Childhood Obesity

Click on “about me” for more info. Stay tuned for more information on my writing project!

My project will be on childhood obesity. A majority of my research will come from the Center for Disease Control Website. I have spent some time surfing their site and have found several useful fact sheets and articles. They have offered me the statistics I needed and they have the creditability required to be a reliable source.

I also searched Pitt Cat for articles from Pediatrics Magazines and other health journals that talk about the parents’ perspective. That will help me understand what is important to my audience so I can approach the subject sensitively to them.

The article that prompted my topic was in Men’s Health and it was a success story on how a particular school principle has done his part to make the kids more active. I will look for more success stories like this.

I also found a few books to check out:

Children, obesity and exercise : prevention, treatment and management of childhood and adolescent obesity / edited by Andrew P. Hills, Neil A. King and Nuala M. Byrne.

A clinical guide to pediatric weight management and obesity / Sandra Gibson Hassink

Eating disorders in children and adolescents / edited by Tony Jaffa and Brett McDermott.

K-W-H-L Statements 

Topic 1: Childhood Obesity 

K) Childhood obesity is on the rise. It causes multiple health effects both physical and emotional. School lunches are unhealthy and cause bad habits at a young age. Society is under educated in nutritious choices. Many Americans do not understand what healthy food choices are and underestimate the amount of calories they are consuming. Gym class is hardly a physical activity. Health class is not working. Insurance rates are increasing every year.  The government needs to step in and give stricter regulations of food preparation. If you offer grilled chicken and still offer chicken nuggets of course the kids are still going to order double batch of chicken nuggets.  We need to improve the programs they have tried to implement. This can be done by stricter guidelines and education for parents and children. It needs to become a family affair. Healthy food options need to lower their prices. It is cheaper to eat “bad” food. Offer incentives somehow to make it regarding besides “health” because that apparently isn’t working.

Stakeholders- Government, school board, educators, insurance companies, children and parents.

Audience- Society

I know these things from personal experience, the media and articles I have read.

My job entails that I work with insurance companies so I see the insurance increases. My company instituted a health education program, hired trainers and the company continues to drop the weight!

W) I need more actual figures and specific details of the health complications. I need more concrete data in general on everything I stated above.

H) I will search medical journals, health magazines and documentaries. I will create questionnaires for middle school and high school students.

L) This project will entail be to act like a reporter. It will be difficult to get past the “common sense” aspect of it all.  An example of that would be: the non smokers or the rehabilitated smokers who preach to all the smokers out there to just quit it’s bad for you. It is easy for them to say it. Well I taught myself how to eat healthy by reading and seeking assistance and lost 30 pounds seven years ago so why can’t everyone else?  I need to get over that in order to make this project a success. I need to really consider the obstacles these families, children and school systems face in order to actually create a realistic solution.

Topic 2: The need for universal health care in the
United States  

K) I know that not everyone in this country has health insurance. I know many of them are not looking for handouts. They are hardworking lower middle class who lost their insurance when the insurance rates started to steadily increase 10-25% each year. Large corporations are even struggling to understand the benefit of continuing to pay for their employee’s coverage.  One solution is instituting corporate health challenges. Make your employees healthier and it will help with the skyrocketing prices for large companies if we can get the insurance companies on board. There has to be a feasible option to get healthcare to those in need. Why can’t Mr. and Mrs. Rich live without one less Louis Vuitton Bag to help aid those in need for general medical care?

Stakeholders- Insurance Companies, uninsured & corporations.

Audience- Society

The little information I do know comes from my company, the media and personal experience.

W) I need to know what plans have been drafted and why universal healthcare has never been instituted. Facts and stats on why exactly healthcare is rising so rapidly.

I need to understand the effects if any if we do not institute a nationwide healthcare system.

H) I need to do reading on political agenda plans who will push for this to happen. I will need to research insurance companies profits and talk to corporations.

L) The only thing I know for sure is that we need healthcare for everyone. This may be very difficult for me because I don’t know very much other then it is a problem.

1) Childhood obesity and the effects of overall mental or physical health and the quality of life. The impact it has on our society as a whole. One example would be that the cost of  healthcare would continue to rise due to the problems that occur from childhood obesity.

2) Another interesting topic would be college loan interest rates for students. Students that come from middle and lower class income families that did not receive full rides graduate with extensive credit card debt and student loans. The detrimental effects this will have on our economy in the long run.

3) The rising costs of healthcare and insurance. We can consider the options in order to provide healthcare to all of our citizens in the United States..

I chose all of these topics because they concern me or may or have impacted me in some way.