statistical data findings of the same research reveal that an approximated 13 million of United States children between the ages of 1-19 are obese and that an estimated 35% of adults, over 78 million adults are obese. Also, research by the Robert Wood Foundation through the literary analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health in 20017 revealed that; children and families living in low-socioeconomic neighborhoods are more likely to be overweight or obese compared to children living in high income neighborhoods and are exposed to healthier environments (Hoque & Howard, 2013). The report also reveals that over 33% of adults that earn under $15,000 annually are more susceptible to obesity compared to the 24.6% who earn $50,000 or more annually (Hoque & Howard, 2013). Also, in 2010, the CDC found that, among women especially white, non-Hispanic women, prevalence to obesity increases as their income decreases. These statistics prove that the socioeconomic status and low income disparity in families is a major cause of obesity in the United States. 

Social Media Campaign Objective 

A social media campaign can be defined as a coordinated marketing effort that aims to support or strengthen a business goal through social medial platforms. In social media platforms campaigns will differ due to increased measurability, target and focus. Social media campaigns that aim to create awareness on obesity and its prevention strategies will reach a large part of the target population. In this present day of social media, these platforms will enable easier access to the people of Dallas, Texas. Evaluating a large group of people would be challenging, however by engaging such a population through social medial will ease the process. This campaign would be in form of a reward challenge to all residents and particularly those that are obese or overweight. The challenge would focus on increased physical activity to reduce inches and the weight of participants. Evidence of participation and results will all be recorded online. The challenge will also provide a public food log whereby residents will illustrate their healthy meal plans. The campaign will be available to people of all ages as long as they have access to social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great platforms that would empower a social media campaign to the target population of adults between the ages of 18-50. The campaign will also gather information on the residents’ thoughts on obesity, possible prevention programs and how it can be controlled or reduced. 

After successfully launching the obesity prevention programs and the healthy regime challenge online, reevaluation of the population will be conducted through questionnaires that will tally information based on performance based on group performance and make comparisons of findings and information gathered during the beginning of campaign. By doing this, the focus of obesity prevention will be experiment will be done on real people. The campaign will aim to improve food choices and healthier life styles in a bid to lose weight. 

The process will be evaluated by community volunteers on the campaigns Instagram and Facebook pages in order to track progress, tally and post results. As the challenge progresses, more questions will be issued to the public on issues regarding obesity and healthy living. Findings will all be evaluated frequently in a span of every three weeks. For each participant, the goal will be to increase daily exercise duration by 25% and also to increase vegetable and fruit intake by 50% throughout the challenge. 

Social media platforms that will be used during this campaign include; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The social advertising will be assisted by other forms of advertising such as Radio and TV advertisements, billboards and fliers issued to the community during the weekend. The chosen social media platforms are transparent and will ensure the campaign’s success. This is because all these platforms are easily accessible and the target audiences already have access to these platforms. There would be no new subscriptions or conditions to adhere to, they will be able to access and use the platform that all residents are familiar with. 

Benefits of Social Media Platforms 

Benefits of these social media platforms would greatly support the preventive objective of obesity is that a larger target population will be accessed. Compared to all other social media platforms, Facebook is the most used by adults; more people will gain access to information through the campaign page. Logistics provided by the platform will also assist in supporting preventive healthcare, the site allows for various ways to share and post content. Articles, messages, videos and pictures all can be shared and with so many options to allow the sharing of information, it appeals to a large population. Different content is effective in different social media platforms, an example; information regarding long-term the long term effects of obesity is likely to be successfully shared through an article and a video more than through a message. Not all individuals on social media will create time to read through articles or watch a video, therefore some will be favored by short messages that contain sufficient information that might be shared through articles or videos. 

Implementation 

Implementation of the campaign is designated to be swift and quick. The program will be designed to suit adults between the ages of 18-50. These are people with different incites and views of the society therefore during creation, the different age groups will be considered. I have now gained the recommended 65 hours of field experience to ensure knowledge of the community, its do’s and don’ts and their way of life. As the head of the campaign I have interviewed a nutritionist from WIC here in Dallas County (Dallas, TX), sat in on a Weight Watchers session, and shadowed a school nurse, volunteered with Food Bank and YMCA and site assessed at grocery stores and a farmers market. Therefore, my knowledge on the Dallas community is vast. 

The initial step towards implementation will be the creating all social media accounts. The accounts need to be similar and will be similar content updated, this process will take approximately seven days. At this point the most useful and attractive content will be updated. This will be followed by a mass reach out through different stakeholders, friends and family. Campaign promotion will follow and this should incorporate a large number of people. This will take up duration 3-4 weeks. 

Evaluation of the Campaign 

There are several objective and subjective methods of evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign and this will be highly dependent of individual performance of stakeholders and volunteers. Through social media campaigning, an effective evaluation method is the monitoring of comments, views, likes and feedbacks will give an indication whether the program has picked or if it is stagnant. Also, the program will be evaluated through the comparison of obesity rates before and after the campaign. In case the rate is still on the increase, the campaign will be deemed in effective. The program will also be evaluated through the number of gym memberships before and after the beginning of the campaign. By tracking the statistics of healthy foods bought before and after the campaign will provide insight into the progress of the campaign. 

Conclusion 

This social media campaign will effectively apply to my nursing career when working with overweight or obese patients and families. The experience gained will enable me to effectively offer family and patient education. When working with those at risk of obesity, I will be able to offer insights learned from this campaign. 

References 

Childhood Obesity Prevention in Texas. (2009). doi:10.17226/12746 

Brady, J., & Beausoleil, N. (2017). A response to “A critical analysis of obesity prevention policies and strategies”.  Canadian Journal of Public Health ,  108 (5-6), e630-e632. doi:10.17269/cjph.108.6520 

Gonnering, R. S., & Riley, W. J. (2018). Relationship Between Health Outcomes and Health Factors: Analysis of 2016 Data in the Pacific Northwest Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings and Roadmaps.  Putting Systems and Complexity Sciences Into Practice , 177-187. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73636-5_13 

Hoque, N., & Howard, J. (2013). The Implications of Aging and Diversification of Population on Overweight and Obesity and the Cost Associated with Overweight and Obesity in Texas, 2000–2040.  Applied Demography and Public Health , 9-31. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6140-7_2