Definition of the problem ◦What is the problem the study was conducted to resolve?
◦Why is the problem important for health care administrators to study?
•Study purpose: What is the purpose of the study?
•Research question ◦What is the main research question?
◦If it is not stated, what would you say the research question is?
•Hypothesis or hypotheses ◦What is the study hypothesis?
◦If it is not stated, what would you say the hypothesis is?
◦It there is more than one study hypothesis, state the hypothesis or hypotheses.
•Study variables: What are the independent and dependent study variables?
•Review of related literature: In what ways does the literature review support the need for this study?
•Study design ◦What study design is used?
◦How many subjects were studied?
◦Where are the subjects found?
◦What organization was studied?
◦How long did the study take?
The NAACP views childhood obesity as a civil rights issue. One would think that a child’s risk for obesity would be determined by genetic and biological factors. In fact, major disparities exist based on race, ethnicity and socio-economic status. A full 38 percent of Latino children and 34.9 percent of African American children are overweight or obese, compared with 30.7 percent of white children. Simply put, children of color are more likely to live in poor, unsafe communities where there are fewer opportunities for physical activity, higher exposures to harmful environmental factors and limited access to healthy food options.
Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America, especially in America’s communities of color. Over the past 40 years, obesity rates have soared more than four-fold among children ages 6 to 11. Today, 31.8 percent of youth between two and 19 years of age – or 23 million kids – are obese or significantly overweight. If nothing is done, this may be the first generation that will not outlive their parents.
The NAACP views childhood obesity as a civil rights issue. One would think that a child’s risk for obesity would be determined by genetic and biological factors. In fact, major disparities exist based on race, ethnicity and socio-economic status. A full 38 percent of Latino children and 34.9 percent of African American children are overweight or obese, compared with 30.7 percent of white children. Simply put, children of color are more likely to live in poor, unsafe communities where there are fewer opportunities for physical activity, higher exposures to harmful environmental factors and limited access to healthy food options.
The toll this problem is taking on these children and their families, not to mention the nation as a whole, is immense. Psychologically, obese children and adolescents are targets of early and systematic social discrimination, leadingto low self-esteem which, in turn, can hinder academic and social growth and functioning. Physically, it has been proven that obese young people have an 80 percent chance of growing up to be obese adults, putting them at higher risk for associated health problems like diabetes. Financially, these health costs drain families, communities and the nation: people in the United States spend about 9 percent of their total medical costs on obesity-related illnesses, which adds up to as much as $14 billion a year. The NAACP recently unveiled our Childhood Obesity Advocacy Manual, which is designed to provide NAACP units and other grass roots organizations with the tools they need to address the childhood obesity epidemic. The manual provides an advocacy agenda designed to change policies and programs at the local, state and federal levels and to build an effective, community- wide plan to promote healthy behavior in Black families.
