Prevention And Treatment Of Child Obesity: Strategies And Policies

Causes And Behaviors That Contribute To Child Obesity

Child obesity occurs when a child’s weight is above healthy or normal range. The causes of obesity in children are similar to those of adults and comprise factors like an individual’s genetics and behavior. Individual behaviors that contribute to obesity include not doing sufficient physical exercise, taking food with high calorie, sedentary activities, sleep routines, taking low-nutrient beverages and foods and the use of medications. It is necessary for a child to be physically active, eat a healthy diet and balance the body energy consumed from beverages and foods through activity plays in order to avoid overweight for the child.

Effective prevention and treatment of obesity in children help to reduce any consequential risk of future diseases, and it lowers the cost of health service. Nevertheless, effective prevention and treatment of obesity in children remain elusive. Methods that could be used to deal with the issue of obesity in children involve lifestyle change which may be a practice that requires the assistance of professionals, family support and behavior modification. Modification of child lifestyle requires active family members and children participation and motivation and active participation, and it poses specific challenges to the growing child (Zhang and Solmon, 2013). Obesity in children contributes a big percentage to the adult obesity and the related co-morbidities. Prevention And Treatment Of Child Obesity Essay Paper Therefore, there is a need, to find out ways to prevent childhood obesity. In connection to this, the government of Australia in conjunction with other associations have come up with policies that will boost the prevention of obesity in children. The policies include; the parental involvement policy, physical education policy, the health weight plan policy, health weight promotion policy and ACT public school drink and food policy (Johnson et al, 2012).

The parental involvement policy requires that parents be directly involved in monitoring the child’s activities and the diet the child takes to minimize the risk of becoming obese. Parents have a central role in ensuring are consistently involved in a healthy physical exercise in their daily lives. Parent’s involvement in nutrition program helps to instil a healthy feeding habit in children which is an intervention to reduce the chances of a child becoming obese (Wen et al, 2012). Participating in child’s lifestyle activities such as reducing screen time and encouraging physical activities helps the child to develop a healthier behavior about obesity prevention. The physical education policy requires that necessary infrastructure resources, curriculum and adequate time be allocated in schools for the children to participate in physical activities. An enabling environment be availed to the children during study time to learn the importance of doing physical exercise. The policy on physical education needs to focus on factors that can enhance and improve the outcome of the activities, for instance, involvement of teachers in activities that children are also involved to enhance behavior change in children (Capacci et al, 2012).

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Effective Prevention And Treatment Of Child Obesity

The health weight action policy established by the government of Australia requires that necessary actions need to be taken to ensure that do not become overweight by regulating lifestyle behaviors. Towards zero obesity growth establishes goal and strategies relevant to make lifestyle choices easier for the children. Policy on healthy weight promotion developed by the Australia public health association states that health promotion programs have different effects on the improvement of health. Obesity in children is considered to result from different causes which include energy-dense diets, over-consumption of food and sedentary lifestyle. A program to prioritise action reduce these causes was the only available option in an attempt to lower the chances of children becoming obese (Vine et al, 2013).  The association came up with a guide to assist in the management of obesity and overweight in children in Australia which advocates for an environmental change, public measures on health and complimentary initiatives on the clinical setting. ACT public school drink and food policy require that drinks and foods supplied in schools to meet the set regulation and standards developed by the government. The policy supplements the existing initiatives by the government to improve on the drinks and foods supplied in schools. In addition, it requires schools to stop using drink and food items as incentives and rewards. Canteens that are around the schools should comply with the necessary policies and legislations as required by the set guidelines. This is necessary to ensure that the struggle to fight obesity in children is successful (Swinburn and Wood, 2013).

There are the elementary principles that one needs to keenly consider in the prevention of obesity in children. These principles include the principle of primary health care, health promotion and the principle of advocacy. The principle of primary health care involves several strategies that enhance its impact on obesity prevention in children. The strategies include family engagement in obesity prevention, multiple behavioral changes, early and universal interventions and multiple approaches for monitoring child activities (Kuo et al, 2012). The primary health care principle works better if the parents are fully involved in monitoring the child progress in physical activity and healthy diet consumption. Home-based interventions can be successful if parents and family members are fully involved in assisting the child where necessary.  The other issue is multiple behavioral changes which focus on the change of child’s involvement in physical activity, nutrition, family members to change their behavior to act as role models to the children in obesity prevention. Early and universal intervention requires that parents consider obesity prevention in children at their early ages because it will minimize the risks of the children becoming obese even at later stages. Also, the intervention should be carried out universally to those with normal weight and the ones who are already overweight (Gourlan, Trouilloud, and Sarrazin, 2013). Then different approaches should be used to implement the strategy of obesity prevention in children. These approaches include the provision of social support, providing information on health behaviors and encouraging healthy habit practices in children which can work effectively if they are applied for a long period. The health promotion principles include; sustainable strategy, equity and inclusivity, integrated strategy, and empowerment & engagement principle. The principle of sustainable strategy requires the prior budgeting and planning be done to ensure the strategies to prevent childhood obesity are successful when they are implemented. It recommends for strategies the improve sustainability of the program such as influencing social norms and developing community strengths. Equity and inclusivity require those vulnerable and disadvantaged children to be given equal treatment when it comes to the strategies to prevent obesity (Ogden et al, 2014).

