Annotated Bibliography on “Are Health Professionals Especially Nurses And The Health Care Systems In A Unique Position To Mitigate Childhood Obesity”

Phelan highlights the increased prevalence of obesity among the population in America for the past decades.  She notes that individual behavioural issues and choices are the only causes of constant massive increase in obesity cases. According to the article, an inappropriate level of calorie intake is the major cause of obesity. The article is eye-opening because it asserts that the constant scare tactics used especially by physicians on patients such as highlighting the risks of obesity are not working and the patients should, therefore, be educated on aspects of obesity.

The three influences that promote obesity in the article are excessive calorie intake with limited physical activities, the high cost of healthy eating, therefore, fallback to unhealthy cheap fast foods by the majority of families, and the influence of culture and community on eating habits.

 O’dowd in the article brings to light the different ways in which the government can contribute to address the problem of childhood obesity in society.  The article describes the government’s unique position to ensure that they enact policies that would mitigate the problem of childhood obesity. There are different interventions that the government could engage in highlighted in the article which includes an increase in the sugar levy on soft drinks or even increases in taxations regimes in the fast food sector. The different ways in which the government can tackle child obesity is also discussed in the book by recognizing that it is a problem and setting measures to deal with it. The article gives the example of amendment of economic structures to allow for availability and affordability of healthy foods. It notes that the government has been vague and reluctant in addressing issues of childhood obesity with the rationale that it is not an urgent or fundamental issue. The article is a great read in understanding all of the government’s efforts or lack of thereof in handling childhood obesity.

The article explores the interrelation between state school nutrition laws and its rate of reduction in the number of obesity cases. The article is a highlight of the results of a study done on various schools to determine the various state laws that are effective in the reduction of obesity when applied in schools. The study evaluated nine categories of the state school nutrition laws, whose results of efficiency are highlighted in the article. The article indicates that among the nine laws two worked; the limitation in the scale of competitive beverages and foods in elementary schools and the one restricting advertisement of food and beverages that are not to the standards specified by the federal dietary guidelines. The article indicates that the reasons for the failure of some of the laws enacted worked while others did not work because some laws just don’t have the ability to impact student’s weight and that some laws may require additional time to take effect because change is a gradual process. Implementation, planning, and evaluation issues are also discussed in the article as important factors that should be adhered to while implementing the laws and various other variables that determine the effectiveness of the laws.  

The article is a description of a study conducted to determine the perspective of parents and primary care clinicians on the establishment of interventions to prevent obesity within primary care settings, and the impact of the move on childhood obesity. The article highlights interviews of various parents and the clinical officer’s on the issue. The article notes that the clinicians and parents need to agree that due to the trust and relationships developed during primary care of an infant, there is a perfect opportunity to facilitate child obesity prevention interventions. It further explains various interventions, recommendations, and suggestions collected from various sources such as the recruitment of children who already show signs of obesity to the primary care intervention programs through various platforms such online recruitment which would reach people in a larger scale. Barriers of implementation of interventions to prevent childhood obesity in primary care are also discussed in depth by the article. Some of the barriers discussed in detail by the article are; competing priorities during child health care visits and insufficient staff. Lastly, the article also offers recommendations on solutions to solving the various challenges and issues that are faced in administering childhood obesity interventions in primary care.

The article analyzes how teachers specifically the physical education teachers can collaborate with school nurses to ensure that childhood obesity is addressed in school. The author notes that allocating time for physical activities in school is not enough to ensure that the problem is addressed; however, what takes place during the physical activity time, matters. It has been noted in the article that the teachers should collaborate with the nurses where they would recommend the best exercises and the amount of time to exercise to avoid overdoing or underdoing it. Nurses also help teachers in categorizing students according to their obesity risk which therefore offers the teachers a chance to administer appropriate activities according to the classifications. The article additionally notes that nurses ensure that the correct information regarding obesity issues is disseminated to students through teachers such as the risks and major causes of obesity. The article is an excellent addition to resources on child obesity because it enlightens the school and community at large that there are many ways to tackle an issue, which is ideal in the case of school because the majority of policies that are out in place to eradicate obesity and promote health often fail. Avenues like a collaboration of the departments in school would, therefore, ensure the realization of the goals.

References of Are Health Professionals Especially Nurses and The Health Care Systems in A Unique Position to Mitigate Childhood Obesity

Bourgeois, Nicole, et al. "Interventions for the Prevention of Childhood Obesity in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study." Vol. 4, no.2, 2016, pp.194.

Bryan, Charity, Lisa Broussard, and David Bellar. "Effective Partnerships: How School Nurses and Physical Education Teachers Can Combat Childhood Obesity." NASN School Nurse vol.28, no.1, 2013, pp. 20-23.

O’dowd, Adrian. "Child Obesity: Government Considers New Direct Interventions." Vol.361, 2018. Web.

Palakshappa, et al. “Association between State School Nutrition Laws and Subsequent Child Obesity.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 90, 2016, pp. 107–113.

Phelan, Sharon. "Obesity in the American Population: Calories, Cost, and Culture." American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol.203, no.6, 2010, pp. 522-524.