Problem description
Obesity in the recent past became a public health concern globally due to its adverse effects on health. In the last decade, several states in the United States have witnessed a rise in the prevalence of obesity, which has compelled the World Health Organization (WHO, 2012) to include obesity in the world’s list of essential health problems.
For instance, studies indicate near 70 percent of the adults in America ranging between 20 years and above are obese or overweight. Regarding primary prevention of obesity in Evansville, Indiana, there has been an establishment of the obesity prevention program, which focuses on reducing obesity prevalence by reducing the intake of sugar, high calorie, and low nutritious foods. It is also evident according to studies that obesity is on the rise amongst the adults aged between 20 years and above in Evansville city is alarming.
According to Better Policies for A Healthier America report (2017), the adult obesity rate in Indiana State is 32 percent with Evansville city contributing majorly on the growth. The prevalence of obesity in Indiana is higher among the whites’ adults (40%) and other races were represented by remaining percent. Among the cities in Indiana, Evansville was evident to be among the cities with the higher number of obese adults in the state. The area under study is Evansville city, which covers a total area of approximately 123.9 km2.
Concerning the physical and social environment, Evansville city is among the best city to work, live and play. The city is regarded as the hub for commercial, culture and medical hub of Southwestern Indiana. It is situated on an oxbow in the river of Ohio and has several public and private enterprises. The city has Mesker Park zoo and Botanic Garden which is one of the largest zoos and sport tourism industry. The city has numerous institutions of education such as University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library and more. The physical environment of the city enables the residents to acquire knowledge on obesity as well as facilities for physical activities. More so, the city have several entertainment venues such as Bosse Field a baseball stadium, Ford Center used for basketball, hockey and music concerts and many more. The city is also surrounded by parks such as Wessel Park which features a playground, 3 golf course, basketball courts and sandy volleyball courts and municipal parks. This environment provide a ground for physical and social cooperation that can facilitate the reduction of obesity prevalence in the city.
Health Disparity
In the last three decades, Evansville city has witnessed tremendous economic growth, and as a result, nutritional habits and lifestyles of most people have changed. Studies indicate that the changes in dietary and lifestyle habits among the inhabitants of Evansville city have significantly influenced the quality and quantity of food consumed by most people. As a result, it has predisposed most of them into a sedentary lifestyle. For instance, a study conducted by Bhurosy and Jeewon (2014) found that most of them were not engaging in physical activities just like their counterparts in other counties. It is also evident through studies that due to the economic progress of United States, especially those in developed counties, most families own cars and most of them spend most of their time watching television and playing electronic games. Nutritional habits like consuming foods that are high in fats and sugars and a sedentary lifestyle, in combination with genetic and environmental factors are therefore the major causes of obesity and overweight among adults in Evansville city (Powell et al., 2013).
Notably, the obesity prevalence is continuously increasing in Indiana with 30 percent obese adults. Despite the cumulative effort throughout the nation, state and local public health to enhance healthy eating and active living, the prevalence of obesity are still increasing in Evansville city. There have been large health disparities between the adult population including race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, environmental factors and the increasing changes in obesity prevalence (Frederick, Snellman & Putnam, 2014). Besides, the other contributing factor of obesity lack of physical activity, history of the family and inadequate environmental resources which include food deserts and less health care access (Hill et al., 2013).
Based on the state of obesity; Better Policies for A Healthier America report (2017), Evansville one of the city in Indiana State have a high number of people who are not insured. Evansville city is one of the largest cities in the southern part of Indiana with increasing population and continuously changing demographics. The population has grown in size in the last years but there has been an increase in health disparity due to the large number of people who are not insured.
The Obesity Prevention Program is one of the programs, which is working toward making healthier choices for all inhabitants of Evansville wherever they play, live, and work. The program supports and enhances projects that focus mainly reducing obesity. The program has also diversified and support projects that reduce the intake of sugars, high calorie and foods that contain low nutrients. The projects that enhance physical activity increase the initiation and duration of breastfeeding and consumption of fruits, water and vegetables are promoted through the obesity health program.
