Communication plan for childhood obesity - Term Paper Example

Communication Plan for Childhood Obesity Introduction The children in the United s are facing threat of becoming overweight or obese especially among the children the age of two to five years. More than 11% of preschool-age kids are at high risk of becoming overweight (Hills, at.al, 2007). There are other health issues associated with overweight such as diabetes, heart attack, hypertension and many others. This menace is prevalent among the low income earning families. The main cause of overweight among the children is the lack of proper diet and physical activities. Nutritious food is either unavailable or is too expensive for most of the people and as a result, poorest people rely heavily on processed foods that are affordable and readily available (Centres for Disease Control and prevention, 2014). This problem cannot be overcome by a single individual or group, but it requires collaboration between different organizations and individuals responsible for the children. This document aims at providing a communication plan that can help to reduce consumption of fatty and sugary foods and increase physical activities among the young children in the United States. 1. Objective of the plan This program is aimed at increasing the consumption of health foods and beverages as well as promoting physical activities among the children. These objectives can be achieved through collaboration with various stakeholders. 2. Targeted audiences (stakeholders) The program for promoting healthy feeding programs and physical exercises among the young children target different groups and individuals (Isaacs & Colby, 2009). These include all learning institutions dealing with young children, state, media, parents and healthcare organizations dealing with children. 3. Key stakeholders message Parents have the greatest responsibility in bringing change to the current level of obesity among the young children in US. Parents have a duty to determine the kind of food their children eat and the involvement of children in physical activities (Williams, et.al, 2013). The mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed their babies adequately and avoid feeding them babies with foods containing high calories, sugar and fat. Parents should encourage their children to take part in physical activities regularly and limit the time which those children spend watching television, videos and playing computer games Teachers determine the kind of physical activities that children engage in which in school. In most cases, teachers are focused on academic performance of their schools and limit the time in which their students engage in physical activities (Williams, et.al, 2013). All training institutions should have a well structured program that specifies the time for students’ involvement in physical activities and time for class work. Therefore, teachers should give adequate time for physical activities to their students every day in order to improve their wellbeing. In addition, students take their meals at school during the day. Therefore, teachers have a duty to ensure that health foods are available for the students while in school. The suppliers and sellers of food stuff to the training institutions should be encouraged to supply health foods to ensure children do not lack essential foods. The marketing and advertisements for foods and beverages should be changed from promotion junk foods to focus more on promoting health foods and avail them in the market in order to reduce the consumption of junk foods. The media and the marketers of food influence the eating habits of most families (Isaacs & Colby, 2009). The producers’ and markers use media advertisements to reach their clients. In most cases, the food they promote is unhealthy although they never disclose the negative effects of consuming fast foods. Therefore, the program should target the marketers and sellers of fast foods to ensure they disclose everything about the fast foods especially among the young children. Health organizations have a responsibility of educating the parents of the side effects of being overweight and what causes young children to become overweight (Hill, 2006). Most of the people usually heed the advices of healthcare givers than anyone else because of their vast knowledge about health. Therefore, using healthcare givers to address the issues of obesity among the young people is likely to be effective and efficient. The other stakeholders include the state because of its responsibility of making and implementing policies. The state should develop policies to improve health feeding programs in school and students participation in physical exercises in order to reduce students risk of becoming overweight (Isaacs & Colby, 2009). The existing policies have taken little consideration on physical activities and have put more emphasis on academic performance. This has encouraged students and teachers to focus more on studies because the performance of the learning institutions is assessed based on academics. However, the state should include physical activities in the assessment of organizations’ performance as a means of promoting physical activities in schools. 4. Specific communication processes/methods The Centres for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) shall establish a committee to develop the program and improve its implementation (Canters for Disease Control and prevention, 2014). This committee shall be responsible for implementation of the proposed plan and shall conduct conferences in different districts with representatives from various stakeholder groups in order to ensure the intended message has been disseminated to all target groups. They shall use different communication methods in order to reach the target groups (Isaacs & Colby, 2009). For example, the committee shall post messages through social media because is convenient to reach many people. In the United States, many people can access social media through PCs, smart phone or other internet-enabled devices. There are many people subscribed to different social media sites from where they can access the information. The CDC can release magazines periodically, use posters and brochures reach different stakeholders. In addition, they can use fliers containing information on proper dieting and physical exercises and distribute them through public training and healthcare organizations. 5. Proposed timeline for communication The program may take about three years after which it is expected that most of the target groups will have received the indented information. However, it is expected that parents, teachers, the state and healthcare organizations and other stakeholders shall continue to support health feeding program and physical exercises among the young children in order to improve health nation Craypo, et.al, 2008). 6. The costs associated with your plan The cost of implementing communication plan shall include the expenses incurred in publishing and distributing brochures manuals, magazines, fliers and cost of holding of conferences. The expenses shall be borne by charitable health organizations and the state (Hill, 2006). 7. Performance metrics and goal measurement In order for the CDC committee responsible for the implementation of this program to determine the effectiveness of their activities, they shall conduct performance evaluation after every six months (Williams, et.al, 2013). The areas to be evaluated will include medical data analysis to determine the change in the level of overweight cases examined by the healthcare providers, evaluation of government policies to determine the state initiative in promoting health feeding and physical exercises among school children, and evaluation of media advertisement in favour of nutritious foods. However, the accuracy of this method of evaluating performance cannot be determined with precision because some incidences are unknown since most of the poor people have no access to healthcare system 8. Conclusion The development and implementation of the communication plan to promote healthy eating habit and engagement in physical activities among the young children in U.S. can be achieved through a communal effort between the media, food marketers, and the state and health organizations. Through use of specific communication methods, the CDC will be able to reach the stakeholders who will ensure the proposed strategies are implemented at different levels. The process shall take about three years, but evaluation of performance shall be conducted after every six months. References Centers for Disease Control and prevention. (2014). Accessed on 31st March 2013 from Craypo, L., Samuels, S., Liz Krista, S., Stiffler, L. S. & Griffin, N. (2008). Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategic Plan 2008-2013. Retrieved on 31st March 2014 from http://www.first5kids.org/sites/default/files/Obesity%20Prevention%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf Hill, D. (2006). Childhood Obesity: An Intervention Plan. Graceland University. Hills, A., King, A., Byrne, M. (2007). Children, Obesity and Exercise: Prevention, Treatment and Management of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity. Taylor & Francis. Isaacs, S. L. & Colby, D. C. (2009). To Improve Health and Health Care. John Wiley & Sons. Williams, J., Pasch, E. & Collins, A. (2013). The Advances in Communication Research to Reduce Childhood Obesity. New York: Springer 458-487. Read More