Community-Based Approach to Obesity Prevention 

 Community-Based Approach to Obesity Prevention

 Obesity is a complex condition that involves having excess fat accumulation. Obesity causes a risk of having other health conditions like heart diseases, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Obesity can occur at any age in a person’s life.  The rate at which people are getting obese has continued to increase with time. It is caused by lifestyle choices among people in a community. Some of the lifestyle choices lack inactivity and unhealthy diets. Most people prefer to eat fast food which has a lot of calories because it is easy to access and it is cheaper. The other cause is age because as a person becomes older, they become less active.  With age, the number of muscles in the body decreases, which leads to decreases in metabolism that eventually lead to a person becoming obese. The other cause is a social and economic issue. Low income earning people are at a high risk of getting obese. The main reason being they prefer to buy food reach on energy even though some are not healthy food just to make it through the month. They also lack money to afford a gym or a safe environment to exercise.  The paper will discuss two programs that promote a community-based approach to obesity prevention.

1. Early childhood Obesity Prevention Program (ECHO)

ECHO is a program that entails preventing obesity from an early age. Obesity is a condition that can affect anyone despite their age (Cloutier,2015). Children from the age of zero to three are at risk of getting obese, just like any other adult. Fast food, being introduced to solid food at an early age, lack of proper breastfeeding, taking a lot of sweet juices, sleeping, and stay on the television for very long hours are the leading causes of obesity in children (Han,2010). ECHO program aims at dealing with obesity at the early stage of life. ECHO bases this program on helping the most affected population by obesity. In America, obesity is a major problem, and the most affected are the socio-economically disadvantaged group.

The main objective of ECHO is to ensure obesity is prevented in children with the first 12 months after they are born. When a child becomes obsessed during the first year after being born, the probability is high that they get to be obsessed as an adult (Finkelstein,2012).  ECHO   program entails observing the first 12 months of a child from the time they are born. The program gives guidance on what should be done and what should be avoided.  The program entails having a home visit that gives direction on the infant and the mother.  The visitor then engages the mother to modify their behavior and that of the infant. The home victor role is to educate and skill-building the mother and infant skills around nutrition physical activities and wellness.  The program encouraged the infants not to be left watching the television for a long time and their sleeping hours not to exceed elven hours.

The target population is Latinos and black Americans. The obesity rate in black Americans and Latinos is higher, especially those who have a low income.  Some of the activities that the program encouraged to help prevent obesity in children were encouraging children to be involved in physical activities.  The home visitor would ensure that the child does not sleep the whole day. The infant was to be active most part of the day (Cloutier,2015). The other activity was taking fruits and vegetables. For mothers as part of the programs are encouraged to take fruits and vegetable and drink a lot of water per day. Lastly, the mothers are also encouraged to avoid sitting and watching television for a long time with the infants.  All these activities indicate that the program aims at preventing obesity among children.

Evaluation of ECHO

The program is effective because the numbers of Latinos and Black American children that became obsessed decreased after the introduction of the program in Hartford decreased.  The program is also effective because it does not introduce a strange culture to the people. The program involves only the mother changing a specific behavior (Han,2010). The mother is only required to breastfeed more and changing infant routine on sleeping and watching television.  The program is also effective because not only does the infant avoid being obese, the mother and the whole family benefit from the program. It has reduced the number of children who used to get obese at an early age.

The program is also acceptable. ECHO targets mainly the Latino and the black American mothers that are pregnant or have just delivered.  The program is acceptable because most of the activities that the program encourages are normal activities only that discipline is required.  It is also acceptable because the home visitor gets to deal with the mother and the infant in person. It makes the mother want to work on behavioral change to help their children avoid being obsessed. ECHO targets the right population. The highest population of children that get obese are those that come from low-income earning families (Finkelstein,2012). The main reason being that they are not involved in a lot of physical activities because of an insecure neighborhood.  They also do not get the correct amount of fruits and vegetables because of the cost.  Therefore, the ECHO program is an appropriate program for its target population.

The program is also sustainable. ECHO involves ensuring that the child does not get obese in their early years.  The effect lacks because a large percentage of the children involved in the program do not get obsessed (Finkelstein,2012). It also involves educating the mother about behavioral change so that the change does not become obsessed. Because the program takes a long duration, the behavior becomes a habit for the whole family hence decrease the chance of any of the family members getting obsessed.  In terms of finance, the program is also sustainable because all that is required is of the home visitor who gives educates the mother on behavior change. It is also sustainable because it works with other programs that ensure the wellbeing of mothers and infants.

