The Role of Parents in the Use of Home-Based Management to Control Obesity in Children - Research Paper Example

? School: Topic: The role of parents in the use of home based management to control obesity in children Lecturer: Submission: THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN THE USE OF HOME BASED MANAGEMENT TO CONTROL OBESITY IN CHILDREN Introduction The solution to childhood obesity is in a pragmatic home based approach that puts parents at the center of control. There are a number of health issues that face us as a people. One of these is childhood obesity. In a recent publication, Lombard, Forster-Cox and O’Neil (2006) bemoaned the rate at which most people refuse to see childhood obesity as a health problem even though obesity comes with so much health risks and health implications for children. Day in and out, various lifestyle activities and other inherited biological factors account for risk factors that bring about obesity in children. Indeed, this paper is limited to childhood obesity as a social concern and so would give particular attention to aspects of the problem that is society centered rather than biological centered. To this end, the risk factors shall be taken from those that are related to lifestyle activities. With this said, the place of critical thinking in the issue of childhood obesity is also acknowledged. The researcher opines that through the use of home based management principles, childhood obesity can be easily controlled in children. But to make this possible, there must be a thorough application of critical thinking, which this study would seek to identify how. It is expected that the management of childhood obesity will be something that can easily be carried about if parents who are the most immediate stakeholders in the lives of their children are ready to make a change happen. As an educational research, the paper is purposed to widening knowledge on how childhood obesity could be approached as a social issue that can be solved through critical thinking. Literature Review Trends of obesity in children There are a number of studies that have looked into current trends of obesity in children. Most of these studies have been very particular about the causes of obesity in children. In one of such studies, Loue and Quill (2001) reported that there are more biological and hereditary factors associated with childhood obesity than there are for any other form of risk or causative factors. This study was limited to a high school population where the sample size comprised of three upper classes. In the findings, the researcher noted that most of the children, predominant among who were girls kept very normal social lifestyles. The research argued that most of the biological factors that bring about obesity in children are inherited and can hardly be controlled in any way. The research however admitted that with careful lifestyle management that is based on professional guidance, it should be possible to easily treat such children of their obesity. A major bias that was found with this research was that the researcher did not consider the use of a more quantitative approach to data collection that would have made it possible to really test the authenticity of the data collected. The study focused on qualitative interviewing, where the responses of the respondents were treated as the authentic truth. The researcher could have used a more scientific approach that would have given him control over the validity of responses such as quasi experiment. In a related study, Daniels (2006) also looked into the trends of causes of childhood obesity. While using a quasi experiment, the research found that the highest level of cause associated with obesity in children of late is due to social lifestyle. Specific variables and parameters were mentioned such as eating habit, lack of exercise, and anxiety. The research was conducted in a school setting where various data on student lifestyle was collected from both the school premises and the homes of the children. The research identified that even though hereditary and other biological factors could have a telling effect on a child in terms of obesity, much of these have their solutions and management with prudent social lifestyles as acknowledged in the study above. In effect, one might have inherited obesity because the fellow comes from a family who are naturally bulky but the actual preposition that brings about an onset of obesity is the social lifestyle that the person gets involved in. the approach to collecting data in this research could be said to be highly appropriate for the research problem that the researchers were handling. However, there were cases and issues with biases in the data collection exercise. Largely, the researcher used a purposive sampling approach, which could not guarantee the fairness of the sampling procedure. Once a random sampling method is not used in research of this nature, the tendency that data to be collected will be biased to the favor of the researcher is higher (Crawford et al, 2001). The Role of Parents in managing obesity at home When it comes to the role of parents in the management of obesity at home also, there are two general schools of thought that prevail. In the first instance, there are those who argue that obesity is a health risk that must be approached from nothing else but a professional perspective. Akerele (2007) produced one such study that argued that when the treatment or management of obesity in children is left in the hand of people