Strategies To Deal With The Issue Of Obesity In Children

In Australia, child obesity prevalence is influenced by socio-economic gradient the lower the socioeconomic position, the higher the risk of weight gain and thus the greater the incidence of obesity. Prevention And Treatment Of Child Obesity Essay Paper The prevalence of child obesity in Aboriginal families is higher than those for families in Torres Strait Islander because there is the difference in the economic status of the two communities. The health sector needs to reduce social, economic inequality to improve the economic and health status of child obesity and improve the social fabric of the community. Equity in obesity prevention stream aims to enlighten and support the necessary policy response which will be required in the reduction of the socioeconomic gradient in excess weight, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diets. There is a need to make necessary changes in policy and practice to provide every person with a chance to make physical activity and healthy diet decisions (Lobstein et al, 2015).

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Self-determination is used to recognize factors that determine the initiation of physical activity, its observance, and variables influencing child obese. It is important to understand the relationship because it will assist in developing strategies to promote physical activity to treat obesity and the prevention of weight gain among children. It is important to establish techniques that can assist in weight reduction for children who are already overweight.  Promoting health and stable lifestyle has a great impact on children who are obese (Vella et al, 2013). This should be brought out through motivation and encouragement to the children. Parents have a primary responsibility to up bring their children in a sensible and right manner. Parents should make their children understand their rights as it pertains to healthcare provision services. Parents are also obliged to ensure the children get appropriate and necessary food, health care and the opportunity to participate in physical activities. The government should protect the children from abuse and neglect, and children are separated from their parents when need to do so arises. Children also need to have access to relevant nutrients and diet for better and healthy living. It is among their basic right to have adequate food, and adequate participation in physical exercise irrespective of their social background (Sabin and Kiess, 2015).

Conclusion

High prevalence of obesity among children is a major issue of concern globally which needs special attention to address. Chronic obesity and overweight have a high impact on economic cost, social and health status of the children. Participating in physical activities benefits the children in attaining and maintaining the necessary weight for their well-being and overall health. Obesity in children needs to be highly prevented because it may compromise the child psychosocial and physical development. Obesity in children may set an early start of health complications which accumulates in their body for a long period in their lifetime. The challenge of controlling and preventing obesity in children requires interventions for child obesity to be provided equally to all children irrespective of their social background. The policies and principles of child obesity prevention need to be implanted properly to ensure success in obesity prevention

References

Capacci, S., Mazzocchi, M., Shankar, B., Brambila Macias, J., Verbeke, W., Pérez-Cueto, F.J., Kozio?-Kozakowska, A., Piórecka, B., Niedzwiedzka, B., D’addesa, D. and Saba, A., 2012. Policies to promote healthy eating in Europe: a structured review of policies and their effectiveness. Nutrition reviews, 70(3), pp.188-200.

Gourlan, M., Trouilloud, D. and Sarrazin, P., 2013. Motivational characteristics of obese adolescents toward physical activity: Contribution of self-determination theory. Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 63(4), pp.209-218.

Johnson, B.A., Kremer, P.J., Swinburn, B.A. and de Silva-Sanigorski, A.M., 2012. Multilevel analysis of the Be Active Eat Well intervention: environmental and behavioural influences on reductions in child obesity risk. International Journal of Obesity, 36(7), p.901.

Kuo, A.A., Etzel, R.A., Chilton, L.A., Watson, C. and Gorski, P.A., 2012. Primary care pediatrics and public health: meeting the needs of today’s children. American Journal of Public Health, 102(12), pp.e17-e23.

Lobstein, T., Jackson-Leach, R., Moodie, M.L., Hall, K.D., Gortmaker, S.L., Swinburn, B.A., James, W.P.T., Wang, Y. and McPherson, K., 2015. Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The Lancet, 385(9986), pp.2510-2520.

Ogden, C.L., Carroll, M.D., Kit, B.K. and Flegal, K.M., 2014. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), pp.806-814.

Sabin, M.A. and Kiess, W., 2015. Childhood obesity: current and novel approaches. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 29(3), pp.327-338.

Swinburn, B. and Wood, A., 2013. Progress on obesity prevention over 20 years in A ustralia and N ew Z ealand. Obesity Reviews, 14, pp.60-68.

Vella, S.A., Cliff, D.P., Okely, A.D., Scully, M.L. and Morley, B.C., 2013. Associations between sports participation, adiposity and obesity-related health behaviors in Australian adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), p.113.

Vine, M., Hargreaves, M.B., Briefel, R.R. and Orfield, C., 2013. Expanding the role of primary care in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity: a review of clinic-and community-based recommendations and interventions. Journal of obesity, 2013.

Wen, L.M., Baur, L.A., Simpson, J.M., Rissel, C., Wardle, K. and Flood, V.M., 2012. Effectiveness of home based early intervention on children’s BMI at age 2: randomised controlled trial. Bmj, 344, p.e3732.

Zhang, T. and Solmon, M., 2013. Integrating self-determination theory with the social ecological model to understand students’ physical activity behaviors. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 6(1), pp.54-76.  Prevention And Treatment Of Child Obesity Essay Paper