Browsing by Subject "Childhood obesity"
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Item Agreement between Health Care Providers and Parents about Causes and Treatments of Childhood Obesity(2011-08) Villarreal, Rocio I.; Borrego, Joaquin P.; Cohen, Lee M.; Harter, Stephanie; Hendrick, Susan S.The present study examined factors that health care (medical and mental) providers and parents attributed to causing pediatric obesity. The study also examined health care providers’ recommendations and parents’ perceived helpfulness of various weight management techniques. Finally, the study evaluated the acceptability of various weight management treatments for a hypothetical overweight child with and without psychosocial problems. A total of 50 medical health care providers, 65 mental health care providers, and 64 parents participated in the study. As hypothesized, health care providers attributed childhood obesity to familial factors more than parents. Contrary to what was hypothesized, parents rated environmental factors as contributing to childhood obesity less than health care providers. No significant differences were found between medical and mental health care providers’ recommendation of specific behavior-only and cognitive-behavioral techniques, and parents did not rate specific behavior-only techniques as more helpful than cognitive-behavioral techniques. When rating the acceptability of overall treatments, as hypothesized, medical providers and parents rated behavior-only treatments as more acceptable than cognitive-behavioral treatments. Also as hypothesized, mental health providers rated the cognitive-behavioral treatment as more acceptable than the cognitive-only treatment for the overweight-only child, but no support was found for the hypothesis that mental health providers would rate the cognitive-behavioral treatment as more acceptable than the behavior-only treatment for the overweight child with psychosocial problems. Findings provide support for the acceptability of behavioral treatments for childhood obesity and offer useful information that may improve treatment adherence and aid in the selection of treatment goals and procedures for obesity interventions with children and families. Theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications along with suggestions for future research are also discussed.Item Chronic stress and obesity in children(2011-08) Ferran Alexander, Mari-Ann; Horner, Sharon D.; Brown, Adama; Delville, Yvon; Fredland, Nina; Kintner, EileenChildhood obesity has been prevalent for a number of years despite programs designed to educate children and families on healthy diets and activities. Multiple disciplines have reported chronic stress can interfere with normal neuroendocrine functions in the body which include energy balance. Research into alternate mechanisms contributing to childhood obesity is just beginning to include psychosocial factors’ and their influence on biology. Healthy coping strategies can reduce the effects of stress and influence perceptions of what is stressful. Warm, secure relationships with parents, family connectedness, and a secure stable environment all contribute to the buffering of chronic stress as well as promote the ability to cope with stress. Through the years, changes in the family environment through divorce, single parenthood, and cohabitation may play a role in the child’s ability to cope with stress. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore relationships between the child’s perceptions of chronic stress, coping strategies, family connectedness, family characteristics, and weight in 4th and 5th grade children. This study used a cross sectional and correlational design. The conceptual framework guiding this study was the Bio-Psycho-Social Model for Health integrating the three dimensions (biological, psychological, and sociological) as they relate to obesity in children. Well established instruments were used to measure chronic stress, coping, family connectedness, and weight. Results did not reveal a relationship between chronic stress and children’s weights. The ‘frequency the family sat down to eat dinner together’ was significantly related to weight: the more dinners together the lower the body mass indices and accounted for 14.7% variance in children’s body mass indices. Frequency of family meals was also correlated with the frequency of cooking dinner and negative trending of both ‘frequency’ and ‘helpfulness’ of coping strategies: possibly suggesting less need for the coping strategies. Parents’ education was positively correlated with more sleep on school nights for children. The findings suggest the importance of family time together is related to lower body mass indices in children.Item Combatting childhood obesity in zip code 78745 through opportunities for free physical activity(2014-12) Nolley, Rachel Hood; McCray, Talia M.The worldwide obesity epidemic is cause for alarm because of its link to major, life threatening diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Not only adults, but also children, are suffering from increasing rates of overweight and obesity. This is a matter of serious concern not just because of the specific diseases that are affecting growing numbers of children, but also because overweight and obesity in childhood greatly increase the likelihood that those children will be obese as adults. The incidence of childhood obesity in Texas is significantly higher than the U.S. average. One of the two Austin, Texas zip codes with the highest rates of childhood obesity is zip code 78745. A coalition of concerned residents, government representatives, nonprofit leaders, and religious activists known as Go Austin!/Vamos Austin! (GAVA) has spearheaded an initiative to combat childhood obesity in the zip code. One of GAVA’s three foci is physical activity. This professional report analyzes the physical activity opportunities for children in 78745 through free, publicly available recreation facilities and green spaces. It identifies those spaces that are closest to the childhood obesity hotspots and recommends actions that can be taken by the city, the school district, nonprofits, area businesses, and local residents to increase physical activity among area children through existing and proposed opportunities.Item Marketing health issues to tweens : recommendations for reaching this demographic more effectively(2011-12) Kelly, Erin Joy; Mackert, Michael; Love, BradThis paper explores public health campaigns as they relate to tweens and their use of technology. After considering how this demographic utilizes both traditional and new media, further examination was done on general health problems that affect this group. Three major health issues were then chosen for analysis. A relevant campaign for each issue was also evaluated, as were its overall marketing and communication efforts. The health problems and corresponding campaigns chosen include childhood obesity and the “Let’s Move” campaign, electronic aggression and the “Stop Bullying” campaign and youth suicide and the “WeCanHelpUs” campaign. From these analyses, recommendations for ways to improve each campaign were provided, as were general conclusions for reaching this demographic more efficiently and effectively.Item The restaurant food environment : defining and distinguishing restaurants and their association with weight status of youth(2015-08) Poulos, Natalie Shepherd; Pasch, Keryn E.; Bartholomew, John; Davis, Jaimie; Loukas, Alexandra; Laska, MelissaChildhood obesity is a top public health priority. Recent obesity prevention efforts have begun to focus on environmental determinants, such as the food environment. Specifically, by focusing on the food environment around schools, research can identify factors within the environment that may be influential for youth. Therefore, this dissertation aimed to 1) create an informed, reliable electronic data collection tool that will appropriately represent restaurants found within the food environment of youth, and 2) determine associations between the restaurant food environment and school-level BMI. Variables included on the electronic data collection tool were created based on survey responses from nutrition experts and a literature review. The tool was tested for inter-rater reliability. Percent agreement between coders ranged from 75 to 100% (m=90.6%), suggesting this tool can be used reliability to code the restaurant food environment near high schools. To examine possible healthfulness and youth-oriented restaurant features that may be associated with obesity among youth, a healthfulness index (HI) and youth-oriented index (YOI) were created based on codes included within the tool. A higher score represented a more healthful or more youth-oriented restaurant, respectfully. ANOVA models were used to examine differences in BMI, HI, and YOI by order location. Unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models were used to test relationships between BMI and each index while controlling for SES. Within a half-mile of 9 high schools, 58 restaurants were documented. The rank order of restaurants was significantly different according to index measures (p=0.03), suggesting restaurants that scored higher on the HI were different than those that scored high on the YOI. Both indices were significantly different according to order location (p<0.01), such that full service and fast causal restaurants had more healthful features and fewer youth-oriented features when compared to fast food restaurants. Index measures were not associated with school-level BMI in unadjusted or adjusted models. Identifying health and youth-oriented features of restaurants is important and may help explain associations of the restaurant food environment and youth weight status. Future research should consider use of this data collection tool to continue to document and identify aspects of the food environment.