Adolescent Obesity Epidemic

Heather Culligan, RN; Marti Scarborough, RN; Gwen Webb, RN

Auburn University Montgomery

The Case StudyAs parents, who are also nurses, of daughters who attend a local middle school, you are concerned when you hear your children talk about how fat some of the students are getting. You are aware that the school offers few gym classes and there are numerous vending machines in the school. As

nurses who are concerned about the impact of childhood obesity, you don’t know where to start. You want to get some evidence about what works and at what cost in order to prepare for a school board meeting where this topic will be addressed.

The Focused QuestionWhat is the highest level of evidence available to determine whether a population with an

increasing rate of obesity exhibiting poor eating habits and lack of exercise in middle school-age adolescents benefits more from improved physical education classes and availability of

healthier snacks as compared to the implementation of an on campus wellness nurse to improve the prevention of new cases of obesity?

Relevant Evidence

• Body composition monitoring after a period of active intervention can be an effective approach to reducing BMI (Coppins et al, 2011).

• Schools and teachers play a key role in preventing and reversing childhood obesity (Association for Childhood Education International, 2009).

• Experts recommend 60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily for children and adolescents (Quinn, 2013).

• Students prefer an exercise program that involves other teenagers and takes place at school (Wilson, 2007).

• An intervention utilizing video gaming during physical education class was an effective way to increase adolescent activity to decrease obesity and encourage positive behaviors at home (Quinn, 2013).

Actions

o Implement a collaborative approach utilizing increased activity, better dietary choices, and more education.

o Implement more “teen friendly” activities in PE.

o Provide healthier snack choices in vending machines and at after school events.

o The school nurse will provide monthly health education topics for students and teachers.

o Provide education pamphlets for the students to take home.

Evaluation

• Student BMI will be assessed at the beginning, midterm, and conclusion of each school year.

• Surveys will be provided to students and parents at the same times during the school year for comments and suggestions.

Children in Gym class exercising on a Wii.

Children’s BMI chart

ReferencesAssociation for Childhood Education International. (2009). Childhood

obesity and testing: What teachers can do. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/childhood-obesity-testing-what-teachers-can-do.

Coppins, D. F., Margetts, B. M., Fa, J. L., Brown, M., Garrett, F., & Huelin, S. (2011). Effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary family-based programme for treating childhood obesity (the Family Project). European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 65(8), 903-909. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.43

Quinn, M. (2013). Introduction of active video gaming into the middle school curriculum as a school-based childhood obesity intervention. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 27(1), 3-12. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2011.03.011

Wilson, L. (2007). Adolescents' attitudes about obesity and what they want in obesity prevention programs. Journal of School Nursing, 23(4), 229-238. doi: 10.1177/10598405070230040801