Essay: Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations
Essay: Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations
Position Paper for a Vulnerable Population
Childhood obesity is a critical public health concern in the US and other global states. Childhood obesity predisposes children to complex health problems that low their quality of life and act as a source of disease burden. Over the past four decades, the global prevalence of childhood obesity has risen significantly, translating into an increased burden of disease to the affected populations. Responsive interventions addressing the issue should be embraced. Therefore, rather than implementing single interventions, states should adopt multicomponent approaches incorporating multiple stakeholders to address childhood obesity.
Position
Childhood obesity is a critical public health concern in America. It is a threat to the health and well-being of the affected due to their increased risk for insulin resistance, metabolic disorders, diabetes, psychological disorders, and musculoskeletal disorders. It also predisposes children to early mortality due to its complications. Environmental influences, genetics, lifestyle, and behavioral risks predispose individuals to obesity (Pearce et al., 2019). Over the past decades, American states have implemented a wide range of interventions targeting childhood obesity. They include nutritional counseling, health education on the importance of physical activity, environmental transformation, and provision of screening services to identify those at risk and prevent overweight to obesity (Chawla et al., 2017). Despite the interventions, the prevalence of childhood obesity has been skyrocketing. For example, the rate has risen more than three times in the last four decades, from 5% in 1978 to 18.5% in 2016. Obesity affects more than 14.4 million children and adolescence in the US, as per the statistics of 2019 (CDC, 2021a). A similar reflection can be seen in the adult population, where the prevalence rose from 30.5% in 1999 to 42.4% in 2018 (CDC, 2021b).
The continuous rise in the prevalence of childhood obesity in the US implies that the adopted interventions have been ineffective in addressing the issue. Koletzko et al. (2020) noted that the ineffectiveness partly lies in implementing single interventions that may not address the fundamental factors contributing to childhood obesity. As a result, it is proposed in this paper that integrated multicomponent interventions should be implemented to address childhood obesity in the USA. Multicomponent interventions will address the diverse nature of factors contributing to the problem. Multicomponent integrated interventions have a wide range of focus. They include home environment transformation, school and community-based initiatives, early nutrition practices, and societal standards that reduce obesogenic risk factors (Elvsaas et al., 2017). The focus helps minimize the predisposition of children to risk factors for obesity.
Role of Inter-professional Team
Addressing childhood obesity in the population requires inter-professional team approaches. Healthcare providers should work as
teams in exploring how it can be addressed. Inter-professional teams undertake the collective assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluating the multicomponent interventions to address childhood obesity. They also facilitate a continuum in learning for the stakeholders involved in addressing it (Vlaev et al., 2021). The continuum of learning encourages knowledge integration, flexibility, and maximization of resources to enhance the care outcomes for those with or at risk of obesity. Community partnerships are essential in strengthening the interventions adopted to address childhood obesity. Inter-professional teams leverage community resources to promote sustainable change in addressing childhood obesity. They involve the affected populations and those at risk to empower them by supporting them to focus on their abilities to change their situations and mobilize resources to manage their problems (Gittelsohn et al., 2020). Therefore, inter-professional teams should be incorporated into the care plans to address childhood obesity.
Evidence and Positions Supporting Team’s Approach
Inter-professional teams can use integrated multicomponent interventions to address the rising prevalence of childhood obesity in the USA. According to Koletzko et al., (2020), multicomponent interventions involving multiple stakeholders address population, families, and the societal standards that influence obesity. Multicomponent interventions that target individual lifestyles and behaviors and societal institutions produce sustained improvements in eliminating the risks for childhood obesity. They also empower healthcare stakeholders and communities to mobilize resources to address social determinants of health-related to obesity (Pearce et al., 2019). The empowerment ensures the active involvement of the community stakeholders in exploring the optimization of the limited resources to address the problem.
Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of multicomponent interventions in addressing obesity in diverse populations (Chawla et al., 2017; Duncan et al., 2020; Elvsaas et al., 2017; Vlaev et al., 2021). Chawla et al., (2017) found that multicomponent interventions led to a higher reduction in overweight individuals, improved healthy practices, and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the treatment group compared to the control group. Elvsaas et al., (2017) demonstrated that multicomponent interventions led to a significant difference in the body mass index Z scores in the intervention than the control group at six, 12, and 24 months. Duncan et al., (2020) and Vlaev et al., (2021) reported closely related findings in their studies where multicomponent interventions promoted continued weight loss and management and reduction in participant engagement in sedentary lifestyles and behaviors. Therefore, evidence-based data support integrated, multicomponent interventions in reducing the prevalence rate of childhood obesity.
