Final Latino Project - Essay Example

?Running Head: health science and medicines Final Latino Project of the of the of the Abstract The United States comprises of people of different ethnic group. Out of all the ethnic groups, Latino children are more obese and prone to type two diabetes (Korte (2009). Obesity is one of the serious health issues prevailing in the Latino communities from a long period of time. The assignment aims at designing a proposal to develop, implement and evaluate a health care program addressing to the obesity problems prevailing in children ages 12-17 of the Latino Community of Los Angeles (Baranowski, Thompson, 2002). It needs to be mentioned that nutrient poor food and lack of physical activities along with little awareness on health care are the primary reasons behind the obesity issues in the Latino children aged 12-17. Moreover, as per the California Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, 2001, only about one in five Latino children meet the fitness standards in the state wide fitness test. This can be considered as a serious issue for the Latino community and a threat to the US economy needing healthy and fit children to contribute in the growth and development of the economy. Evidence of the Problem As per the data collected from the California Department of Education, the percentage of obese male and female children is more than 50% in Los Angeles County (Kids Data Org (2010). This can be considered as a serious threat for the Latino community in terms of rising cases of diabetes and other health problems. Los Angeles County Grade -5 Grade-7 Grade-9 Female 75% 73% 69.5% Male 56% 60.5% 67.2% Source: California Department of Education, Physical Fitness Testing Statewide Research Files. Accessed online at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/pf/pftresearch.asp (November 2011). Scope of the Program The program designed to assess the obesity issues amongst the Latino children in Los Angeles County has a wide and broad scope in terms of addressing key issues behind the prevalence of obesity along with analyzing the health behavior, attitude and perceptions of the children. This health care program is a city-wide initiative that would be further stretched to state-wide in order to create awareness on obesity issues along with targeting the Latino communities in different parts of the city, states and the country (Los Angeles Times (2010) Description of the Latino Community It is often assumed that genetics play a big role in determining obesity and other health issues. However, genetics cannot be confused with destiny. Genetics play a major role in determining one’s susceptibility to obesity but does not determine the actual weight gain in the present as well as in the future. Latinos seem to be highly susceptible to obesity such that given an obesigenic environment; they are more likely to be expressed. Socioeconomic factors play an important role in determining the health issues and Latinos health habits and behaviors are more likely to put them in the danger of being exposed to wide arrays of health issues. The lack of physical activities along with little knowledge and awareness on health care also aggravate the problem. It is important to educate the Latino children through wide arrays of health care initiatives in order to make a difference in their lives in the present as well as in the future. Significance of the Topic The topic pertaining to the “Childhood obesity amongst the Latino children aged 12-17” can be considered as of great significance and importance considering the growth in the number of Latinos in the total population of the US. Moreover, the topic also deals with other related issues like socioeconomic factors, personal and family behavior, impact of obesigenic environment and education level and standards (Golan, Crow, 2004). Project Mission The project mission is to design and implement a health care program catering to the obesity issues amongst the Latino children aged 12-17 in Los Angeles County. The project mission also includes creating awareness on obesity issues through wide arrays of health care initiatives and programs. Project Goals The project goals include: To educate Latino children on the side effects of obesity To identify the primary and secondary reasons behind the obesity issue and other health related problems To analyse the level of awareness amongst the Latino children aged 12-17 To assess the contribution of parents in analysing the impact and influence of obesity amongst the children To analyze the impact of socioeconomic factors in the obesity issue faced by the Latino Children Project Objectives The project objectives include: To create awareness on obesity issue amongst the Latino children To offer right education and motivational program along with effective guidance To change the perception of Latino community in terms of health behavior and perceptions To empower the Latino children through health care awareness campaigns and programs To offer regular feedback in improving the health standards Recruitment of Participants The recruitment of participants is based on a systematic process of analysing demographic data. The data would be collected from the county health care community in order to have an idea over the number of children suffering from the obesity issue. Basically, children are going to be benefitted by this program but at the macro level, the whole Latino community is going to be benefitted by this health care program in the present as well as in the future. The children would be contacted through the data