Community-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Program for Children in Salisbury - Essay Example

Program Proposal and Evaluation Plan Name: Grade Course: Tutor’s Name: Date: Program Proposal and Evaluation Plan Title and description Community-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Program for Children Living in Salisbury The goal of this project is to develop a intervention program to promote healthy eating for the prevention of childhood obesity in the local government area of Salisbury, in outer metropolitan Adelaide. This is to be attained by encouraging healthy eating and engaging in regular physical exercise. It is expected that by the end of the first year of project implementation, childhood obesity in Salisbury will be reduced by 50%. The program is about being a link among relevant authorities with the aim of improving the health of young people and the community from Salisbury to reduce the issue of obesity, diseases as well disabilities related to childhood obesity and overweight. The plan of the program is to have a set of strategies that are geared at curbing obesity and overweight. The strategies are linked to three main goals which are to improve access to—and consumption of—fresh, healthy and affordable foods, to increase awareness among children and the community in the benefits associated with eating healthy foods in order to curb childhood obesity and to encourage physical activity. The goals also provide an opportunity for the program to position itself as the lead childhood and youth obesity prevention and reduction organization by relying on its strengths and taking a comprehensive approach in carrying out its vision. Evidence of Need In the last 30 years, the percentage of childhood obesity in Australia has tripled. Statistics show that in 1980, the percentage of obese children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 19 was 7%. By 2008, the percentage had increased to about 20% (Stender & Astrup, 2007). Obesity in Salisbury is a significant health issue and has a number of negative health effects on children and communities. For example, it causes a greater risk of fatal heart disease at an early age. Other health issues related to obesity is stroke, liver problem which can be explained as follows; the liver is responsible for purification/filtering of harmful substances as well as producing substances that help breakdown fats, when fast foods are consumed every now and then, the liver will be overloaded and damaged. There is also the risk of increase blood pressure and disability when the problem goes to an extreme end. The cost of managing obesity is usually very high as well. National data indicate that over the last five years, the state has spent close to 57% of its yearly funds allocated for health on obesity (Salisbury Aware, 2012; Salisbury Snapshot, 2012). With the implementation of the proposed project, there is a higher chance that the increasing number of obese children will decline and that the government’s healthcare budget allocated to obesity will decline, making these same funds available for other sectors or departments in healthcare (World Health Organization, 2000). Currently majority of school going children are using school busses which takes them to and from schools. While at home the availability of family cars makes it easy for the families to move from one place to another. All these hinder this group of individuals especially the children from engaging in physical activities. On the same note, majority of the children over 75% prefer playing video games as well as watching television. Risk Factors Children exposed to obesogenic surroundings are at-risk in terms of their weight and their health. Environments such as schools, daycare centers and kindergartens affect the eating behaviors (both healthy and unhealthy) of children. Children in daycares and schools are provided with food. Nutrition and educational observers found that dietary considerations were not followed at most of these centers. To make children happy, they were given the same foods that they eat at home, which often lacked nutritional value. Family structure is an important aspect to consider. Many parents are busy with their careers, giving them less time to monitor their kids’ diet and lifestyle choices. National data regarding nutritional fact sheets indicate that 74% of parents engage in work and other economic activities, hence, leaving their children in the hands of daycare service providers. Another risk factor that poses a great danger to children in the region is their low consumption of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. Due to the lack of time and the abundant availability of fast-food restaurants, children are more likely to buy and consume unhealthy, nutritionally deficient foods. In addition, aggressive advertisements and marketing done by fast-food corporations such as McDonald’s target every age group – including children – and make it easier for them to identify and consume unhealthy foods. Excessive consumption of such foods is associated with a number of health complications (Wood, 2009). Increased fruit as well as vegetable intake has been thought to be one important strategy that can help Australians to eat healthy and avoided obesity and overweight