Recommendation

The program helps prevent obesity in children at an early age. However, the program should ensure that the program acts on the financial problem of the people as a way of preventing obesity. The highest population of the children that become obsessed are from low-income families. Educating them on what to eat does not solve the matter. The program should introduce a segment that helps lessen the price of vegetables and fruits to make it available for the population. through using this technique, the program becomes sustainable because it generates income, and it fulfills its goal to ensure good eating habits among Latinos and black Americans.

What I have learned through the program is that the health of an individual is affected by their lifestyle. A child will become obsessed because of how they are raised. When a child is introduced to solid food, stops breastfeed at an early age, and is always watching television and sleeping, they end up being obsessed. Engaging in physical activities and eating right is the ECHO program’s way of ensuring the community remains healthy (Han,2010). The other thing I have learned about poverty is that it leads to people not eating properly.  Poverty makes people avoid necessary groceries and accessing the gym because they have to survive on a tight budget. The consequence is that children are left to eat fast food, which is easily affordable, and the consequences are most of them become obese. ECHO program aims at preventing obesity by encouraging change in behavior for the infant and the mother.

South Country Food, Fitness and Fun (SCFFF)

SCFFF is an intervention program that was designed to prevent obesity among children and their caregivers. It was developed due to community concern about having a large population of people being obsessed, including children. It is an intervention program for 16 weeks that is free and accessible to the whole community.  It entails weekly group nutrition and physical activity sessions. The process of the program entailed two major segments (Xu,2017). The first is the nutrition segment. Weekly nutrition challenges and teaching children and their caregivers the importance of a food guide pyramid.  The second segment entailed the physical activities where children are involved in rope jumping and group games. The main agenda of the segment is to involve children in activities that will lead to them sweating as a means of shading some calories.  The caregivers also participate in the two segments but a different group. They are involved in more intense physical activities and are taught on the food to eat in the nutrition segment. Each of these segments lasts 30 min, and at the end of the week, there are weekly activities that involve the caregivers and their children.  The target population is children who live in poor living standards that cannot afford to pay for health fitness programs.

Evaluation of the SCFFF

SCFFF has proved to be an effective program. It is a program that runs for 16 weeks and gives guidance to the caregivers and children on what and how to eat. The program was effective because out of the 118 children that were involved as the program started, all those that completed the program lost weight (Xu,2017). The caregivers and the children after 16 weeks had seen the results, which shows that the program was effective.

The program is also acceptable in the target group.  It is an after school; program that only takes a few hours, making it a program that the caregivers can manage to work with. The program is also free, which means any person is allowed to join the program at no fee. The other thing that makes it acceptable is the during the nutrition program, the caregivers and children are taught what they should eat. They are given several options for food as long as it meets the set standard.

SCFFF is also a sustainable program. The program entails teaching and practicing good eating habits and exercising for 16 weeks (Han,2010). After the program is done, the children and caregivers continue practicing the nutrition segment. It is a sustainable program because the exercise is simples, which means the participants can continue practicing even in their homes.

Recommendation on SCFFF

The SCFFF program focuses on children and caregivers. The major strategy it uses in obesity prevention is by using nutrition and physical activities. The nutrition segment is hard to sustain if the whole family is not involved. SCFFF should start incorporating the whole family so that the entire family watches their diet and not just those in the program.  The second recommendation is for the program to introduce a meal cheaper grocery stores that allow the community to buy groceries at an affordable rate. It is not enough to teach about the importance of nutrition if an individual cannot afford it. By making the groceries affordable, it will prevent obesity in the community.

In conclusion, obesity is a condition that can affect anyone despite their age.  The community has an important role in ensuring that it prevents obesity in society (Finkelstein,2012). The main reason is that it leads to other chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. It also leads to low self-esteem and an inability to participate in normal activities.  Obesity comes because of living styles and the food they eat. Eating unhealthy food which is full of calories and not being involved in physical activities like exercising are the leading cause of obesity. The community concern on the increasing number of people that get obese has led to the introduction of programs that help prevent obesity. ECHO programs deal with ensuring that infants do not get obsessed because it leads to obesity in their adult life (Cloutier,2015). The program aims at changing the behavior of the mother and infant to prevent obesity.  SCFFF is the other program that deals with preventing obesity among school-going children. The program entails teaching the children and the caregivers what to eat and the kind of exercise to do. SCFFF takes 16 weeks, but the results are life-changing. The communities must embrace this program to help reduce the rate at which people get obsessed.