and information collected from the country health care center and mode of communication would be personal in order to convince them to participate along with making them share their opinions and views. Project Activities The project activity includes individual interaction as well as group interaction based on wide arrays of educational programs. The project also involves contribution from trained educators and facilitators offering good amount of information on obesity issues, ways to curtail it, nutrition plan and diet regimen. The group and individual interactions are aimed to increase knowledge, skills and support in an effective and efficient manner. At first, children would be asked to share their information and health issues followed by individual analysis of the health problem (Sallis, Owen,1998). This would be followed by group activities involving physical tasks, wide arrays of games and interactional programs and group discussion offering wide arrays of information on obesity issues and ways to control it. Intervention Development The intervention development aims at addressing the obesity issues amongst the Latino children. The intervention strategies revolve around individual and group education based on sharing of ideas and information, motivational activities, educating children on diet and healthy food habits fundamentals of exercise and healthy thinking to keep the mind and body healthy. Intervention Components The intervention components are predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors that are very much necessary to achieve the aims and objectives of the intervention program. As stated before, the Latino community is more susceptible to obesigenic environment compared to other ethnic group; predisposing factors are of little relevance. However, it is important to have such factors in order to make the targeted audience believe on the issue suffered by the targeted audience. The enabling factors are those that enable individuals to address and understand a specific issue and problem through a series of activities and programs. The reinforcing factors are necessary to make the initiative stronger and useful in the present as well as in the future. Thus, it can be said that intervention components are good enough to achieve the proposed aims and objectives of the program (Barlow, Dietz, 1998). Level of Intervention The primary level of intervention is associated with identifying the issue or problem while the secondary level of intervention is associated with identifying solutions for the already known problems and issues. In this particular program, secondary level of intervention would be followed considering the knowledge on the issue. The secondary level of intervention also includes tertiary prevention focusing on helping the Latino children in managing obesity issues and problems through effective guidance and knowledge aimed at enhancing the quality of life Strategies for Intervention Strategies for intervention include: Community Resource Mapping Training and Technical Assistance Sharing of knowledge and ideas Information Dissemination Logical Model The basic inputs for the program include offering expert guidance and information for tackling obesity issues along with raising long term awareness through the knowledge possessed by the experts in the form of doctors, health care communities and volunteers. The expected outcomes are to witness some changes in the behavior, attitude and beliefs of the Latino children in terms of obesity issues. It is expected that they would switch to healthy life style along with engaging themselves in physical activities. The program is also expected to raise long term awareness state-wide in order to bring revolutionary changes in the social environment. Thus, the program aims at striking the right balance amongst the inputs to get desired outcomes in a systematic and analytical manner. Conclusion The implementation of a program requires great planning and understanding of the internal and external environment especially when the program is designed for the social environment. This program aims at improving the health standards of the Latino children through wide arrays of interventions strategies. This would also help in adding new dimension and value to their health in the present as well as in the future. Overall, the program has great scope and importance, if executed and accepted well as per the planning. References Baranowski, Cullen, Thompson, D. (2002). School based obesity prevention: a blueprint for taming the epidemic. American Journal of Health Behavior, 26(6) Barlow SE, Dietz WH (1998). Obesity evaluation and treatment: expert committee recommendation, Pediatrics; 103, 3. Golan, M. & Crow, S. (2004). Parents are key players in the prevention and treatment of weight-related problems. Nutrition Reviews, 62(1), 39-50 Kids Data Org (2010). Students at a Healthy Weight, by Gender and Grade Level: 2010. Retrieved on November 08, 2011 from http://www.kidsdata.org/data/topic/table/student_obesity-gender.aspx?loc=364 Lynelle Korte (2009). Hispanic children in US at greater risk for obesity than other ethnic/racial groups. Retrieved on November, 2011 from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/ehs-hci053109.php Los Angeles Times (2010) Childhood obesity rates level off among some groups in California. Retrieved on November 08, 2011 from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/15/news/la-heb-obesity-rates-20100815 Sallis, J. F. & Owen, N. (1998). Physical activity and behavioral medicine. California: Sage Publications Read More