Needs Assessments

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Needs assessments are a fundamental component of developing and implementing a program. Regarding obesity among adolescents, it is essential to understand the extent of the obesity epidemic. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2007 and 2008, the prevalence of all obese male adolescents ages 12-19 was 19.3 percent and the prevalence of obese female adolescents was 16.8 percent (CDC, 2010). A needs assessment also gathers information regarding all services that are available to the adolescent population. It is important for a needs assessment to be conducted because it allows the target population to comprehend any assets they may have in the community and allow them to see the severity of obesity themselves. …show more content…

In this case, data will be collected in middle or high school settings. Adolescents within the target group will be asked to fill out the Youth Risk Behavior Survey questionnaire regarding their eating behaviors and what types of physical activity they participate in. The nutrition portion of the questionnaire will entail things such as how many servings of fruits and vegetables they consume and the number of times they consume fast foods in a typical week. As for the activities section of the questionnaire, questions will involve how often individuals participate in activities weekly and how many minutes or hours they spend performing a physical activity in addition to types of physical activity they participate in (i.e. soccer, basketball, …show more content…

For Cortland County Healthy Life Program, data will be collected in the school setting through the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). This is essential because it will provide a baseline in terms of what behaviors need to be addressed before anything else for the Cortland County Health Life Program. The data will provide team members with information necessary to see where the biggest problem areas are such as eating habits both in and outside of school as well as physical activity habits and how external influences could have an impact on their

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