The chronic disease selected for this report is obesity. Childhood obesity is fast becoming one of the most significant health issues affecting both developing and developed countries around the world. The number of children that are affected by obesity is increasing at an alarming rate; thus, creating a significant health challenge attributed to the adverse effects associated with the disease. The main contributors to obesity are decreasing levels of physical activities and an increase in time spent leading sedentary behaviors. To address this health-related problem, health professionals have been at the forefront towards encouraging the adoption of intervention programs that would be of value towards pushing for change in child practices to avoid exposure to the disease. The adoption of an intervention program is expected to create a somewhat proactive step in ensuring that the number of children exposed to a risk of obesity reduces significantly.
Literature Review
The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, in a study on obesity in children, indicated that fat can be termed as the ‘new tobacco’ taking into account the number of children being exposed to lifestyles that expose them to preventable deaths (Chaput, Lambert, Gray-Donald, McGrath, Tremblay, O’Loughlin, & Tremblay, 2011). The study also indicated that the number of children being exposed to obesity is likely to increase at a significant rate considering that parents lack knowledge of what would be expected of them in dealing with the disease. That serves as a clear indication of the lack of knowledge and information on how stakeholders would be able to deal with obesity as one of the ‘emerging pandemics of the new millennium' (Chaput et al., 2011). The challenge has also raised serious questions on child practices regarding the lifestyles that parents expose their children as part of their everyday lives.
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Childhood obesity increases the overall risk of poor health in children reflecting on the fact that the disease serves as a risk factor for other health-related conditions (Simmonds, Llewellyn, Owen, & Woolacott, 2016). In this perspective, it is essential to take note of the fact that obesity, occurring in children, results in a situation where children are more prone to orthopedic problems. Simmonds, Llewellyn, Owen, & Woolacott (2016) also builds on the understanding that obesity has resulted in a situation where children are fast becoming exposed to diseases that were traditionally viewed in adulthood, such as type II diabetes. The issue reflects on the fact that a significant number of adults, most of who are parents, do not understand the impacts that exposure of their children to specific lifestyles is having on their health. That acts as a significant challenge that can only be handled through the adoption of an intervention program that would take into account the evident lack of knowledge and information among parents.
Baidal, Locks, Cheng, Blake-Lamb, Perkins, & Taveras (2016) take note of the fact that the issue of obesity in children should not only be evaluated based on the impacts that it is having on the children but must also be reviewed from the perspective that it represents a significant drain on health care resources. Resources are a vital factor in consideration when dealing with the delivery of health care services. However, countries are diverting a significant percentage of their resources towards dealing with obesity without the recognition that the disease is preventable. If action is not taken to help parents understand the impact that this disease is having on the society, the expected outcome is that expenditure on the disease will increase in a significant way while more and more children will find themselves being considered as being obese (Baidal et al., 2016).
Theory
The theory that can be applied in a bid to taking a health-related action concerning obesity in children is the health belief model (HBM). The health belief model theorizes that an individual belief, on the risk associated with a specific disease or health problem and the perception held concerning the benefits of a particular action to avoid the disease, influences the ability for the individual to take action. In dealing with obesity in children, the expectation is that parents must have the belief that indeed, exposure of their children to obesity is much more likely to have adverse health outcomes moving into the future. Additionally, the parents must also have a positive perception touching on the actions that they ought to take in a bid to protect their children from obesity.
The outcome of such beliefs is that the parents will be influenced towards taking up intervention actions that will have positive impacts towards ensuring that the number of children exposed to the risk of obesity is minimized significantly. The belief will also be of value towards ensuring that parents build on the understanding that indeed, children remain vulnerable to high risks of obesity that may have serious health implications for them. The application of this theory will reflect more on the understanding that it creates a front through which to ensure that parents are accorded knowledge and information on the negative impacts associated with obesity among children. That will help build on their belief; thus, serving as a clear reflection of whether indeed they will engage the action to help prevent exposure of their children to some of the risk factors associated with obesity.