related diseases. However there are a number of barriers particularly among the children that hinder such desires. For instance these barriers include personal eating habits, competition from unhealthy foods, supply issues and demand issues as well as the environment where the children are bought up such as schools and homes. Strengths assessment There are a variety of community facilities that offer children with opportunities to spend their free time. These include the Salisbury memorial park, leisure and community centre’s, parks and reserves. This will offer children with a perfect opportunity to actively engage in physical activities. Similarly majority of the children go to school. These schools should have curriculums tailored to teach children about healthy eating and maintaining a healthy body weight. On the same note Salisbury has enough manpower that understands the issues related to child obesity, the negative implication of the problem and the best strategy to curb the problem. It is this group that will help in education of the involved stakeholders such as parents, teachers and children. It is worth noting that Salisbury citizen can access information in a variety of ways, news sources, media and publications. Apart from the media reporting on the rising cases of obesity in Salisbury, the same media can be used to constructively fight this menace. Publications such as The Salisbury Aware and The Salisbury Snapshot can be used to effectively teach the public and make them aware of their eating habits. Last but not least Salisbury has community facilities such as Bagster Road Community and Burton Community Center. These two locations offer a perfect opportunity to the program by being a venue where parents and children are taken through lessons associated with healthy eating. Statistics shows that over 75.0% of children from Salisbury do not engage in active and adequate physical activities. On the same note 80.0% of these children are not aware of the benefits of eating healthy in relation to curbing obesity. Majority of them are cannot access health foods that is fruits and vegetables from closest supermarkets, restaurants as well as clubs. Rationale It is worth noting that scholars have established that the type of food individuals eat and the degree of physical activity made each day usually affect short-term and long-term health as well as weight outcomes. Various research studies have linked eating healthy food as well as physical activity to reducing the risk individuals face especially for cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, some types of cancer, being overweight as well as osteoporosis (Salisbury Aware, 2012). It is no doubt that all these diseases pose a great risk to quality of one’s life as well as increasing cost for individuals as well as the government in dealing with the problem (Wood, 2009). Scholars in the field of health science and nutrition have established that childhood is the perfect time or chance to establishing a firm foundation which will later result to a healthy long-term eating habits as well as a state of physical activity hence a healthier and productive society. Apart from helping individuals to lose weight physical activities come with other benefits such as lowering the risk for cardiovascular diseases, help strengthen the heart as well as lungs, provide more energy, and help slow loss of bone among others (World Health Organization, 2000). The two major characteristics that help in distinguishing the obesity prevention program to be community wide is with regards to its ability to try in changing the use of fast-food or food reach in calories and fat as well as physical inactivity in population not just in those people or selected group (Salisbury Snapshot, 2012). The intervention for obesity works on the premise that issue of obesity which is related closely with physical inactivity and eating food reach in calories, fat and sodium is purely driven by attitudes and perceptions held by the society and in order to deal with the problem, these attitudes ought to be changed. Lastly the intervention is comprehensive in nature where intervention is through various social structures in a given community (Wood, 2009). Thus the issue of obesity is dictated by a number of sources such as families, media, schools, time among others. Program Plan Goals Goal 1: To improve access to—and consumption of—fresh, healthy and affordable foods. Strategies: i) Ensure that locals have easy access to healthy foods at grocery stores and supermarkets. ii) Enhance the availability and identification of healthy foods in restaurants. iii) Encourage the provision of fruits and vegetables in different settings (such as mobile markets). iv) Ensure that programs run by public and private entities (such as school-lunch programs and day cares) adopt and implement policies that support healthy eating by doing away with unhealthy foods that are high calories. v) Encourage breastfeeding to be consistent with existing laws. With the help of the government the program proposes to provide supermarkets, restaurants as well as clubs that offer customers with healthy foods less in fats, calories and salt as well as fruits and vegetables with incentive thereby encouraging healthy eating since these foods will be