who are not professionals because of the need to attach a social paradigm to the approach, there becomes much room for inefficiencies and errors. This is because according to the study, obesity is a health risk just as any other health issue like diabetes or ectopic pregnancy. To this end, it is important that the management and treatment of it therefore be left to the care of health professional alone. As part of data collected however, there were cases that the researcher admitted that home management could be used but only under the supervision of a health professional. Meanwhile, while conducting this study, even though the researcher makes very valid professional arguments of the risks that could be associated with improper management of health issues, there was no such regard for the fact that if parents are given a place in management of obesity, the control of the problems becomes approached from a more preventive approach than a curative one. Building on the earlier study, Loue and Quill (2001) outlined the place of parents in the management of obesity in the house, stating emphatically that parents are a major stakeholders in the management of childhood obesity, whose roles cannot be underestimated at all. First, the study found that given the fact that parents have a lot of control over the life of their children, especially their teenage kids they can endeavor to ensure that the use preventive approaches to manage obesity. Secondly, the research argued that most of the social interventions to managing obesity are those that need critical thinking and commitment for change rather than a professional health expertise. Yet again, this research make direct acknowledgement for the fact that in some cases, professional health expertise may be necessary. But on the whole, they admitted that the key to managing obesity is readiness for change in social lifestyle, which parents can easily offer to their children. Furthermore, the research even established that parents showed much commitment and readiness to help their young ones come out of their obese conditions. To a very large extent, this is the very first move in getting the problem under control. This is because once parents gain the willingness to help their kids manage obesity in the home there are several parent centered interventions that can be used very easily. Two of these interventions have been identified to be physical exercise and dietary schedule. Physical exercise as a management intervention A number of research works have been undertaken on the efficacy of physical exercise as a management principle in the control of obesity in the home. Agyepong (2010) found that the basis of using physical exercise as a management intervention for the treatment of obesity is because obesity is directly associated with the accumulation of fats in a person. Generally, a person is said to be obese if the person has a body mass index that exceeds 25. Meanwhile, the weight of a person, which is a key factor in the determination of body mass index, is directly related to one’s fat level (Borders, Rohner and Cardarelli, 2006). With the use of physical exercise therefore, there is the rapid burning of fats, which ensure that the chances that fats are accumulated is reduced. In a related study, Akerele (2007) also found that physical body exercise comes with the advantage of making the various body organs that are related to digestion and circulation function perfectly. This has actually been said to be the first approach to using physical exercise in the management of obesity at home. This is because with an effective body exercise, the food that is taken in will be judiciously used, avoiding the chances of accumulation of fat, leading to the need to control or burn the fats in the future. On the part of parents, they may be easily integrated into the management process by ensuring that they become supervisors of their children’s daily exercises and ensure that the children stick to routines given to them by professionals (Wutzke, Conigrave, Saunders and Hall, 2002). The use of dietary schedule to eradicate obesity in the home Commonly for physical exercise which may be used as both a preventive approach and treatment approach to childhood obesity, dietary schedule could also be used to achieve same. Addae-Mensah (2012) however focuses more on the use of dietary schedule as a preventive approach to obesity as against a treatment approach. The reason this is said is that when people who have risk factors such as family history of obesity are put on diet that is managed by a professional dietician and facilitated by parents, the incidence and chances that they will also become obese is far less (Bibbins-Domingo et al, 2007). These particular findings were made from a five year ethnographic study that focused on how dietary schedule could be used to prevent the occurrence of obesity in children who had either one of their parents or both parents being obese. As a qualitative study, the focus on intervention was on more socially directed approaches such as the use of dietary schedule, of which the success rate was reported to be 72%. On their part however, Agyepong (2010) argued against the use of dietary schedule as a preventive approach. This is because they noted that until the onset of obesity or excessive gaining of fat, dieticians can hardly tell the right and most accurate allocation of nutritional balances to undertake (Vrijling, Hengel and Houben, 2005). The latter also pointed that treating to cure someone before the