Obesity as a public health issue

Nursing

Obesity is defined by the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) as people having a bodyweight or a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30kg/m². However, it is classified as a grave public health threat that is even more dangerous than the opioid epidemic. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has illustrated Obesity to be a national epidemic that maximizes the risk of a person contracting High blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, depression, arthritis, sleep apnoea, and breathing problems, high cholesterol levels, stroke, type 2 Diabetes and anxiety (Rosenthal et al., 2017). The estimated figures show that 34% of adults and 15-20% of children in the US having Obesity. As a result, Obesity is classified to be a major cause of death in the US.

Problem Statement

Obesity in the US has become a significant challenge in the health sector. In collaboration with NHANES, CDC performed research and reported that over one-third, equivalent to 34.9% or 78.6% of the American population, have Obesity (Rosenthal et al., 2017). The report indicated that obesity rates did not increase in some US sub-populations but would increase to maximum levels overtime. Moreover, cases of Obesity in children are alarming. In the past 25 years, the rate of Obesity in children had risen from 6% to 19%.

Population Interest

Obesity affects both adults and children. The NHANES elaborates that between 2009-2018, approximately 69% of the adults were obese or overweight. The agency also found that more than 78 million adult Americans were obese (Cominato et al., 2018). Not only adults but children were also affected by Obesity. Statistics show that childhood obesity doubled on children under the bracket of 2 to 5 years in the past decade. Moreover, for the children between the ages of 6 and 11, the rate of Obesity tripled, and those aged 12 to 19 were much higher.

The Role of Community Nurse

To manage and prevent Obesity, advocacy is essential at the policy level in the US. However, in the community-based and health care setting, community health nurses are better positioned to advocate for families, communities, and individuals in implementing evidence-based activities that aim to minimize excessive weight gain and Obesity. Furthermore, the community health nurse can advocate at schools, public policy levels, and the local community. Moreover, the nurse identifies the attitude and the main concerns of the American population towards Obesity. The nurses conduct a comprehensive study on the incidences of Obesity, causes, and the health care cost of Obesity in the US. The other key role of nurses is providing related information about obesity management to individuals (Cominato et al., 2018). Lastly, the nurses are excellent in teaching young people about physical exercise and nutrition as techniques to keep the body fit.

Risk Factors for Maria's Family Cardiovascular Disease, Social Determinants of Health and Behaviour Change Models

Maria's father is suffering from cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Her mother is overweight and high blood levels. Diabetes and high blood pressure are classified as some of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. These risk factors can be categorized into two parts. Firstly, it is about the major risk factors. They consist of smoking, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, Obesity and overweight, and hypertension (Cominato et al., 2018). Secondly, it is a contributing factor. They include alcohol, sex hormones, and stress.  Conversely, social determinants of health mainly affect people suffering from cardiovascular disease. They include culture, availability of resources to meet daily needs, social norms and attitudes, socioeconomic conditions, and access to health care services. Physical determinants include natural and built environments. Lastly, the behaviour model that can be applied in this case is the health belief model. The model emphasizes how severe the illness is and the challenges encountered in achieving health promotion.

The CDC Data about Obesity in Children, Adults and Community Nursing Intervention

From 2017 to 2019, the number of adults with Obesity was 42.4%. The comparison of Obesity between 1999-2000 through 2017-2018 increased from 30.5% to 42.4% and 4.7% to 9.2% (Caballero et al., 2017). The conditions that triggered the prevalence of Obesity were stroke, cancer heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Moreover, the CDC reported that children and adolescents at the age of 2-19 years, the rate of Obesity was 18.5%. The total number of children and adolescents was 13.7 million. On children aged 2 to 5 years, the rate of Obesity was 13.9%, 18.4 on children aged between 6 to 11 years and finally, 20.6% on children between the age of 12 to 19 years old (Caballero et al., 2017). Community nursing interventions are crucial for health education, promoting physical activity, healthier diets, counselling, and changes in familial, cultural, and social environments that address the broader determinants of Obesity.

Nonetheless, there are programs created by public and private organizations that evaluate strategies to be used for measuring policies, systems, and environmental change in community-level obesity prevention initiatives (Conway et al., 2018). For instance, the Kaiser Community health initiative. This program's ultimate objective is to assess the impact of Obesity among the target population. The findings are then presented to the relevant federal agencies and research bureaus for further scrutiny. Finally, I would adopt social marketing strategies to change the behaviour and cultural norms or community standards to improve society's health. I would adopt the resources like social media marketing tools. They include Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Conclusion

Indeed, Obesity is one of the leading causes of death in the US. To curb this disease, community health nurses should ensure awareness and advocacy of Obesity to the citizens. Moreover, it affects every segment of the US population. It increases the risk of children and adults contracting chronic diseases.

                                                   References

Rosenthal, R. J., Morton, J., Brethauer, S., Mattar, S., De Maria, E., Benz, J. K., ... & Sterrett, D. (2017). Obesity in America. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 13(10), 1643-1650.

Cominato, L., Di Biagio, G. F., Lellis, D., Franco, R. R., Mancini, M. C., & de Melo, M. E. (2018). Obesity prevention: strategies and challenges in Latin America. Current obesity reports, 7(2), 97-104.

Caballero, B., Vorkoper, S., Anand, N., & Rivera, J. A. (2017). Preventing childhood obesity in Latin America: an agenda for regional research and strategic partnerships. Obesity Reviews, 18, 3-6.

Conway, B. N., Han, X., Munro, H. M., Gross, A. L., Shu, X. O., Hargreaves, M. K., ... & Blot, W. J. (2018). The obesity epidemic and rising diabetes incidence in a low-income racially diverse southern US cohort. PloS one, 13(1), e0190993.

 

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