Assignment 3: Community Assessment of Childhood Obesity in Canada

This assignment presents a community assessment focused on childhood obesity in Canada. It begins with an introduction to the problem, highlighting the high prevalence of obesity among Canadian children and its associated health risks. The report identifies the target community as Canadian children and justifies this choice. It then uses the Population Health Promotion Model to analyze the social determinants of health contributing to obesity, including economic conditions, socio-economic status, and behavioral factors. The assessment proposes action plans targeting these determinants. The analysis uses the Community Assessment Model to compare the current situation with a desired state of lower obesity prevalence, outlining measurable outcomes and a one-year timeframe for implementation. The rationale for the community diagnosis is provided, emphasizing the importance of identifying and addressing health issues within a community to improve overall health. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reiterating the significance of addressing childhood obesity for the well-being of the community.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 3
ASSIGNMENT 3
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
The paper aims for making a community assessment along with a diagnosis addressed to
the problem of obesity in the Canadian children. The problem of increasing prevalence in the
Canadian children is very important. It has been seen that a huge portion of this community of
Canadian children have this disease condition (Rao, Kropac, Do, Roberts, & Jayaraman, 2016).
Obesity is a disease condition that is associated with the increased body mass index (BMI) and
body weight of an individual, which results from the increased level of body fat accumulation in
one individual. The accumulation of the body fat in the body due to various reason results in
causing various health related problems in one individual (Dobbs & Manyika, 2015). The
problems include various health-related risks such as the risk of developing the cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, kidney failure and various others (Abdelaal, le Roux & Docherty, 2017). At
first, the paper will focus on identifying the community selected for this study and then it will
explain the rationale behind choosing the community. Then the paper will be making an
assessment on the community in order to diagnose the problem. The population health promotion
model will be used for this assessment. After that the paper will focus on analyzing the data
collected during the assessment. Finally the rationale for the community diagnosis will be
provided in this paper.
Discussion
Identification of the Community
The community selected for this study is the community of Canadian children. It has
been established from different studies that there is a high prevalence of obesity these days in all
over the world (Arroyo-Johnson & Mincey, 2016). The Canadian community is no different.

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There is a report recognizing Canada as the one of the countries, where the rate of obesity is
highest. It has also been reported that about 25.8 % of the Canadian children population have
obesity and the children of that population have the maximum age limit of 15. Only seven
countries including the South Africa, the UK US and four more other countries were found to
have a higher prevalence of obesity (globalnews.ca, 2020). The children are considered the
future of any community. Thus the increasing instances of a disease condition in that future
generation can be considered as a huge risk to a community. The association of obesity with
various disease conditions and the life risk conditions can be considered as an additional factor
attesting the requirement for addressing the issue at the earliest opportunity. The health
associated risk factors are the development of various chronic disease conditions, such as
cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, eye problems, various cancerous conditions, kidney problems,
knee joint problems, multiple organ failure and various other conditions (Abdelaal, le Roux &
Docherty, 2017). All those conditions not only induce the prolonged suffering in the patients
with obesity, they also presents with a potential risk to an individual’s life. The prevention of the
loss of human life should always be a primary focus for the well-being and the betterment of a
community. The community assessment is an approach to assess the needs of a community. This
assessment process involves the identification of a particular population in the community,
where the diagnostic treatments will be most effective (Clark, 2015). Children are considered to
have a more flexible mind than the adults. They are also more adaptable to any concept, idea or
practice than the adults. Hence, it can be easily concluded that any interventional approach
targeted at this population of the community will be more effective. Even though the prevalence
of the development of diabetes is higher in the adult population of the community, it will be
more beneficial to shift the principle focus of the improvements to the children. If the prevalence

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of diabetes in the children can be lowered to a significant level, the prevalence will be lowered
for the whole community. Hence, it is only rational to select the children as the population for
making this community assessment that is aimed at lowering the prevalence of obesity in the
whole community.
Assessment using Population Health Promotion Model
A population health promotion model addresses three main queries. The first one is that
what are the factors responsible for the problem that should be on the focus of the action plans?
The second one is that how the action will be taken? The third is the question of who will be the
focus of the whole action plan (Khodaveisi, Omidi, Farokhi & Soltanian, 2017).
The problem that is being addressed here is the problem of childhood obesity among the
Canadian children. The rationale behind choosing this population has already been addressed in
the previous section. The factors that are associated with this problem are various social
determinants of health. The determinants like the economic condition of an individual, the socio-
economic status and the behavioral factors can be identified as the responsible factors for this
problem (Medvedyuk, Ali & Raphael, 2018). The economic condition is responsible for the
availability of healthy food source in the children. The children from the lower income family
are do not have the access to the food with proper nutritional value. The reason behind this can
be the fact that the unhealthy foods are less costly than the food with proper nutritional value.
They also do not have the access to various physical activities, which involve various outdoor
activities in the children. The children of the low income families often do not have the access to
proper schooling and knowledge, which facilitate their unhealthy habits. The access to various
healthcare facilities also involves some financial support. The low income families often find it
difficult to afford the cost, which results in late detection of a health issues. This phenomenon