onset of a disease may be equivalent to medical abuse and thus a reason it is wrong to attempt to treat someone who has not recorded an onset of obesity with withdrawal approach such as dietary schedule. How academic knowledge impacts the social elements and institutions of both local and global communities Indeed, the issue of childhood obesity can be taken from both a local and global perspective and also be given several social elements when it comes to its cause and management. But whether it is viewed from a local community perspective or from a global community perspective, there are a number of ways that academic knowledge can impact the social elements of childhood obesity, particularly the management of it. From a local community perspective, emphasis will be placed on the need for parents, who have been targeted as the facilitators of the home based management of the health issue to have some level of education on best practices in using some of the various social interventions available. For example it is recommended that dietary schedule can be used as a preventive approach to managing childhood obesity at home, whiles physical exercise will be used as a treatment or control approach to managing childhood obesity at home. As reflected in the literature, even though parents can be left to handle these interventions well enough, they would need the support and backing through education from experts (Vrijling, Hengel and Houben, 2005). Most of these supports may also come in the form of writing or the use of lecture that demands a high level of academic knowledge on the part of the parents to study and act on (Wilkins, Kendrick, Stitt and Hammarlund, 2008). A typical example of how academic knowledge can impact the use of dietary schedule for example is a parent who cannot read and interpret nutritional values due to poor educational background and so would give children nutritional supplements that increase their risk to obesity rather than reducing it. Secondly, academic knowledge can impact the use of home based management of childhood obesity from a global perspective. This time round, the power of technology and its effect in globalised learning will be exemplified. With the advent of the internet, universal learning has become so easy and forthcoming among all people who want to seek quality information for undertaking personal social interventions such as the home base management of childhood obesity (Lombard et al, 2006). In such an era therefore, a parent who does not have the academic knowledge to undertake an effective online search for data and would thus become handicapped in the area of access to quality information on the use of home based management. Meanwhile, another parent who is academically endowed with the skill of undertaking personalized internet search can easily have any information needed on the home based management of childhood obesity. On a more serious note, someone who does not have adequate academic knowledge may take information from the wrong source, which in turn could be very devastating when inaccurate information is sampled. This is a manifestation that even when viewed from a global community, academic knowledge can impact the social elements of childhood obesity. How the principles of active citizenship could impact management of childhood obesity As far as the subject of active citizenship is concerned, not much has been thought of what health professionals and the health sector as a corporate institution can do as their responsibilities to society. This is because a lot have thought of the health sector as a profit entity that does not owe any active citizenship accountability to the public. But Wilkins et al. (2008) have refused to accept this line of thinking, stating that the health sector has a lot to do as active citizenship roles to society. In a very typical scenario, members of health services can dedicate themselves to community education and advocacy on the use of home based management principles and interventions to control childhood obesity. On a constant basis, the health workers must see childhood obesity management as a preventive and primary health care provision that must be come to their community members at no extra cost. In a related study, it was even established that when such primary health care and preventive health services are given in a very holistic manner, it helps in reducing the pressure on actual health care delivery because the need for people to come to health facilities with complicated health issues becomes eliminated. As the issue of the need for reduced cost of health care delivery and increased quality continues to rage on, a very unique and focused intervention that can be pointed to is the use of active citizenship on the part of health workers to promote the prevention of certain key diseases and ailments. In the case of childhood obesity, the advantage that it can bring in achieving reduced cost and improved quality of health care is that it would help in ensuring that most other forms of diseases that normally come up as a result of a person being overweight will be prevented. Once these diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart attack and rheumatism are prevented, the usual pressure that health workers receive, for which they do not get adequate time to offer tailored health service would be curtailed. In effect, much time can be dedicated to the fewer people who visit hospitals to receive care from practitioners and service providers. Because of the reduced cases