NURSM-639 Advanced Practice in Health Promotion and Risk Reduction

NURSM-639 Advanced Practice in Health Promotion and Risk Reduction

Decreasing Childhood Obesity a the Sumter Family Health
Introduction
The goals of Healthy People 2010 are to increase quality and years of optimal health, along with eradicating disparities. One area of major concern is the alarming epidemic of obesity in children. These children will have lifelong complications if this issue is not addressed. Health problems can include, but are not limited to, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, left ventricular hypertrophy, and metabolic syndrome (Holcomb, 2004).

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Mrs.D, a pediatric nurse practitioner at The Family Health Center (TFHC) states, there has been an increasing amount of overweight children being treated at the clinic. Therefore, this project will identify clients’ willingness to change, interventions to assist with the transformation, and a method to evaluate the process. Project Appropriate for Population

The clinic is a comprehensive, primary health care practice. Staff is dedicated to building a healthy community and improving the individual health, well-being, and quality of life in each person they serve. When collaborating with Mrs. D., the pediatric nurse practitioner at the facility, she states the amount of overweight children that visit the facility for treatment is increasing daily.

The goal of the project is that fifty percent of the patients will be motivated to change by way of eating healthier and initiate measures to increase physical activity. Discussion of Project

Since the primary causes of childhood obesity are poor nutrition and low activity levels combined with a family history of being overweight, a program will be designed to promote healthier eating habits, and increase physical activity. School age children ranging from ages 6-11 years old will be the target audience. Parents will be included in the process in order to assist with promotion of the project.

Parental readiness and motivational factors that could influence compliance will be assessed. A flow sheet with the child’s name, age, and sex will be the instrument to measure body mass index, weight, fasting blood sugars, and blood pressure each visit. The nurse will record the appropriate information on the flow sheet and provide reinforcement when needed.

Afterwards, the nurse will collaborate with the nurse practitioner regarding adjustments or counseling concerning findings on the flow sheet. Obesity has become one of the most important public health problems in the United States. One out of five U.S. children is overweight.

Rates of obesity in South Carolina have not been determined yet due to lack of data (South Carolina Department of Health, Education, and Control, 1999). It is difficult to clearly define obesity in children as the degree of body fat mass depends on ethnic background, gender, developmental stage, and age.

Body mass index or BMI (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) is easy to calculate and routinely used as a direct measure of body frames. Kiess, Reich, Muller, Meyer, Galler, Benneck & Kratzsh (2001) define obesity as any child with a BMI greater than 97th percentile, but children are considered overweight with a BMI greater than 90th percentile. It is the most commonly used index of overweight and obesity in children.

Research has shown that 80% of obese children become obese adults (Nutritional Information Resource Center, 2003). Long-term consequences of this problem can include mental health problems such as depression, lower self-esteem, and discrimination by peers, family, and teachers.

For the fiscal year of January 1, 2006-December 31, 2006 the staff at TFHC treated 3261 children ranging from ages 0-17. Of this amount, 822 were children ranging in ages 6-11, and 10-15% of them were considered greater than 97% percentile for BMI…………………………

NURSM-639 Advanced Practice in Health Promotion and Risk Reduction

NURSM-639 Advanced Practice in Health Promotion and Risk Reduction