Childhood and Teen Obesity

1. Health Promotion:
Childhood and Teen
Obesity
Joanne Ong
NURS 370

2. The Problem
Birmingham, Alabama has a high prevalence of
obesity. The high school lunch program serves
typical southern cuisine, which is not very
healthy for the students. Having a school sports
program is not sufficient to solve the problem.
According to letsmove.gov, childhood and teen
obesity is increasing in the U.S. and it is
becoming a concern due to its potential risk of:
CVD, DM II, asthma, sleep apnea and social
discrimination (Obama, 2010). Solving the
problem is not a one-man mission; we are all in
this together. In this study, Michelle Obama’s
plan, “Let’s Move” will also be utilized.

3. Learning Needs Assessment
 Assess how the students learn best: hearing,
reading, writing, doing/acting, etc.
 Learn about the students’ needs (as
appropriate) through informal conversations,
structured interviews, questionnaires, tests and
through observation (Kohlbry, 2015).
 Welcome any questions since that is the best
time to teach (Kohlbry, 2015).
 Interview teachers and other staff. Find out
what they want to know and what they need to
aid in the nurse’s health promotion plan.
 First step is to gather data. Find out
what the students know about
obesity, healthy eating, and the
importance of physical activity.
Assess the baseline or their routine.
Individualize the assessment if
possible.

4. Health Promotion Model
The Health Promotion
Model chosen for this
teaching plan is The Health
Belief Model (HBM). The
students will learn what
obesity exposes them from
(illnesses as threat), and the
benefits of exercise and a
healthy, balanced diet.
The Health Belief Model

5. Health Promotion and
Education Plan
GOAL:
At the end of the education plan, the students will learn
the importance of physical activity in their daily routine
and students will also be able to identify healthy foods.
OUTCOMES:
1. Students will exercise at least 20-40 minutes
per day.
2. Students will eat 2-3 servings of fruits and/or
vegetables per day.
3. Students will have an average BMI of less than
25 kg/m2.

6. Research and Evidence
Teaching plan would include:
 Encourage physical activity of 20-40 minutes per day. Studies show “after 13
weeks, 20 or 40 min/day of aerobic training improved fitness and
demonstrated dose-response benefits for insulin resistance and general and
visceral adiposity in sedentary overweight or obese children, regardless of sex
or race” (Davis et al., 2012).
 A healthy, balanced diet combined with physical activity every day is proven
to be effective in “weight loss and metabolic profile improvement… and
greater improvements in HDL cholesterol, fasting glucose and fasting insulin
over 6 months” (Ho et al., 2013).
 Students will learn to identify “junk foods” and avoid them as much as
possible. For example, sugar-sweetened drinks. A study conducted by Ebbeling
et al. showed that in overweight and obese adolescents who regularly
consumed sugar-sweetened beverages (control group), a 1-year intervention
was designed to decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages
(experimental group) resulted in a smaller increase in BMI than the control
group (Ebbeling et al., 2012).

7. Evaluation
 In order to measure effectiveness of the plan it would take some time to determine it.
 Establish a schedule for periodic review of the plan
 For outcomes #1 (physical activity) and #2 (eating healthy foods), this could be measured
weekly or monthly. However, measuring the effectiveness of outcome #3 (average BMI of less
than 25 kg/m2.) may take a year or so.
 The long-term goal is for students to be able to incorporate healthy habits such as physical
activity and eating healthy foods into their daily routine consistently.

8. Conclusion
 Exercise combined with healthy eating, and
maintaining the behavior will definitely yield
desired results.
 It is important that the behaviors are carried out in
the community and at home.
 Get the whole family involved.
 Get teachers and school staff involved.
 Make it fun, be creative. For example, make it a
competition.
 Provide incentives as appropriate.

9. Reference
Daddario, D. (2007). A review of the use of the health belief model for weight management. MEDSURG Nursing, 16(6),
363-366 4p.
Davis, C. L., Pollock, N. K., Waller, J. L., Allison, J. D., Dennis, B. A., Bassali, R., ... & Gower, B. A. (2012). Exercise dose and
diabetes risk in overweight and obese children: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 308(11), 1103-1112.
Ebbeling, C. B., Feldman, H. A., Chomitz, V. R., Antonelli, T. A., Gortmaker, S. L., Osganian, S. K., & Ludwig, D. S. (2012).
A randomized trial of sugar-sweetened beverages and adolescent body weight. New England Journal of Medicine, 367(15),
1407-1416.
Ho, M., Garnett, S. P., Baur, L. A., Burrows, T., Stewart, L., Neve, M., & Collins, C. (2013). Impact of dietary and exercise
interventions on weight change and metabolic outcomes in obese children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-
analysis of randomized trials. JAMA pediatrics, 167(8),
Kohlbry, P. (2015). Assessment of the Learner: Determinants of Learning. Needs Assessment for Health Promotion.
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://csusm.instructure.com/courses/101/pages/module-3-assessment-and-
health-promotion?module_item_id=6368
Obama, M. (2010). Get Active. Let’s Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of kids. Retrieved from
http://www.letsmove.gov/get-active
Obama, M. (2010). Healthy Schools. Let’s Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of kids. Retrieved from
http://www.letsmove.gov/healthy-schools