Heightening Awareness and Modifying Health Behavior

Heightening Awareness and Modifying Health Behavior

Describe the problem of obesity in the United States and discuss the role of the built environment in exacerbating such problem.

According to Rosenthal et al. (2017), obesity in the US has become a serious health issue. Approximately 35% of Americans are obese. Obesity goes beyond the growth of one’s girth and is considered by the American Medical Association as a chronic disease. These sentiments are held by the National Institute of Health, the Obesity Society, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, among other organizations. The CDC has declared obesity as a national epidemic and also stated that it has serious side effects on the psychological, metabolic, and physical well-being.

According to Moore (2012), rural area setups involve greater distances between supermarkets and residences. Additionally, residences in these areas are far from recreational opportunities and clinical settings, which all impact the population’s ability to practice healthy eating habits to combat obesity. This is an example of a built environment that refers to the geographical area infrastructure’s influences on the proximity as well as the resource types, quality of the neighborhood, and transportation methods. The time and frequency of food vendors in neighborhoods determine the food types that residents can purchase. Historically, there is evidence showing that the density of fast-food restaurants is linked to the prevalence of obesity. Fast-food restaurant density at state-level analysis, as well as the resident numbers per restaurant, accounted for 6 percent of the state obesity prevalence variance. Factors at the individual level can interact with the environmental factors involved in a certain location, such as the density of fast-food restaurants, in increasing the odds of obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with recommended prevention strategies to address the problem of obesity. Describe the three environmental strategies related to food access that were highlighted in the video presentation.

The first proposal involves improving the access and availability of grocery stores and supermarkets in underserved areas. The second involved granting incentives to food retailers to offer healthier beverages and foods or locate their premises in areas that are underserved. The third was to improve the mechanisms of purchasing foods directly from the farms. Many minorities and low-income US neighborhoods lack access to high-quality, healthy food at affordable rates. This lack of supermarket access in the neighborhoods constrains the residents from purchasing food from stores whose food selection is of poor quality. The proposed introduction of supermarkets may influence access to healthy and unhealthy food choices by acting as the vehicle for a broader change in the food system. For example, introducing supermarkets that offer healthier foods can increase competition, stimulate price changes of foods, and compel stores to stock healthier food options, which in turn affects the availability of healthier food options in all stores within a geographical area (Ghosh et al., 2017).

Conduct your own literature search and identify two community-level strategies that have been shown to increase physical activity.

The first example is the creation of  ‘Walkable Communities’ in Rural North Carolina. Grenville County used the  CDC Community Guide recommendations in planning the development of more walkable communities. The Granville Greenways Master Plan aims to make changes to the built environment in addressing the increasing numbers of early deaths (from diabetes and heart rate) linked to obesity. The Granville Greenways initiative encourages the active transportation of residents and assists people in embracing walking as part of their everyday lives (CDC Community Guide, 2020).

The second example is the Rural Alaskan Community Stays “Fun and Fit.” This community initiative focuses on obese school children who form a substantial percentage in the Hoonah, Alaska community. The community created a cross-sector partnership that aims at promoting better nutrition and increase physical activity in schools, as well as the general community. The Hoonah Fun and Fit Partnership used a combination of the CDC recommendations from the Community Guide, which includes environmental, behavioral, and informational approaches. This program widened access to events and recreation activities in the community (CDC Community Guide, 2020).

References

CDC Community Guide (2020). The Community Guide in Action. https://www.thecommunityguide.org/content/the-community-guide-in-action

Ghosh-Dastidar, M., Hunter, G., Collins, R. L., Zenk, S. N., Cummins, S., Beckman, R., Nugroho, A. K., Sloan, J. C., Wagner, L., & Dubowitz, T. (2017). Does opening a supermarket in a food desert change the food environment?. Health & place, 46, 249–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.06.002

Moore (2012). Module 11: Food – Part 1: Public Health & Environmental Approaches to Obesity Prevention. https://vimeopro.com/aptrmodules/phlm/video/75319797

Rosenthal, R. J., Morton, J., Brethauer, S., Mattar, S., De Maria, E., Benz, J. K., … & Sterrett, D. (2017). Obesity in America. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 13(10), 1643-1650.

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Heightening Awareness and Modifying Health Behavior

Module 4 – SLP

HEIGHTENING AWARENESS AND MODIFYING HEALTH BEHAVIOR

Before you begin this assignment, read through the Home page and the required readings. Specifically view the Part 1: Public health & environmental approaches to obesity prevention at http://vimeopro.com/aptrmodules/phlm/video/75319797

This video is part of Public Health Learning Modules project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services and developed by Temple University Department of Public Health and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research as a free teaching resource for public health professionals.

For this component of the Session Long Project, you will describe current environmental strategies, practices, and recommendations to build and promote health. Your task is to submit a paper that responds to the following questions:

• Describe the problem of obesity in the United States and discuss the role of the built environment in exacerbating such problem.
  

  Heightening Awareness and Modifying Health Behavior

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with recommended prevention strategies to address the problem of obesity. Describe the three environmental strategies related to food access that were highlighted in the video presentation.
• Conduct your own literature search and identify two community-level strategies that have been shown to increase physical activity. Be sure to cite your sources to support your perspective.

Length: 2–3 pages.