Assignment on Media Resource in Healthcare

Running head: MEDIA RESOURCE IN HEALTHCARE
MEDIA RESOURCE IN HEALTHCARE: POSTER FOR PARENTS ON SUGAR INTAKE B
CHILDREN
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

MEDIA RESOURCE IN HEALTHCARE1
Introduction
Excessive sugar intake can inflict a range of adverse health effects during childhood and
increase the risk of chronic metabolic disorders during adulthood. This is major cause for
concern especially considering the prevalence of sugary foods and beverages in the current diets
of children in the United Kingdom (UK) (Reale et al. 2018). The following scientific statement
will discuss on the various media resources, evidence based research and media theories which
were considered for the development of a media resource targeting parents of 5 to 11 year old
children.
Discussion
Evidence-based Rationale
Since children are often dependent on parents for a number of their basic needs, parental
role and supervision during this period is imperative to the values a child acquires and continues
to reap during adulthood. Dietary and food selection habits are no different. Parents have been
evidenced to rely extensively on personal consumption as well as offer their children, beverages
and drinks rich in added sugars such as non-alcoholic, sugar sweetened beverages, packaged
juices, biscuits and cookies, namely due to their convenience and desirable taste (Battram et al.
2016). Additionally parents often lack awareness on how the consumption of such foods
contribute to high sugar intake and increased risk of health issues like obesity, diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases in their children. Media has a powerful influence on individuals’ dietary
choices. It is thus imperative to develop evidence based, media resources targeted at enhancing
parental knowledge concerning the harmful effects and importance of limiting sugar intake by
their children (Hasson et al. 2018).

MEDIA RESOURCE IN HEALTHCARE2
Background Audience
In a recent report published by the Guardian (Siddique 2016), it has been evidenced that
children are likely to imitate the dietary and food selection habits reflected by their children. It
was further reported that children in the age group of 4 to 8 years of age had 192% higher
chances of consuming soft drinks if their parents engage in the same, 115% higher chances of
consuming packaged fruit juices and 529% higher likelihood of consuming sugary smoothies if
their parents consumed the same as compared to children whose parents avoided such
consumption. Additionally, in another survey conducted across 1000 parents and children by
Public Health England, as reported by the BBC News (2018), children aged 4 to 10 years of aged
were consuming twice the amount of sugar as compared to national recommendations of an
average 13 cubes, of which, foods like fizzy beverages and packaged confectionaries were the
key culprits. Such data reflect the role of parents in influencing their children’s diet and the
immediate need to educate parents on the adverse health effects associated excessive sugar
intake.
Critical Appraisal
For better understanding of existing media resources targeting parents of children aged 5
to 11 years old, the media resource used by the Liverpool City Council to enlighten sugar levels
in popular beverages will be considered. From the title of the resource, it can be observed that
the target audience of the resource are parents with a special emphasis on parental habits of
giving sugary foods to children (Campbell 2016; Davis and Duke 2018). To further strengthen
their argument against sugar consumption, the authors have added comparative data on sugar
amounts in beverages and daily recommended values for children of various age groups.
However, there is no mention of authors’ qualifications, neither is their additional data on sugar