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only increases the risk of various health hazards in the patients. Another social determinant of
health responsible for this condition in the Canadian children is the socio-economic status. The
immigrant population can be considered under this category. They have some cultural or ethnic
background that influences their food habits. The locality they live in or their surrounding
environment also is not secured enough for the children to be allowed to play outside. This
aspect influences the lack of physical activity in the children. The last social determinant is the
behavioral aspect of the obese children. The children are simply attracted to various unhealthy
foods and the habit of unhealthy eating is thus easily developed by the children. They are also
more attracted to various indoor activities such as video games, television programs these days
instead of playing outdoors. Both of these tendencies influence the risk of obesity in the children.
The second step of this population health promotion model is setting up the action plans
that will answer the question of how the action will be taken. The first strategy should be
addressed to the economic conditions of the lower income families by providing them proper
financial support to afford healthy food, education and the healthcare facilities for their children.
The next plan should be addressed to the socio-economic statuses. There should be an awareness
program for the people of different socio-economic statuses, so they would realize the actual risk
of their unhealthy food-habits and lifestyles. This would be effective in changing those habits for
their children. The third strategy should be spreading the awareness in the children as well, so
there will be a change in their behavior (Pandita et al., 2016).
The third and the final step of this assessment is answering the question of to whom those
action plans will be directed. As mentioned above the first social determinant factor behind the
childhood obesity affected the low income families only. Hence the first action plan will be
directed at the lower income Canadian population only. The second action plan will be directed

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at the immigrants and the other Canadian populations, who have different cultural and ethnic
background. The third action plan will be directed at all the children of the Canadian population
irrespective of their financial state, ethnic background and age.
Analysis of the Assessment Data Using Community Assessment Model
The community assessment is an assessment process, which is focused on considering the
present situation of a community first. After that it focuses on a desired situation for that
community and finally it makes a comparative study between the present and the desired
situation related to the community (Clark, 2015). It has already been established that there is a
high prevalence of obesity among the Canadian children. There are three main social
determinants responsible for the problem of childhood obesity among Canadian children, which
are the economic factors, socio-economic status and the behavioral factors. The desired situation
for this community can be an instance of lower prevalence of obesity among this selected
population. The action plans are specifically addressed at the achievement of this goal of
lowering the prevalence of obesity among the Canadian children. The action plans are realistic
and have a proper focus group. The outcome of this goal is measurable. The timeframe for the
implementation of all those action plans should be one year. Hence after one year, there should
be significant difference in the prevalence of the childhood obesity in Canada.
Rationale for Community Diagnosis
The importance of making a community diagnosis is that this diagnostic approach
assesses the health of a whole community. It is mainly an approach to address the public health
and improve the conditions accordingly. This assessment helps the community workers to make
various action plans and make an approach to implement them to improve the health of a whole
community. The community diagnosis involves the correct identification of an issue that is

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required to be addressed at the earliest opportunity in order to improve the health condition of the
whole community (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). The identification of the resources and the
contributing factors helps the community workers to determine the exact course of action. The
detailed analysis of data and the goals help predicting the outcome properly. This diagnostic
approach was adapted addressing the Canadian community, which is experiencing a high
prevalence of obesity among the Canadian children at present. This is a huge issue and is in need
of an immediate attention. Using the community diagnostic method the problem was properly
detected. After that the factors responsible for this condition was identified as well. After the
consideration of all those factors properly devised action plans could be made. The specific
populations on whom the action plan will work best could be identified by this diagnostic
assessment. Then the analysis of the outcome was also the part of this diagnostic approach,
which was helpful in predicting the expected scenario after a specific timeline. Hence, it can be
concluded that the community diagnosis approach was the best approach to address a specific
health issue in a community and to improve the health condition of that particular community as
well.
Conclusion
Hence it can be concluded that the Canadian community have a high ranking among all
the countries all over the world, when considering the prevalence of obesity. The community
diagnostic approach in this study chose the population of the children in this study. The children
are considered the future of any community. Thus an achievement of better health condition in
this particular population will help in the improvement of the health condition of the whole
community. Obesity is a disease condition that is associated with various health related problems
in one individual, such as the risk of developing the cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney

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failure and various others. It has been reported about one fourth of the Canadian children
population have obesity and the children of that population have the maximum age limit of 15.
Children are considered to have a more flexible mind than the adults. They are also more
adaptable to any concept, idea or practice than the adults. Hence, it can be easily concluded that
any interventional approach targeted at this population of the community will be more effective.
The social determinants such as the economic condition of an individual, the socio-economic
status and the behavioral factors can be identified as the responsible factors for this problem.
There should be approaches to improve the economic conditions of the lower income families
and spreading awareness about obesity in the children and people from different ethnic
backgrounds must be made. The goals should be implemented within one year for the best
possible outcome. Community diagnosis is an approach to address the public health and improve
the conditions accordingly. This assessment helps the community workers to make various
action plans and make an approach to implement them to improve the health of a whole
community.

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Abdelaal, M., le Roux, C. W., & Docherty, N. G. (2017). Morbidity and mortality associated
with obesity. Annals of translational medicine, 5(7).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5401682/
Arroyo-Johnson, C., & Mincey, K. D. (2016). Obesity epidemiology
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gtc.2016.07.012
Clark, M. J. (2015). Community health nursing. Prentice Hall.
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Dobbs, R., & Manyika, J. (2015). The obesity crisis. The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, 5.
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globalnews.ca. (2020). Canada ranks among the world’s more overweight countries, and this
study may have shown why. Retrieved 1 February 2020, from
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Health, 28(5), 573-585. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2017.1356910

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Pandita, A., Sharma, D., Pandita, D., Pawar, S., Tariq, M., & Kaul, A. (2016). Childhood
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