University Assignment: Evidence-Based Practice on Childhood Obesity

This assignment examines the issue of childhood obesity, a growing concern in the U.S. and globally. It explores the causes of obesity, including lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating habits, and genetic factors, and uses the PICO framework to formulate a research question. The assignment includes a CINAHL database search and reviews several research papers focusing on interventions and factors related to childhood obesity. These studies investigate topics such as the impact of smartphone applications on physical activity, barriers to weight management, the role of family physicians in addressing obesity, the link between physical activity and obesity, and the psychological and health problems associated with obesity. The assignment concludes by emphasizing the crucial role schools play in addressing the obesity epidemic and promoting healthy lifestyles among children.

Evidence based practice
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

Obesity in school going children
Among the children in the U.S., one third of them is overweight or obese and the percentage
is rising day by day. Obesity of children is caused from various reasons. The most common
causes a lack of physical activity, on healthy eating habits or genetic factor. In addition to
these problems obesity can we also cause from the hormonal changes. A proper diet and
activity level is a very important thing for determining the child's weight. Nowadays the
children especially remain inactive and eat junk foods which lead to the obesity.
PICO - Does the physical activity (I), helps to reduce obesity (O), in school going
children (P) as compared to those who don’t do such exercises (C)?
Keywords search – Obesity; obese; fat; overweight; school children; adolescent,
teenagers; physical activity; physical training; physical education
Cinahl database search
According to CINAHL database search the results are:
ACTION/TERMS
SEARCH
MODE
RESULTS LIMITERS/EXPANDERS
(MH "Diet, Fat-Restricted") OR (MH
"Obesity") OR (MH "Obesity, Morbid")
Boolean/Phrase 619
Limiters - Linked Full Text;
References Available; Published
Date: 20120101-20171231;
English Language; Peer Reviewed
(MH "Adolescent Nutritional
Physiology")
Boolean/Phrase 12
Limiters - Linked Full Text;
References Available; Published
Date: 20120101-20171231;
English Language; Peer Reviewed
(MH "Pediatric Obesity") Boolean/Phrase 211 Expanders - Apply related words;

Also search within the full text of
the articles
(MH "Physical Activity/ED/EI/PH") OR
(MH "Physical Education,
Adapted/ED/EV") OR (MH "Students,
High School") OR (MH "Child Day
Care") OR (MH "Physical
Examination")
Boolean/Phrase 689
Limiters - Linked Full Text;
References Available; Published
Date: 20120101-20171231;
English Language; Peer Reviewed
As school going children today’s generation As the school going children of now a days
spends most of the time playing video games on computer or mobile phones, so Lubans et al.
(2014), has decided to implement or smartphone application which has been designed to
promote the physical activities in adolescent boys. Some secondary schools and ask the
students to participate in the study and its results where most of the participants are interested
in using the application as they found it challenging and exciting. The weight management is
being affected by various factors to study this Abolhassani et al. (2012), has conducted a
qualitative analysis to detect and explore the reasons of the obesity of school going children.
they found that the the main barriers of obesity are physical problem, lack of motivation, lack
of work and support of the family. Childhood obesity has now become an epidemic in our
society, as stated by Siwik et al. (2013), and to prove this they had evaluated a group of
family physicians who are dealing with the overweight children and their parents for
emphasizing the nutrition and physical activity within the community. On the other hand,
Gray, Contento, & Koch, (2015), investigated the link between the physical activity and
obesity and they stated that due to the less physical activity in school going children the
percentage of obesity is increasing day by day. Similarly Williams et al. (2013), stated that
obesity among children nowadays associated with psychological social and health problems

including the resistance to insulin the cardiovascular diseases and poor education. Obese
children is leading to increase in likelihood of obesity and continuing into the adulthood.
Finally, Adom et al. (2017), Analysed and stated that schools play a very important role in
reducing the obesity epidemic in school going children and provide them with sound and
healthy physiology.
References:

Abolhassani, S., Irani, M. D., Sarrafzadegan, N., Rabiei, K., Shahrokhi, S., Pourmoghaddas,
Z., ... & Moattar, F. (2012). Barriers and facilitators of weight management in
overweight and obese people: Qualitative findings of TABASSOM project. Iranian
journal of nursing and midwifery research, 17(3), 205.
Adom, T., Puoane, T., De Villiers, A., & Kengne, A. P. (2017). Protocol for systematic
review of school-based interventions to prevent and control obesity in African
learners. BMJ open, 7(3), e013540.
Gray, H. L., Contento, I. R., & Koch, P. A. (2015). Linking implementation process to
intervention outcomes in a middle school obesity prevention curriculum,‘Choice,
Control and Change’. Health education research, 30(2), 248-261. D.O.I.:
10.1093/her/cyv005
Lubans, D. R., Smith, J. J., Skinner, G., & Morgan, P. J. (2014). Development and
implementation of a smartphone application to promote physical activity and reduce
screen-time in adolescent boys. Frontiers in public health, 2. D.O.I.:
10.3389/fpubh.2014.00042
Siwik, V., Kutob, R., Ritenbaugh, C., Cruz, L., Senf, J., Aickin, M., ... & Shatte, A. (2013).
Intervention in overweight children improves body mass index (BMI) and physical
activity. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 26(2), 126-137.
D.O.I.: 10.3122/jabfm.2013.02.120118
Williams, A. J., Henley, W. E., Williams, C. A., Hurst, A. J., Logan, S., & Wyatt, K. M.
(2013). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood
overweight and obesity and primary school diet and physical activity policies.