Obesity in African American Population within the United States - Essay Example

Obesity in African American Population within United s The majority of the individuals who are obesity victims in America have been studied in all age, gender, ethnic and racial groups. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial minority is not proportionately obese and exposed greatly to serious diseases. The purpose of this paper is to reduce obesity in these individuals through ensuring and sustaining health programs in the affected areas. A total of 140 African American people took part in a 19 week intervention. The age mean was 50 years. 97% of those who took part in the research were obese or were overweight. The research showed that during the second year there were improvements on obesity than in the first year. In conclusion, a culturally wellness programs should be adopted to decrease obesity in these individuals and withstand in the community. Introduction Obesity is not concerned only with personal health but it is a deadly and costly health issue that influence economic productivity, family and personal wellbeing (CDC, 2001). The long term results of obesity are approximated at a cost of billions (Finkelstein et al, 2009). The majority of the individuals who are obesity victims in America have been studied in all age, gender, ethnic and racial groups. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial minority is not proportionately obese and exposed greatly to serious diseases (CDC, 2009b). In accordance to the central disease control (2003c), sixty five percent of American adults overweigh and thirty one percent of the group suffers from obesity, seventy percent of the African American overweighs, and 38% of the group is obese. Using gender seventy seven percent of the black women overweigh with forty nine percent obese. On the other hand, the percentage of black men that are overweight is 63 with 28 being obese (Cowart, et al 2010). The statistics shows clarity in health disparity amongst the effective interventions, vulnerable population and overweight treatment of the African American. Application of culturally sensitive interventions in the reduction of the prevalence and incidence of obesity in populations where it is highly risky is both an international and national accepted community health principle (Paschal, 2004). In spite of the evidence, the reduction of sustainable risk for these individuals has not taken place (Watkins, et al 2010). The sustainable intervention needs to be inclusive of culturally appropriate approaches and should be specific to a risk population. Adopting an approach that is church based has been proved to be of great impact on a community of African American which is very vital information for people who board behavioral (Hampton, et al 2010). The church based health approaches have had growth over the recent many years in America, especially in African American society (Lancaster, et al 1991). The main issue in the lives of many African Americans is religion and their church. According to research that has been carried out, religion is very important and has meaning in African American tradition (Mattis, 2000). In the African American society, church is very vital and a positive effect on health results (Miller, 1995). Hence, this paper’s aim is to counter obesity in the individuals by sustenance and ensuring of successful health programs. Intervention A 19 week schedule consisting of 112 African American women and 28 males took part in the intervention. The average age has provided in the abstract was 50. The 19 week schedule was adopted as the research reflects that it was carried out for an approximate time of two moths in establishing a new practice (Lin, et al 2007) A board comprising of health partner and faith leaders developed a program for appropriate cultural activities inclusive of nutrition sessions given once per 2 weeks by dietician at every church. They also provide physical activity periods incorporating non-traditional and traditional exercise forms delivered once per 2 weeks by the core staff that highlights the duty of faith commitment in maintenance of goals. Every session commenced and ended in a word of prayer and integrated spiritual meanings in the program. As the intervention commenced, the center staff and church leaders came to agreement to induce a competition factor in order to motivate participation. Moreover, cash awards of increasing amounts were given to health ministries on the basis of which church proved to improve in the health outcomes. The nutrition sessions gave an interactive structure that was inclusive of group discussion, presentations, and queries objective of eating, food an individual eats, the quantity taken and at what place. At the close of the celebration, those who participated discussed on how they came to know about choosing of healthy foods. The exercise element of the initiative was structured to sustain habits and improve fitness. The motivation in the program played a vital part. The first instances comprised of motivational discussions and spiritual prayers to glue the participants on to the objectives. In addition, participants were counseled with a psychologist so that the participants could have an idea of the program effect on their health and weight profile. As many participants did not exercise before the initiative fifty seven percent males and seventy one percent females, the first goal was frequency. The participants were given instructions to exercise in a way that was more appropriate and comfortable to them. As the goal was sustaining long term behaviors, heart rate was not in the program but the intensity of the exercised was monitored. In case an individual perceived the exercise to be involving, there was an option of doing the non-traditional one for example, dancing. After the last week, a party was thrown to all participants and guests from the church. Intervention results The data that was revealed after the research had positive outcomes. 140 participants had positive improvements in both the first and second year. The nutrition education classes placed their focus on behavioral changes which would agree that health benefits would be sustained easily. The participants were inspired to take more grains, fruits, and vegetables and monitor their size. A few foods that contain high cholesterol and fats were selected as an extremely limited eating habit would have caused low compliance by the individuals. The outcome shows that the participants managed to improve in their health and reduce the risk of being obese. Discussion Faith based programs have been revealed to have thrived in the reduction of obesity indicators. The present studies describe the results of the intervention that integrated incentives to develop retention. The outcome of the study revealed that during the second year the individuals who participated showed improvements in obesity that were better than the first year. In specific, weight averages were substantially lower for the second year than in the first year. In addition, the average number of days for exercise in every week was more in the second year. It suggests that motivational addition may have contributed more to the improvements on the participants in the second year. The participants were inspired to observe the reinforcing barriers and factors to maintain their goals hence it helped in sustaining their outcomes. Because the objective of this intervention that was mainly to improve the positive behaviors, it will be vital to investigate the effects of motivation aspects in maintaining and setting long term goals. The present intervention is inclusive of an approach that is church based to reduce obesity. Research has it that in African American society making of sensitive intervention to release activities to decrease obesity has been got to be sustainable and effective (Fitzgibbon, et al 2005). The intervention based on faith group reduced weight by a margin of 3.5%. The research shows that the intervention based on church has turned out to be effective in the long run as it makes them more sustainable. The research has limitations. The first limitation is that the research has mainly been carried out on African Americans of some restricted age. The second, the study was only for a short period of time which was 19 weeks. Future studies may be forced to carry out the research for over a wide range of period. Conclusion In spite of these limitations, the program of intervention based on church for African Americans has a vital impact on the population that is exposed to the risk. In a nutshell, the paper shows how nurses can adopt certain measures to curb obesity in the African Americans community. References Centers for Disease control and Prevention. (2001a) Individuals with a BMI of 25 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009b). Obesity prevalence among low-income, Centers for Disease and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistic (2003c). Health United States, Hyattsville, MD Cowart, L., Biro, D., Wasserman, T., Stein, R., Reider, L., & Brown, B. (2010). Designing and pilot-testing a church-based community program to reduce obesity among African Americans. Finkelstein E., Trogar J, & Cohen J. D. W. (2009). Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: Prayer-and service specific estimates. Health Affairs, 28, 822-831. Fitzgibbon, M.L., Stalley, M.R., & Ganschow, P. (2005). Results of a faith-based weight loss intervention for black women. JAMA, 97, 1393-1402. Lancaster, TM. Carleton, R.S., & Wells, B.L. (1991). Religious organizations and large-scale health related lifestyle change programs. Journal of Health Education, 22, 233-239. Lin, P.H., Appel, L.J., & Funk, K. (2007). The PREMIER Intervention helps participants follow the dietary approaches to stop hypertension dietary pattern and the current dietary reference intakes recommendations. Journal of American Diet Association, 107, 1541-1551. Read More