accessible. Policies aimed at compelling firms manufacturing food stuffs to clearly label their products as well as indicate the ingredients used will be fronted so that people can easily identify healthy foods. Goal 2: To increase awareness among children and the community in the benefits associated with eating healthy foods in order to curb childhood obesity. Strategies: i) Promote media/social marketing campaigns about healthy eating and the prevention of childhood obesity. ii) Encourage schools to have a well-detailed curriculum that covers issues related to childhood obesity. Televisions, radios, print media as well as social media will be used to disseminate important information concerning healthy eating. Television programs should include children who have chosen to eat healthy and this is one way to make the young ones watching to change their eating habits. Professionals in the health sectors as well as those in the education sectors via the relevant authorities will come together to come up with suitable curriculum that can be taught to children so that issues related to obesity are covered. Goal 3: To encourage physical activity. Strategies: i) Encourage bike-riding, walking to school and going to recreational facilities. ii) Promote recreational physical activities. iii) Promote policies that help families participate in physical activities that can be done regularly. iv) Help families reduce the time they spend being inactive, including watching television and playing computer games. v) Campaigns should be carried out to educate both parents and children on the health benefits of physical activity. To attain the above the program will offer incentive for those children who use bikes or walk to school as well as those taking part in recreational physical activities. Campaign to endicate families on the benefits of physical activities will be done through various strategies such as print and television. Seminars and forums will be used to do educate the community about the benefits of engaging in physical activities. . Community Engagement, Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building The major stakeholders in this program are parents, children, learning institutions, healthcare facilities, governments, restaurants, supermarkets and fast-food restaurants. To help parents and children learn about health and childhood obesity, they will be encouraged to participate in seminars, consultations and discussions. Educational and health institutions will be involved in teaching parents and children about health when given the task of developing educational curricula related to childhood obesity and other healthcare issues. The government will be engaged when it comes to policy development and implementation (Kathleen, 2008). Capacity building will be accomplished by involving the relevant stakeholders in analysing the situation, planning the program, and monitoring and evaluating the program after implementation. This can happen through parental educational support, having secure community information boards related to childhood obesity and community art projects where issues related to childhood obesity are addressed. Concerning community engagement, parents will help in monitoring and ensuring that the foods they have at home are healthy and low in calories. Healthcare professionals and nutritionists will help in identifying progressive ways of curbing childhood obesity. Timeline and Resources Time Frame Activity Person Responsible Weeks 1–3 Needs and strength analysis Project manager Weeks 4–14 Improve access to healthy food Project manager, the government, restaurant owners Weeks 15–25 Increase awareness of the benefits of eating healthy food Project manager, restaurants, learning institutions, local government Weeks 26–36 Encouraging physical activity Project manager, restaurants, institutions of learning, local government Budget Salaries (Project officer) $50,000 Administration Photocopying $2,000 Flyers $5,000 Printing and stationary $600 Travelling $3000 Organizing seminars and forums $10,000 Media costs $7,000 Video copies $2,000 Total $79,600 In order to get the prosed funds that will help kick start the project, grants are expected from the Australian government, Mazda Foundation which supports community based programs focused on youth health, welfare and education Grants, NHMRC and Project Grant Easy. Additional funders will be researched and included. References Kathleen, K. (2008). Encyclopedia of Obesity. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, Inc. Stender, D. & Astrup, A. (2007). Fast food: unfriendly and unhealthy. International Journal of Obesity. 2007, 31(6): 887-890. Wood, M. (2009). Kids, Fast Food, & Obesity. Agricultural Research, 57(9):20-21. World Health Organization, (2000). Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation. Technical Report Series. 894: 12-53. Salisbury Aware (2012). Council Publication. Retrieved on 15th October 2012 www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/files/c0e4386d-dc92-44f0-9acc-a09200b44600/July_2012_Web_Version.pdf Salisbury Snapshot (2012). Council Publication, Edition 38. Retrieved on 16 October 2012 from www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/files/2a878b29-8e03-439a-b7e3-9fd7011d935f/FINAL_Web_Version_2012.pdf Read More