Childhood Obesity: Questions and Answers for Educational Campaign

This assignment addresses the critical issue of childhood obesity, a multifaceted problem requiring interventions from various stakeholders. It explores the causes and consequences of childhood obesity, emphasizing the need for educational campaigns and community involvement. The assignment analyzes stakeholder perspectives, particularly those of families, to understand barriers and effective treatment approaches. It then delves into the advantages and disadvantages of using social media in health promotion, considering its potential for support and reach, while also acknowledging the risks of misinformation and distraction. The assignment also discusses the use of shock messages in campaigns and the importance of providing accurate information from reliable sources to create awareness. It highlights the need for evidence-based educational materials, including the link between obesity and chronic diseases, to achieve optimal outcomes in preventing childhood obesity and its associated health risks. The assignment incorporates references from various studies to support its arguments.

Running head: Questions and answers
Questions and answers
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Author’s name

Questions and answers
1. Childhood obesity is a serious issue and has been found to be the major cause of developing
severe complications decreasing the quality of life for children. The etiology of this condition is
multidimensional, hence, involves stakeholders from a variety of discipline, including multiple
stakeholders at the national or central level (ministries, health groups, NGOs and private
partners) and political leaders, health professionals, families, teachers, local NGOs, and the local
business community at the local level. With the rising prevalence of childhood obesity and its
associated conditions, these multidimensional stakeholders identify the necessity of educational
programs or campaigns as intervention to prevent childhood obesity in the community (Ganter et
al., 2015). Childhood obesity is caused due to a multiple factors which can be eradicated or
reduced if proper behavioral measures are taken. Thus, these behaviors are addressed and
targeted through conducting educational campaigns, bringing changes in school and
organizational policies for children, promotion programs, and involvement of various
stakeholders in the community. It is important to get an overview of the stakeholder’s
perspective since they understand barriers experienced by families, particularly low income
families, awareness about families experience and the best treatment approaches available for the
children. It is important to understand the stakeholder’s perspective in order to develop effective
strategies for intervention (Staniford et al., 2011).
2. Advantages:
 It has been found that social media can be act as a source of support, for instance, a study
conducted in the same area has suggested that individual who have expressed social
connected using various online platforms like Facebook, have less depression and anxiety
and a higher subjective wellbeing.

Questions and answers
 Studies have also supported that online networks can also influence the social norms of
individuals and forms an important element of health promotion strategies.
 Interactive, online social health promotion campaigns targeting the issue have been found
to provide social support for behavior change.
 It has been also found that targeted online campaigns have the capacity of reaching a
large number of people (Jane et al., 2018).
Disadvantages:
 The capability of users to develop and share relevant and important content may
potentially broadcast incorrect information which can impact any intervention conducted
without professional involvement.
 Social media networks can also cause distraction, and lead to overconsumption of food.
Additionally, it has been found that food posts triggers and increases an individual’s
desire to eat, even when not hungry (Jane et al., 2018).
3. Shock messages can create unnecessary stress and anxiety among people. Shock messages
are responsible for negative emotional appeals experienced in social marketing for public
health campaigns and are in the form of guilt, fear and shame. Though, these appeals impact
human behavior and therefore, will contribute to change in behavior leading to adoption of
effective and healthy lifestyle, it may also hurt the emotions of people and will create anxiety
in them (Gheorghe, Gheorghe & Purcӑrea, 2018).
4. For creating awareness and get an effective and an improved outcome, proper information
must be used from reliable sources that can grab people’s attention. It is necessary to inform

Questions and answers
people and community about the importance of self-management strategies in maintaining
healthy lifestyle, thus, preventing the risk of developing obesity and comorbidities that have
lifelong implications. It is also necessary to educate them on how these issues related to
obesity can create complication and ultimate lead to mortality. Educational campaigns should
make use of booklets and posters containing information about how important it is to
maintain a proper body weight and how to achieve that.
5. It is important to include proper evidences that how children have lost their lives due to
childhood obesity. People should be made educated on the link between obesity and other
chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. It is important to
understand and know the risk factors contributing to obesity and thus, the way to prevent
them. Therefore, the campaign should contain all the relevant evidences in this area to
achieve optimum outcome.

Questions and answers
References:
Ganter, C., Chuang, E., Aftosmes-Tobio, A., Blaine, R. E., Giannetti, M., Land, T., & Davison,
K. K. (2015). Community stakeholders' perceptions of barriers to childhood obesity
prevention in low-income families, Massachusetts 2012-2013. Preventing chronic
disease, 12, E42-E42.
Gheorghe, I. R., Gheorghe, C. M., & Purcӑrea, V. L. (2018). Emotional Social Innovation: Shock
advertising in Social Marketing for Health Campaigns.
Jane, M., Hagger, M., Foster, J., Ho, S., & Pal, S. (2018). Social media for health promotion and
weight management: a critical debate. BMC public health, 18(1), 932.
Staniford, L. J., Breckon, J. D., Copeland, R. J., & Hutchison, A. (2011). Key stakeholders’
perspectives towards childhood obesity treatment: a qualitative study. Journal of child
health care, 15(3), 230-244.