of incidents that a person would have to report to the hospital also, spending on health care will be drastically reduced. Multimedia Representation of the Issue Interestingly, the acknowledgement of the fact that childhood obesity is more than a physical state of a person but a health issue have been taken very far and seriously. This assertion is made with the number of multimedia representation that the issue of childhood obesity carries. Because of the power of the internet and the transcending following that it has, it has suddenly become the platform through which advocacy, education and campaigning on the issue of childhood obesity is undertaken. The advantage that this has is that the internet is an audio-visual platform that allows people to view as well as hear what is transpiring in a given online publication. In an online video posted on The Visual MD, the role of health workers in helping parents overcome what has been described as the epidemic of childhood obesity is critically discussed. Over here, experts give professional advice on various weight management skills for children so as to improve their health, rather than their appearance. The video actually establishes that 95% of all cases of childhood obesity are not due to glandular problems or genes (The Visual MD Healthcare Educational Resource, 2013). In effect, the proposition of this research paper on how through improved education for parents, the management of childhood obesity can be undertaken through home remedies is authenticated. As the place of parents have been identified, it is very important that they take up the task of helping to take their younger ones out of the health threat that childhood obesity posses to their children. But with this said, the caution that is given in the video would be taken in good faith that under no circumstance should parents want to rush their children through home based interventions. As often as possible, there should be guidance from the appropriate professionals. Conclusion In conclusion therefore, it will be reiterated that the management of obesity is a situation that can be approached from a social dimension, using home based management principles that are facilitated by parents. The need for improved education for parents as to how they can go about this must therefore be the order of the day. Clearly, the risk that comes with childhood obesity does not give anyone the luxury to walk around the problem unconcerned. More critically, it would be noted that when children become obese at an early age, they become exposed to all the health risks that obesity and overweight comes with at a very early age. Some of these health risks include heart diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes. Should any of these be developed at an early age also, it would mean that the children would have several years ahead of them, combating the diseases instead of developing on the normal development of their lives. What remains a very worst case scenario is the rate at which children with obesity continue to have academic and educational challenges due to reported cases of withdrawal from active school and class activity (The Visual MD Healthcare Educational Resource, 2013). Findings of this nature put an urgent call on parents to take up their mandated roles as facilitators of home based management of obesity for change. References Addae-Mensah, I. (2012). Towards a national scientific basis for herbal medicine–a phytochemists two decade contribution. Accra: University Press. Agyepong, I. A. (2010). Health worker (internal customer) satisfaction and motivation in the public sector in Ghana. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 19(4), 319-336. Akerele, O. (2007). The Best of Both Worlds: Bringing Traditional Medicine Up to Data. Social Science and Medicine, 24 (2), 177-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(87)90250-4 Bibbins-Domingo, K., Coxson, P., Pletcher, M. J.., Lightwood, J., & Goldman L., (2007) Adolescent overweight and future adult coronary heart disease. New England Journal of Medicine 357:2372-9. Borders, T. F., Rohner, K.M., Cardarelli, K. M. (2006) Gender specific Disparities in obesity, Journal of Community Health. 31 (1). Crawford, P.B., Story M. Wang M. C., Ritchie, L.D., & Sabry, Z. (2001) Ethnic Issues in the epidemiology of childhood obesity. Pediatric Clinics of North America 48(4): 855-78. Daniels, S. R. (2006). the consequences of childhood overweight and obesity. The Future of Children, 16(1). 233-243 Lombard, K. A., Forster-Cox, S., & O’Neil, M. K. (2006) Diabetes on the Navajo Nation: what role can gardening and agriculture extension play to reduce it. Remote and Rural Health, 6(640) Loue, S., & Quill, B.E., (2001). Handbook of Rural Health New York :Kluwer/Plenum Publishers The Visual MD Healthcare Educational Resource (2013). Childhood Obesity. Accessed November 13, 2013 from http://www.thevisualmd.com/health_centers/child_health/childhood_obesity/childhood_obesity_video Vrijling, J.K., Hengel, W.V. and Houben R.J., (2005). A framework for risk evaluation, Journal of Hazardous Materials., Vol. 43(3), pp. 245-261 Wilkins, S. E., Kendrick, O. W., Stitt, K. R., & Hammarlund, V. A. (2008). Family functioning is related to overweight children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 98(5), 572-574. Wutzke, S.E., Conigrave, K.M., Saunders, J.B., & Hall, W.D. (2002). Long-term effectiveness of brief interventions for unsafe food consumption: A 10-year follow-up. Addiction, 97(4), 665-675 Read More