Childhood Obesity Assignment, Research Paper Example

Description of EBP Guideline

The evidence-based practice guideline chosen for this article was the Treatment of Childhood Overweight and Obesity (Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium, 2010). This guideline was created with the intention to focus on the evaluation, prevention, management, and risk assessment of children who are at risk for overweight and obesity. The target population for this guideline is listed as children ages 2 and older who have a body mass index of ? 85^th percentile, ? 85^th to 94^th percentile without any concurrent risk factors, ? 85^th to 94^th percentile with concurrent risk factors, and ? 95^th percentile with or without concurrent risk factors associated (Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium, 2010).

The purpose of this EBP guideline is to gain significant improvements in the treatment of childhood overweight and obesity through the use of various evidence-based guidelines currently instated in clinical practice and to implement appropriate guidelines that are more focused on the management of key components of issues that will improve outcomes in this subject area (Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium, 2010). This will be achieved through a joint effort on the part of physicians and other health care professionals who will develop and implement clinical practice measures and monitor the success of these measures to use them as deemed appropriate for the interventions of childhood overweight and obesity. Through this partnership, Michigan health partnerships will achieve the successful delivery of evidence-based services and positive health improvements (Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium, 2010).

Purpose of the Quantitative Study and Relevance to EBP Guideline

The purpose of the quantitative study chosen was to investigate the various differences between children who were 2 through 5 years old and participants in the Texas WIC program as to whether or not participation in this program caused their overweight problems to continue or be resolved. The information gained will be helpful in the development of interventions to further assist with overweight issues in children of all ages. The purpose of this article’s relevance to the EBP guideline is to examine the differences between the children who participated in the WIC program and remained overweight and the children who participated in the WIC program and became healthier as a result of the nutritional implications of the program. This would correlate as to whether or not the government funded program was proving effective in its delivery of services while assisting in the wellbeing of children’s health.

Researchability of the Study’s Questions or Problems

There are no clearly stated research questions or hypotheses other than the overall objectives of the study. However, the objective is clear. The title of the study, Factors Involved in the Persistence of Overweight Among Children Enrolled in the Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010), clearly reflects the research objective although there is no clear cut question asked. It is already known that the prevalence of those who are overweight has significantly increased over a short time period (Troiano & Flegal, 1998). Also, if a child has a higher body mass index at a younger age, there is a greater chance that he will grow into an overweight or obese adult unless measures are taken early on to prevent this from happening (Heath, Pratt, Warren, & Kann, 1994). Furthermore, family behaviors play a significant role in the severity of overweight in children and others living in the home (Ogden, et al., 1997).

Adequacy and Relevance of the Literature Review

The literature summarized in the article is relevant to the problem because the author states right away that overweight amongst preschool age children is a problem of epidemic proportions in the United States (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). The prevalence of this problem among children in low income families has increased from 11% to 13.2% in the course of a six year time frame. There is cause for concern because of the short term and long term medical consequences that will be suffered due to having an increased BMI. Also, the psychological ramifications with being overweight will carry over into adolescence and possibly adulthood due to stigmas that are associated with being ‘fat’ (Heath, Pratt, Warren, & Kann, 1994). It is because of these reasons that treatment for overweight children should start as early as possible and the WIC program has the greatest potential to reach individuals because it is used in a significant number of households throughout the United States.

This review is logically organized and complete because it entails the problems with the physical conditions associated with being overweight in the United States. There are numbers and statistics indicating a significant increase in a short amount of time, thus justifying the necessity of conducting such a study. There are also psychological factors explained that will be consequential in the lives of many adolescents and adults should they have no intervention at all offered and continue on the weight gain pattern that is progressing currently in their lives.

There are appropriate references used with dates that correlate to the dates in the study to be conducted. The topics are on the subject material as well and most are primary sources of information. Several are gathered from reports and government agencies. The review supports the objective for the study as explained in the beginning of this paper, although there are no hypotheses or specific questions stated.

Agreement between Purpose, Design, and Methods

The study design is identified through the reading as a logistic regression analysis, but is not specifically stated in the article. The Pearson coefficient determine for statistical significance is 0.7, which is acceptable for this type of quantitative testing. The design for this study is appropriate for answering the objective of the study and the yes/no format of the questions will provide a clear cut answer for participants to choose as options in the survey (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). The only extraneous variables would be the amount of time since participants had enrolled in the program, the question of whether or not someone understood the concept of the study questions, and the length of consecutive time participants had been receiving WIC assistance.

