School Nurses and Childhood Obesity

A lot of literature are available regarding various subjects in the social sciences sector. The available literature and papers are in various topics ranging from science to arts. Several individuals take different approaches to clearly bring out their points to the common reader. Colleen alongside other professionals in the same field of health made some contributions concerning the welfare of children, suffering from obesity, at the hands of nurses in their training level of education. They believe that the college disease of nurses during their training period increases the chances of obesity during childhood development.

The review on literature practically discusses three important factors for the study. These are the childhood overweight and obesity, etiology and contributing factors of the disease, the practice in the College of Nursing and the theoretical framework of the study.

The researchers have clearly defined and outlined the necessary literature linked to the topic of the study. They have extensively covered the etiology of the disease whereby they have begun the whole process by properly defining the obesity condition. Obesity is the excessive accumulation of fats under the skin which usually begins as a mere overweight in some individuals. The major difference between obesity and overweight in individuals lies in the calculation of the Basic Metabolic Index (BMI) of the persons in question. It is also important to note that school nurses are the main source of alleviating this condition in childhood.

The theoretical framework has also been properly drafted under the same chapter. It is guided by a very lucrative model by Pender called the Health Promotion Model (HPM) of 1996. The three factors affecting children are properly conveyed in this model. These are:

1. The experiences and characteristics of an individual
2. Specific effects and cognitions of behavior
3. The outcomes of behavior

Nurses could help in the alleviation of childhood obesity through proper family education and early detection of the disease. This is because they have a very important role in the prevention and care programs of the condition. Nutrition is a basic requirement in the course line of the nurses and therefore this prepares them professionally in order to deal with cases of obesity in early childhood development stages. They then develop the treatment and prevention strategies that could work for a particular group or community. Notably, the literature review has not clearly stated the problems that hinder the nurses in their plight to prevent and combat obesity in society.

However, the literature review was not adequate enough as the researchers should have covered the issue on Phen375 which is a very common pill used in the New Jersey State for the fight against overweight especially in children. Phen375 is an acronym of Phentermine 3.75 which is a nutritionally rich supplement used in the reduction of obesity in most patients. It is a very ubiquitous form of supplement available in pill form in most of the countries. However, the pill is very common to the developed countries as the inhabitants of these countries tend to live in a very sedentary form of lifestyle. A sedentary form of lifestyle refers to a lifestyle where an individual participates in a very limited or no physical activity during the most part of their time. A number of people residing in the developed countries spend their time sitting on the couches in their living rooms with no proper physical activity to undertake.

Phen375 has, therefore, become the major solution to the obesity problem in these countries. The developed countries pride themselves as having a large proportion of the elites in society. It is the same elites who also pride themselves as having little time to undertake some simple exercise thereby aggravating the chances of developing obesity in their lifetime. Doing just a few exercises daily, these individuals would salvage the problem of obesity. Since they have little time for the same, they divulge their attention to the use of the Phen375 to help in the maintenance of their body structure.

This supplement is very important in the management of both the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). The Basic Metabolic Rate of an individual has a direct relationship with the Body Mass Index under close scrutiny with this pill as the Basic Metabolic Rate controls the body’s metabolic processes that generate heat used in the burning of fat deposits under the skin. With increased metabolism in the body, the fats under the skin are burned in escalated rates and thereby reducing the fat deposits under the skin. This will eventually lead to reduced body mass and thus a decline in the overall Body Mass Index of an individual. The pill in question here escalates this process and hence helps in the reduction of chances of an individual attaining obesity or overweight. Overweight patients consuming the supplement will experience very few hunger pangs and therefore help the body to convert very little calories while at the same time aiding the body to burn excess fats deposited under the skin. In a nutshell, the pill works in antagonistic approach to help eradicate the problem of obesity and overweight in various individuals (Colleen, 2009).

The researchers took a sample population that was very convenient and relevant to the study in that they chose 103 nurses from New Jersey State where the study was based. This State was selected owing to the high number of enrollment of students in the available nursing colleges. The same state also had lots of cases of childhood obesity. New Jersey State leads to the rising number of cases of childhood obesity in America because of the sedentary lifestyle that is common in this environment. The same state prides itself in the sale of Phen375 which is a dietary pill used in combating overweight. The pill is sold at a very high rate within this state as compared to the others in the United States of America. These two factors approve the researchers’ selection of the location of study. This implies that the selection was not random, but very specific to attain very narrow variations in the findings of the study.

It was also paramount to select a population of nurses that had undertaken the nurses’ association meetings within the counties in the State. This enhanced the chances of getting very professional views from these very individuals. The views reflected would then portray the exact situation on the ground rather a projection of what is thought or ought to the facts illustrated. The sample was thoroughly presented via the demographic data. Quantitative data gave a clear picture of the study findings to the reader.

The data collection instrument that was employed had very reliable information regarding the study topic. The reliability was at about 80% which is very satisfactory in the field of research. The researchers used a very detailed style in narrowing down their population sample where they began the project by employing about 220 nurses in the initial study. This was narrowed down to about 106 nurses in the second batch of population study and finally down to about 74 nurses in the final deduction stage of the research. This enabled the researchers to manipulate their figures collected from the field in order to attain very reliable information from the nurses to the matters pertaining to their relationship and role of combating the cases of obesity in childhood stage of development, especially in the State of New Jersey, where the cases are rising in an alarming rate.

The ethical standards in the paper have been coherently achieved by initially obtaining the relevant authority and permission from the Office of Research and Sponsored Division of Institutional Advancement of the University of Kean. This was done in accordance to the law after a thorough institutional review by the board.

Data analysis in the paper was indeed very adequate and accurate since the researchers have developed their conclusions from the descriptive form of data analysis. The percentage of the nurses was checked off at each category within the Likert type statements. The data was very close, whereby the responses were either positive or negative. In other words, the answers to the questions were either yes or no. This gave the researchers very ample time in dealing with the percentages calculation of “strongly agrees” and “strongly disagrees”. It clearly proved the fact that nurses, indeed, used specific methods to measure obesity.