Assessing Research Studies On Child Obesity: Research Paper Examples

Child Obesity and Prevention Through Community Involvement in Schools

[Student’s Complete Name]
Obesity is one of the most prevalent public health problems in the United States and even worldwide (Dehghan et al., 2005; Hoelscher, 2010). One of the primary reasons why cases of obesity have been constantly on the rise is because of the deteriorating lifestyle of many American children. As a matter of fact, obesity has become epidemic in some developed countries, and in the United States, 25% are obese and 11% are overweight (Dehghan, 2005). There have been many interventions created to reduce the number of obesity cases such as programs that points toward changing the lifestyle of children particularly in terms of their eating habits and physical activities. However, this has not been clearly and richly adapted in many countries around the world as most of the preventive measures are only seeking to change lifestyles on diet and exercise but there is very little attention bent on built environment, physical activity, and diet, including behaviours toward television viewing (Dehghan, 2005).
There are many intervention approaches that have already been conducted in some parts of the United States owing to the belief that the intervention and prevention of child obesity should happen in schools because children spend most of their time at schools (Hoelscher et al., 2010). According to a study conducted by Hoelscher et al. (2010), in the Travis County, there is a collective effort to introduce the so called Coordinated Approach to Child Health Basic Plus (CATCH BP), in which “schools were provided with evidence-based coordinated school health program training, materials, and facilitator support visits” and together with CATCH BP and Community, schools are receiving additional promotions that allow community partnerships that has an aim to of joining together the members of the community as well as the organizations into “schools, local decision making and action, and best practices workshops” (Hoelscher, 2010).
The research findings have been found to be very positive towards the implementation of community development programs such as CATCH BP in order to prevent and reduce the number of obesity cases among children in the United States. It has been found that children who were put under the CATCH BP program were seen to have reduced in weight. This has been positively attributed to “changes in self-reported dietary intake and activity. It was also initially found by Dehghan et al. (2005) that preventive measures bending on changing habits on diet and exercise are indeed not effective as this will only allow children to crave for more as food deprivation is one of the main causes of the desire to eat more. Moreover, school based obesity programs that include built environment; physical activity, television viewing, and reduced food intake are instrumental to the reduction of weights among children put under the CATCH BP program and the community development programs aiming to get rid of obesity.
Nevertheless, it has been made clear by Hoelscher et al. (2010) that the reduction in size of obese students was not automatically attributed to physical activity but also in the reduction of unhealthy eating and sedentary activities. In effect, community developments are indeed contributing factors that help reduce the number of obesity cases in the United States, particularly among children.

References

Dehghan, M., Akhtar-Danesh, N., & Merchant, A. (2005). Childhood obesity, prevalence,
And prevention. Nutrition Journal, 4(24). Retrieved from: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-4-24.pdf
Hoelscher, D.M. et al. (2010). Reductions in child obesity among disadvantaged school
children with community involvement: The Travis county CATCH trial. Obesity
First Source: Hoelscher et al. (2010). Reductions in child obesity among disadvantaged school children with community involvement: The Travis county CATCH trial.
Research Question: Does community involvement decrease the number of child obesity cases?
The research question emerged from the review of literature after it has been found through related studies that childhood obesity is an important public health issue in the United States and worldwide. It was also found that schools are ideal location for preventing obesity because children attend schools and many schools, especially public ones, support feeding and fitness programs through serving foods and providing fitness facilities like gyms and playing grounds through a Coordinated Approach To Child Health BasicPlus (CATCH BP) . The CATCH BP program will provide schools with knowledge tools on how to implement obesity prevention in their respective areas. And through the latest findings, it was found out that as efforts toward providing food and fitness support for school children increased, the number of child obesity cases decreased.
Independent Variables: CATCH BP and CATCH BPC
Dependent Variables: Number of Obesity Cases
1. The study is quantitative using cross sectional samples of 4th grade students from the first 2 years of the intervention. 2. Sample Size: Cross-sectional sample of 4th grade student participants3. Method of sample selection: Cross-sectional sample selection. 4. Experimental Group: food intake; Control Group: History of other diseases. 5. SOFIT method which uses direct observation according to momentary time sampling to acquire a simultaneous measure of student’s physical activity level.
Analysis: Reduction in size of obese students was not automatically attributed to physical activity but also in the reduction of unhealthy eating and sedentary activities.
The researchers were able to answer the research question. Prior to the launch of the CATCH BP program, the number of obesity cases in Travis County was staggeringly high and it only reduced significantly after the CATCH BP was implemented wherein schools were given knowledge tools on how to implement physical activities and healthy eating among its 4th grade students.
One thing that is quite disinteresting about the article is that it does not touch more extraneous variables such as the possibility that kids may have gone obese or reduced size in acceleration because of other factors such as history of other serious diseases or household conditions.
Second Article: Dehghan et al. (2005). Childhood obesity, prevalence and prevention.
Research Question: Are schools ideal target to which preventive measures against obesity may be carried out?
The research question emerged from the review of literature from a perspective that the normal intervention to battle against obesity is to change lifestyle of children in terms of diet and exercise but this has proven to be ineffective. The article stresses the importance of prevention, which should be done first in schools because children spend most of their time in schools.
Independent Variables: Preventive measures in terms of built environment, physical activity, minimizing TV watching, and food sector.
Dependent Variables: The weight of school children.
The study is qualitative, using existing data on the prevalence of overweight and obese children in some developed countries.
The major part of the article is mostly a review of existing studies. Indeed, the article has concluded that prevention, both primary and secondary, is key plan to controlling the obesity epidemic. The intervention, according to the research, should be done at home, in school, and after school services. Just like the first article, the study did not touch on extraneous variables such as health related problems like history of other diseases.