Primary community and Prevention Resources
The primary community in this study will be obese adults who live in Evansville city, which is in Indiana State. For instance, studies indicate near 70 percent of the adults in America ranging between 20 years and above are obese or overweight. Regarding primary prevention of obesity in Indiana, there has been an establishment of the Obesity Prevention Program, which focuses on reducing obesity prevalence by reducing the intake of sugar, high calorie, and low nutritious foods. It is also evident according to studies that obesity is on the rise amongst the adults aged between 20 years and above in Evansville city, Indiana State is alarming
Seemingly, there are the various factors that cause the prevalence of obesity in the community. Some of the factors include the biological factors, early life, environmental, economics, and behavioral factors. Based on biological factors, people need food to live and bodies have adapted to ensure that the needs are met. When obese people consume food, they burn the energy received from the food slowly. In this regard, the reserved energy contributes to their growth.
The early life is depended majorly on maternal behavior such as the diet and breastfeeding after birth. The breastfed babies scarcely develop the risk of obesity than formula fed babies. The behavior of individuals comprising of the eating and physical activity are the potential trait to influence energy use. With the significant decrease in activity due to lifestyle changes that involve sitting all day such as long working hours, increase in private transport use and increased use of computers has heightened little motivation for health-related behaviors. The lifestyle changes have contributed to the increase in obesity.
Additionally, environmental factors determine intake of energy and the physical activity done by an individual. The modern society in Evansville city is contributing to the prevalence of obesity. Modern surrounding hinder people from adopting healthy lifestyle because environmental factors play a major role in consumption and physical activities people engage in (Powell et al., 2013). Advancement in technology such as cars, television, and computers have engineered decline of physical efforts in our lives and eventually leading to the prevalence of obesity.
The evidence-based practice associated with the reduction of obesity according to the obesity prevention program includes involving changes in lifestyle. The lifestyle changes include conducting physical activity on a regular basis, having good healthy food choices and portion control. This must be adopted regardless the approach used in losing weight. The obese patients should work in various disciplines including the health provider and professionals in nutrition, behavioral intervention, and exercise to ensure that all is working. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted in the Indiana state as a whole, 43.1 percent of adults conducted the aerobic physical activity (Ogden et al., 2012). Out of the 43.1 percent, 27.3 percent of adults in Evansville reported having not participated in the physical activity.
Underlying causes
The main aim of the campaign will involve sensitization of adults in Evansville on how to observe health lifestyles to reduce the prevalence of obesity through physical activity and behavioral change by April 2018 using a mobile app of healthy exercises and other technology to promote adult participation in the program. This will facilitate reduction of obesity in adults by 15 % in the first year and double up in the subsequent years.
The data for the study was identified from the US census bureau (2012). The adult obesity rate is 30 percent in Indiana and Evansville had 38 percent of the total obese in adult in Indiana. Evansville city is one of the largest cities in the southern part of Indiana with increasing population and continuously changing demographics. The population has grown in size in the last years but there has been an increase in health disparity due to the large number of people who are not insured.
Collaborating with an information technology expert to develop various YouTube videos on health physical exercises that could be linked to the mobile app for knowledge on how the physical activities are done to reduce the obesity prevalence.
Creating YouTube videos that show physical activities exercise will encourage the adults to start participating in physical activities, which could reduce obesity prevalence in Evansville.
YouTube and the mobile app will be the appropriate social media platform used. The YouTube video will help adults with obesity to integrate what was learned in their daily lives.
YouTube videos generate and promote online discussion, which will encourage learners to add their personal insights about the video watched. The videos posted on You Tube capture attention of the learners, are eventually attracted to what they have seen, and want to practice it further. YouTube are ideal for mobile learning and has high traffic volumes and thus, many people can view the videos. The learners can readily access and view it.
The benefits of the mobile app are that it is readily accessible and give a constant reminder of what you are supposed to do. The mobile app also increases learner’s engagement in learning some basics of reducing obesity.
The adults in Evansville city will benefit from the obesity prevention message because the message encourages them to perform physical activity regularly to curb obesity prevalence.