Contrary Evidence and Support
A minority group may oppose using multicomponent interventions by inter-professional teams to address childhood obesity. Their opposition may be attributed to the complexity of implementing, monitoring, and evaluating multicomponent interventions. Gittelsohn et al., (2019) assert that the inter-professional teams often experience the challenge of determining the levels and ways of intervening to improve the strength and effectiveness of multicomponent interventions. The need for addressing multiple components simultaneously makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the individual interventions used for childhood obesity (Gittelsohn et al., 2019). The successful implementation of multicomponent interventions also depends mainly on community-based partnerships, leadership, and adequate resources, which may be challenging to achieve, affecting its use in this context (Gittelsohn et al., 2020). Therefore, in addressing the above potential sources of resistance to the proposed position, interventions such as active engagement of the communities, optimizing the use of limited resources, and strengthening multicomponent interventions will be explored.
Initial Viewpoint
The childhood obesity rate in America continues rising steadily due to single interventions to address it. Single interventions often fail to address the multiple factors contributing to childhood obesity. As a result, integrated, multicomponent interventions should be considered to address the issue. Integrated multicomponent interventions have been shown to empower the affected populations and those at risk to adopt sustainable changes against childhood obesity. The interventions also address the extensive nature of obesogenic factors in diverse populations. Therefore, the American government and agencies related to health should consider implementing integrated multicomponent interventions.
Conclusion
Overall, addressing childhood obesity is a critical focus in the US due to its associated disease burden and effect on the quality of life of the affected populations. Multicomponent interventions promise to reduce the rising prevalence of childhood obesity. The interventions address multiple factors that contribute to childhood obesity in the population. Therefore, policy initiatives that support the proposal should be considered.
References
CDC. (2021a, November 12). Childhood Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
CDC. (2021b, November 12). Obesity is a Common, Serious, and Costly Disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
Chawla, N., Panza, A., Sirikulchayanonta, C., Kumar, R., & Taneepanichskul, S. (2017). Effectiveness Of A School-Based Multicomponent Intervention On Nutritional Status Among Primary School Children In Bangkok, Thailand. Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad : JAMC, 29, 13–20.
Duncan, M. J., Fenton, S., Brown, W. J., Collins, C. E., Glozier, N., Kolt, G. S., Holliday, E. G., Morgan, P. J., Murawski, B., Plotnikoff, R. C., Rayward, A. T., Stamatakis, E., Vandelanotte, C., & Burrows, T. L. (2020). Efficacy of a Multi-component m-Health Weight-loss Intervention in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Randomised Controlled Trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6200. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176200
Elvsaas, I. K. Ø., Giske, L., Fure, B., & Juvet, L. K. (2017). Multicomponent Lifestyle Interventions for Treating Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses. Journal of Obesity, 2017, 5021902. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5021902
Gittelsohn, J., Jock, B., Poirier, L., Wensel, C., Pardilla, M., Fleischhacker, S., Bleich, S., Swartz, J., & Trude, A. C. B. (2020). Implementation of a multilevel, multicomponent intervention for obesity control in Native American communities (OPREVENT2): Challenges and lessons learned. Health Education Research, 35(3), 228–242. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyaa012
Gittelsohn, J., Novotny, R., Trude, A. C. B., Butel, J., & Mikkelsen, B. E. (2019). Challenges and Lessons Learned from Multi-Level Multi-Component Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Childhood Obesity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010030
Koletzko, B., Fishbein, M., Lee, W. S., Moreno, L., Mouane, N., Mouzaki, M., & Verduci, E. (2020). Prevention of Childhood Obesity: A Position Paper of the Global Federation of International Societies of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (FISPGHAN). Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 70(5), 702–710. https://doi.org/10.1097/MPG.0000000000002708
Pearce, C., Rychetnik, L., Wutzke, S., & Wilson, A. (2019). Obesity prevention and the role of hospital and community-based health services: A scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 453. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4262-3
Vlaev, I., Taylor, M. J., Taylor, D., Gately, P., Gunn, L. H., Abeles, A., Kerkadi, A., Lothian, J., Jreige, S. K., Alsaadi, A., Al-Kuwari, M. G., Ghuloum, S., Al-Kuwari, H., Darzi, A., & Ahmedna, M. (2021). Testing a multicomponent lifestyle intervention for combatting childhood obesity. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 824. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10838-1