Obesity Starts At Home

"A Childhood Obesity Program in Federally Qualified Community Health Centers", was written by Erica L. McClaskey, MD, MS, in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Undeserved Volume 21, Number 3, in August of 2010.

This journal discusses the most challenging disease amoung children; obesity. The journal begins by providing background information on obesity among children. There are several statistics that show how obesity has drastically risen on the years. It is said that the many children become obese because they are not exposed to the resources they need to teach them about obesity.

Eventually a nurse practitioner was sent out to recuit children to participate in a childhood prevention program. Along with the help of the local YMCA, a plan was established in which a YMCA staff was sent to the clinic to conduct weekly two hour sessions with the children. Along with the excercise, students were also taught about obesity and how to prevent it.

The children that were considered to be at risk of developing obesity were sent to learning sessions along with their siblings and parents, because "being at risk was understood as living in a family with overweight or obese parents" as stated by McClaskey. The program went about several ways to teach children and their parents about obesity.

In conclusion McClaskey states, "Research demonstrates that obesity is a complex and multi-faceted problem requiring multiple approaches and solutions utilizing a team management strategy. The most successful future initiatives will likely include the family, the community, and community health centers working collaboratively in order to overcome the challenges of obesity in economically disadvantaged populations."

I found this journal to be extremely informative. It provided statistics, programs being used to decrease obesity problems, and the steps that the programs take to achieve this goal. I know that this journal will be very useful when writing my paper because it shows that "unhealthy" eating habits are not the only causes of obesity; there are many other factors as well.