The use of the mobile app and YouTube is among the best options in disseminating information. Apart from listening to the messages, the adults can also see what is being done in regard to the physical activities that contribute to weight loss. The media is available on mobile phones and can be accessed at any time at any place. The social media are effective because they can reach many people over a short time.
For the effective media campaign on obesity, I would first meet with an information technology expert who will devise a mobile phone app with links from YouTube to enhance dissemination of information through social media. Secondly, I will meet with the health professionals in Evansville city including the nutritionists who will guide me through the various foods recommended for the losing excess weight combined with physical activity. The exercise expert will direct us on the effective exercise done during the start until someone loses weight and nurses will provide the procedure of coming up with the social media campaign.
For a better social media campaign, I will partner with the local community, which will involve the adults that will provide significant information on obesity. Secondly, the local health care will be involved with the main aim of providing funding and referral to the campaign. This will substantiate faster dissemination of information on the use physical activity in the reduction of obesity in adults.
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Time |
Tasks |
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Week one |
Attend a meeting with the local health provider to introduce the idea of the app with the administration. |
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Week two |
Meeting with the information technology expert on developing you tube videos that can be linked on mobile app |
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Week three |
Having a consultative meeting with nutritionists on the specific foods to be consumed by the obese adults during the exercise |
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Week four |
Meeting with an exercise expert to give direction on specific exercise to be conducted at each stage |
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Week five |
Actual implementation of the social media campaign |
After a period of three months or six months, we will conduct a re-survey using a similar procedure with some adjustments on questions used during the previous interview. After receiving the information, it will be analyzed and the trends compared. This will give an overview of the campaign used to help achieve the objective of reducing obesity through physical activity and diet.
The measurable tools that will be used to determine the success of the objective will be comparing the pre-campaign statistics with the post-survey statistics. Any improvement between the surveys will indicate the success of the objective.
The cost for the campaign includes salaries for the time spent on planning, implementation, and evaluation of the campaign. To be precise, time spent on meetings, surveys, and administration of social media content contributed to the cost of implementation of the campaign.
Through the continuous encounter with the YouTube videos channeled via the mobile app, the adults in the community affected by obesity will develop an insight and start doing the exercises and consequently promoting a healthy population.
Social media campaign is important on the future practice of nurses. The social media campaign can be used in future to disseminate information and create awareness of various health events in future. The campaign will be used as a reference for future health promotions. Hoping that it will bring the basis of comparison on how physical activity has worked on obesity-affected individuals. The campaign will expand the influence through linking the YouTube video to the Facebook pages and Twitter. By so doing each person on either of the media will readily access the information on health and influence the nursing profession in general.
References
Bhurosy, T., & Jeewon, R. (2014). Overweight and obesity epidemic in developing countries: a problem with diet, physical activity, or socioeconomic status? The Scientific World Journal, 2014.
Frederick, C. B., Snellman, K., & Putnam, R. D. (2014). Increasing socioeconomic disparities in adolescent obesity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(4), 1338-1342.
Better Policies for A Healthier America report (2017),: the distribution of obesity in Indiana state (No 345) health behavior dataset
Hill, J. O., Galloway, J. M., Goley, A., Marrero, D. G., Minners, R., Montgomery, B., … & Aroda, V. R. (2013). Scientific statement: socioecological determinants of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 36(8), 2430-2439.
Liu, Y., Croft, J. B., Wheaton, A. G., Perry, G. S., Chapman, D. P., Strine, T. W., … & Presley-Cantrell, L. (2013). Association between perceived insufficient sleep, frequent mental distress, obesity and chronic diseases among US adults, 2009 behavioral risk factor surveillance system. BMC public health, 13(1), 84.
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2012). Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009-2010 (pp. 1-8). Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
Powell?Wiley, T. M., Ayers, C. R., de Lemos, J. A., Lakoski, S. G., Vega, G. L., Grundy, S., … & Albert, M. A. (2013). Relationship between perceptions about neighborhood environment and prevalent obesity: data from the Dallas Heart Study. Obesity, 21(1).
World Health Organization. (2012). Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic (No. 894). World Health Organization.
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