The details pertaining to data collection procedures are clear. The data was collected by participants who were selected randomly and completed a survey upon the presentation of an invitation card at their WIC facility (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). The procedure is also practical because the researchers could train the administrators at the WIC facility to administer the survey and the participants did not have to report to a second location, thus making this a more efficient means in which to gather data.

The instruments used to measure the analysis was a survey consisting of questions relating to demographics, feeding practices, lifestyle behaviors, current eating habits, and also WIC nutritional education questions. The questions were valid and reliable because they encompassed all scopes of the eating spectrum, the lifestyle spectrum, ensured all demographic information was collected, attempted to gather as much information as possible about current eating patterns, and offered an opportunity to gather information as to whether participants understood nutrition and its importance in order to pass that along to their children (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010).

Suitability of the Sampling Procedure and the Sample

The sample was a randomly selected sample from a group of children that had their weight-for-height z scores calculated during their WIC certification visits. They were divided into two groups, the parents and guardians of children who were overweight and had persisted with this problem. The second group was the parents and guardians of children who were overweight and the problem had resolved (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). Children with other health risks were excluded in the study. This is one way to avoid bias. The sample size was adequate at 1000 and the descriptive characteristics were inclusive of almost half of the children in the demographic of the area, most of who were already enrolled in the WIC program. No subject losses from mortality were mentioned, so it is safe to assume none were lost. The protection of study subjects was provided through informed consent and approved by the IRB at Texas Tech University and the Texas Department of Health (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010).

Correctness of Analytic Procedures

The statistical analysis for this study was performed using a comparison between the information provided by parents of children who were persistently overweight and the information provided by parents of children who were not persistently overweight (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). Analysis was made via the chi-square testing method and raw data was then calculated for P-value determination to deem statistical significance. These procedures were sufficient to answer the main objective of the study and were appropriate to the level of measurement because chi-square is used to test the difference between two variables; hence, the two variables incurred in this case were the children remaining overweight and those who became healthier (Obeidat, Shriver, & Roman-Shriver, 2010). The level of probability was 0.7, which is a little high, thus allowing for more error, but still valid and considered reliable.

Clarity of Findings

No significant differences were reported in early feeding habits between the two groups. A higher percentage of children lived with an adult who participated in physical activity with them (these were in the non-persistently overweight group) and thus might account for their ability to lose weight. More children in the persistently overweight group ate between meals than in the non-persistently overweight group. No other significant findings concerning overweight and nutrition were made regarding the two groups.

There is a chart listing each question and the appropriate group’s respective percentage so all results are able to be seen clearly in case a single question is sought out by an individual or group. These conclusions and implications are important for more than this demographic population because they concern children and overweight issues, which are epidemic to the nation today. It is a problem that is only becoming worse and this study is one step in helping to understand how to counteract the problem. Limitations of the study are delineated as to the fact the researchers were not aware of how long participants had been enrolled in WIC, thus it was not made known as to how helpful this program is concerning nutritional education. The results do provide support for the EBP guidelines because if information is gathered as to what findings are discovered from this study, the information may be utilized to implement practices such as more educational methods or informational tools that may help WIC participants with things such as the importance of exercise and diet modification. This will be helpful as the children grow and progress into adolescence, especially since the psychological ramifications of overweight have been determined to make a difference in the long term.

References

Heath, G., Pratt, M., Warren, C., & Kann, L. (1994). Physical activity patterns in American high school students. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 148, 1131-1136.

Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium. (2010). Treatment of childhood overweight and obesity. Southfield: Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium.

Obeidat, B., Shriver, B., & Roman-Shriver, C. (2010). Factors involved in the persistence of overweight among children enrolled in the supplemental food program for women, infants, and children. Maternal Child Health Journal, 14, 164-173.

Ogden, C., Troiano, R., Briefel, R., Kuczmarski, R., Flegal, K., & Johnson, C. (1997). Prevalence of overweight among preschool children in the United States, 1971 through 1994. Pediatrics, 99, e1.

Troiano, R., & Flegal, K. (1998). Overweight children and adolescents: Description, epidemiology, and demographics. Pediatrics, 101(3), 497-504.