Strategies for Obesity Prevention via Physical Activity in Aboriginals

This report addresses the critical issue of obesity prevention through physical activity within the Aboriginal community. It begins by highlighting the high prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity among Aboriginals, referencing data from the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN. The report explores the ill-effects of obesity, including associated health complications and increased healthcare costs, and then proposes evidence-based strategies to increase physical activity. These strategies include community health education, recruitment of physical fitness trainers and dieticians, setting achievable physical activity goals, and the use of interactive audio-visual representations. The report emphasizes the importance of engaging clients through culturally competent approaches, including the presence of Aboriginal nurses and the use of financial incentives. It also details planning for physical activity programs for adults, young adults, and older adults, and outlines the methods for assessing the program's outcome through BMI tracking and lifestyle improvements. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of follow-up sessions and financial incentives to ensure long-term engagement within the Aboriginal community.

Identified Clinical Issue
Physical inactivity leading to obesity among the aboriginals
•The aboriginals are over-weight in comparison to the non-
aboriginal population as reflected by their BMI index
•The Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN secure the first
position in Australia for the highest rate of the physical inactivity
•The trend of obesity is higher among the aboriginals
•The majority of the aboriginals who resides in Darling Downs
and West Moreton are obese and the main reason highlight
behind this is lack of physical activity
(Health Assessment Needs, 2018)
Ill-effects of Obesity
•Obesity leads to the generation of numerous healthcare complications
like cardio-vascular disease, pulmonary disease (asthma), type-2
diabetes mellitus and cancer
•Obesity also leads to an increase in the healthcare cost
•Obesity due to physical inactivity also causes loss of productivity and
high rate of absentees from work
(Ahima & Lazar, 2013)
How to engage the clients
•Setting up small and achievable physical activity goals in order to
increase the participation
•The physical activity will include mild to moderate aerobic or cardio
exercise. Cardio exercise also helps in reducing the sense of
depression, decrease in the level of blood cholesterol and blood lipid
level and thereby helping to improve overall health outcome
•The awareness program will deal with educating the aboriginal
people through interactive approach and by the use of audio-visual
representation. The use of the audio-visual representation will help to
increase the interest of the participants and thereby helping to improve
the health outcomes
•(Durey et al., 2016)
•The use of the colourful pictures in the audio-visual media (power-
point presentation) will be given preference. According to Durey et al.
(2016) use of the colourful pictures while entering in the education
approach with the aboriginals are given first preference as it generates
the interests of the aboriginals participants in the said topic and makes
the session more engaging
Additional Approach that must be taken under
consideration
•The presence of the aboriginal nurses
•The presence of the aboriginal nursing professionals is a
mandatory factor while engaging with the interactive health-
based learning approach with the aboriginal group of people.
The presence of the aboriginal nurses make them feel
comfortable and thereby increasing the participation rate. The
presence of the aboriginal nursing workforce also helps to serve
as an interpreter in the community health education and
awareness program and thus facilitating effective
communication.
•The presence of culturally competent nurse is also important in
order to increase the level of participation of aboriginals in the
community health educational program. The culturally
competent nurse will develop the health promotion plan based
on the cultural and the spiritual values of the aboriginal
participants
Use of Financial Incentives
•Morell et al. (2014) stated that the community health
intervention programs for the improvement of the health-
outcome among the aboriginal group of people lags in the
domain of high rate of absenteeism during the follow-up period.
In order to increase the level of participation during the follow-up
period effective introduction of the weekly incentives might be
proved to be helpful. In order to include incentive program,
proper support from the government or NGOs is important.
Study of the outcome
•The successful outcome of the study will be accessed by comparing
the body mass index (BMI) value after one month of awareness
program implementation with the baseline level. The decrease in the
BMI level will help to denote the successful outcome
•In order to encourage the aboriginal community members in the
follow-up sessions, the use of the financial incentives will again under
consideration
•A detailed chart of the baseline value and change in the BMI value
per week or month will be tracked
•The improvement of the lifestyle will also be taken into consideration
•An interactive session will be conducted after the completion of one
month of intervention in order to denote their level of awareness about
physical fitness
Student Names and ID
References
Ahima, R. S., & Lazar, M. A. (2013). The health risk of obesity—
better metrics imperative. Science, 341(6148), 856-858.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). Risk factors to
health. Access date: 27th of December 2018. Retrieved from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/biomedical-risk-factors/risk-factors-
to-health/contents/risk-factors-and-disease-burden
Browne, J., Hayes, R., & Gleeson, D. (2014). Aboriginal health
policy: is nutrition the ‘gap’in ‘Closing the Gap’?. Australian and New
Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38(4), 362-369.
Centre of Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Physical Activity
Basics. Access date: 21 st Jan 2019. Retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/index.htm
Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K.,
Katzenellenbogen, J., & Bessarab, D. (2016). Improving healthcare for
Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement between
community and health services. BMC health services research, 16(1),
224.
Morell, A. L., Kiem, S., Millsteed, M. A., & Pollice, A. (2014).
Attraction, recruitment and distribution of health professionals in rural
and remote Australia: early results of the Rural Health Professionals
Program. Human resources for health, 12(1), 15.
Detailed Planning of the Physical Activity
For Adults
1.Sprint Running in the Filed
2.Playing group games like
3.Water sports
4.Cardio exercise
For Young Adults
1. Cricket
2. Football
3. Sprint Running
4. Jumping Ropes
5. Cycling
6. Swimming
For Older Adults or Aged Individuals
1.Easy walk during morning and evening
2.Doing gardening
3.Light weight traaining
(Centre of Disease Control and Prevention , 2019)
Obesity Prevention through Physical Activity among Aboriginals
Strategy to Increase the Physical Activity
•Proper education to the aboriginal community about the importance of the physical
activity and health
•This education must be given under the community health settings
•The education must be directed towards how the physical activity will help to reduce
weight and thereby helping to reduce obesity
•Education will be given under the context of how obesity is associated with several
chronic diseases and how decease in obesity will help to improve the health-related
outcomes
•A physical fitness trainer will also be recruited in the awareness program in order to
assist the aboriginal population about how undertake the physical activity in a proper
way
•The dietician must also be included in the team. Maintaining of healthy lifestyle and
diet helps to promote the significant weight-loss
(Browne, Hayes & Gleeson, 2014)