Behavioral Pediatric Obesity and Prevention

Words: 557

Subject: Pediatrics

Table of Contents Introduction Main body Conclusion References Introduction Pediatric obesity is an essential issue in the modern world since it affects children of different genders and origins. This phenomenon is crucial now because a significant number of children suffer from a high body mass index (BMI). In this case, the given population is often characterized by decreased physical and psychological peculiarities of their health. While everything is evident with the physical conditions, psychological ones refer to the fact that obese children tend to be in derision among their peers. The situation above is caused by a few reasons, including worsening environmental conditions, lack of physical activity, and others.

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As shown above, these reasons can be either external or internal, but it is impossible to state which of them is more crucial for the given problem. In fact, each of them can lead to weight gain that will result in related health issues, which allows us to conclude that a set of multiple factors cause pediatric obesity. Thus, the given topic is essential for many researchers who try to develop effective programs that will address the issue and improve the health of the population. Main body As has been mentioned above, many intervention programs try to resolve the health problem under consideration from different perspectives. Among them, specific attention should be paid to the study by JaKa et al. (2017). The researchers argue that “physical activity followed by energy intake and fruit and vegetable intake” is one of the best ways to address childhood obesity (JaKa et al., 2017, p. 730). This intervention is based on the idea that it is necessary to deprive the obese population of much free time and make them want to change their lifestyle. In addition to that, other scholars focus on the fact that obesity can be a behavioral problem when children cannot restrain themselves. For example, Kolko et al. (2017) stipulate that such children should take educational courses to become familiar with possible negative consequences of their behavior. In this case, both interactive and Web-based training seems to be effective (Kolko et al., 2017). Thus, the two studies above prove that pediatric obesity can be addressed through multiple aspects, and the most significant issue is to choose an effective program that will result in positive and essential consequences. Conclusion There is no doubt that all possible interventions have various outcomes and address the target population differently. In general, the results are evaluated according to how much a program has affected the target population. On the one hand, the intervention offered by JaKa et al. (2017) can be assessed according to lower BMIs among the participants. In other words, if obese children start losing weight following the program, it is said to be effective. On the other hand, Kolko et al. (2017) base their proposal on knowledge and education, which requires different assessment tools. Thus, the intervention should be evaluated according to how well the target population has acquired that information. Various quizzes or surveys can be used to find it. In addition to that, lower BMIs are said to be supplementary indicators that can prove the feasibility of the program under consideration. In conclusion, one can suppose that the highest effectiveness can be achieved when two or more different strategies are combined. In this case, the problem will be affected from different perspectives, which will improve possible results. References JaKa, M. M., French, S. A., Wolfson, J., Jeffery, R. W., Lorencatto, F., Michie, S., … Sherwood, N. (2017). Feasibility of standardized methods to specify behavioral pediatric obesity prevention interventions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 40(5), 730-739.

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Kolko, R. P., Kass, A. E., Hayes, J. F., Levine, M. D., Garbutt, J. M., Proctor, E. K., & Wilfley, D. E. (2017). Provider training to screen and initiate evidence-based pediatric obesity treatment in routine practice settings: A randomized pilot trial. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 31(1), 16-28.