We Must Work Together to Address Childhood Obesity

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The greatest achievements from many of the health promotion initiatives can be accomplished when the there is support and engagement by a community. Active participation from a group of people will lead to embracement of a program, therefore results are more likely to be positive and sustainable. The Planned Approach to Community Health (PATCH), developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners, is widely recognized as an effective model for planning, conducting, and evaluating community health promotion and disease prevention programs (Health Nexus, 2011). This model has been used in various types of communities to address concerns such as HIV, teenage pregnancy, cardiovascular disease and tobacco use. Therefore this can also be effective when applied to addressing the health concern issue of childhood obesity. A key strategy of the PATCH model is that it builds linkages within the community and between the community and the state health department, universities, and other regional and nation organizations (Shrama & Romas, 2012). The PATCH approach guides users through five phases 1) mobilizing the community, 2) collecting and organizing data, 3) choosing health priorities, 4) developing a comprehensive intervention plan, and 5) evaluation (Lancaster & Kreuter, 2011). This approach encourages citizens to participate in making the changes needed to address the identified health priorities within their own community. PATCH combines the principles of community participation with diagnostic stpes of applied community-level epidemiology (Lancaster & Kreuter, 2011). Childhood obesity is a significant national issue that will require active involvement by many entities working collaboratively together in o... ... middle of paper ... ...ildhood Overweight and Obesity: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity.childhood/index.html Health Nexus. (2011). Retrieved April 15, 2011, from Planned Approach to Community Helath: Guide for Local Coordinator: http://www.ophe.ca/node/2901 Lancaster, B., & Kreuter, M. (2011). eNotes.com. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from Planned Approach to Community Health (PATCH): http://www.enotes.com/public-health-enclopedia/planned-approach-community-health-patch Phychology and Sociology. (2010, July 13). Retrieved April 16, 2011, from Success of Community Interventions for Childhood Obesity Varies Depending on the target Age Group : http://escience.com/articles/2010/07/13/success.community.interventions.childhood.obesity.varies.target.age.group Shrama, M., & Romas, J. A. (2012). Theoretical Foundations of Health Education and Health Promotion. Sudbary: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

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