Intervention Strategies
The following are some of the intervention strategies that will be of value towards fostering change in dealing with obesity in children;
Community-Based Interventions
Community engagement is a community-based intervention approach that involves commitment with members of the community to help them understand the health risk associated with a specific condition or disease. In this case, community engagement will be of great value towards ensuring that members of the community understand the changes that they are likely to encounter based on the exposure of children to unhealthy lifestyles. The rationale for using this intervention revolves around the fact that it will help in information sharing, which remains as one of the critical factors that would help push for positive change. Parents will have a better understanding of how their children would be affected by obesity as one of the notable chronic diseases affecting a significant number of children.
Population-Wide Interventions
In the population-wide interventions, the focus will be on policies influencing the food environment, which will be of great value towards pushing for a significant change in types of foods and drinks being offered to children. For example, the adoption of this intervention strategy would mean that the marketing of unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic behaviors to children will be limited or controlled in a significant way. The expected outcome is that children will be expected to change the nature of foods that they consume while seeking to ensure that foods consumed to meet the daily recommended nutritional expectations. The intervention will help create an environment where children will not only control what they consume but also build on the demand for physical activities.
Types of Evaluation
To measure the immediate effects of the proposed strategies, as have been indicated above, the kind of evaluation to be used will be impacted evaluation. Basically, impact evaluation seeks to examine the immediate effects aligned with the expected objectives. In this case, the use of this type of assessment will be of great value towards determining whether parents are gaining information touching on the impacts arising as a result of unhealthy lifestyles. To measure the long-term effects of the intervention strategies, the type of evaluation used will be outcome evaluation. Outcome evaluation will improve health in measuring whether indeed, the outcomes of the proposed approach have been able to meet the expected goal, which is to reduce the number of children is being affected by obesity.
Role of Social Determinants
In promoting health, regarding obesity in children, social determinants have a critical role in ensuring that parents have the expected literacy levels allowing them to minimize exposure of their children to the risk associated with the disease. In other words, this means that social determinants will work towards ensuring that parents are knowledgeable about how obesity is likely to affect the health of their children in the future. That will serve as one of the key factors pushing for the parents to take action that would help towards minimizing risks of exposure for the children involved. The ultimate outcome is that a majority of these children will find themselves in an environment that promotes health rather than exposing them to a wide array of health risks.
In health disparities, the role of social determinants can be defined from the fact that they would help towards building a front for social integration. That means that all persons in society will be integrated into the health system, allowing them to get a clear understanding of how obesity affects children. Ultimately, this means that the older persons will be in a much better position enabling them to take action to help create a structured approach to dealing with the issue of obesity among children. Lastly, the role of social determinants in health equity revolves around promoting health coverage and reducing discrimination when dealing with obesity as one of the key health issues today. Promoting coverage while seeking to minimize bias will play a critical role in ensuring that every child that is being affected by obesity receives the best quality of care to help reduce the underlying impacts associated with the disease.
Conclusion
The chronic disease selected for this report is obesity with the specific focus being on children, who are most affected by the disease. The number of children that are affected by obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. The theory that can be applied in a bid to taking a health-related action concerning obesity in children is the health belief model (HBM). The intervention strategies that will be of value towards fostering change in dealing with obesity in children are community-based interventions and population-wide interventions. To measure the immediate effects of the proposed strategies, the type of evaluation to be used will be impacted evaluation. To measure the long-term impact of the intervention strategies, the type of assessment used will be outcome evaluation.
References
Baidal, J. A. W., Locks, L. M., Cheng, E. R., Blake-Lamb, T. L., Perkins, M. E., & Taveras, E. M. (2016). Risk factors for childhood obesity in the first 1,000 days: a systematic review. American journal of preventive medicine , 50 (6), 761-779.
Chaput, J. P., Lambert, M., Gray-Donald, K., McGrath, J. J., Tremblay, M. S., O’Loughlin, J., & Tremblay, A. (2011). Short sleep duration is independently associated with overweight and obesity in Quebec children. Canadian journal of public health , 102 (5), 369-374.
Simmonds, M., Llewellyn, A., Owen, C. G., & Woolacott, N. (2016). Predicting adult obesity from childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews , 17 (2), 95-107.
