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Write a summary that discusses a program for Hispanic children that is designed to address the issue of childhood obesity.
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The text discusses a program for Hispanic children that is designed to address the issue of childhood obesity. The program seeks to build awareness and encourage a change in the nutrition of target demographics.
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Provide an essay based on the summary above.
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##Anti-Obesity Program for Hispanic Children Essay (Critical Writing)
Organization Description
The organization in question addresses the issue of childhood obesity as one of the core problems that underlies the contemporary environment of healthcare. According to recent statistical data, childhood obesity accounts of a vast range of health complications that affect children in the future and, therefore, are likely to lead to a rapid deterioration of their health (Sahoo et al., 2015). Indeed, according to the latest data, childhood obesity affects 13.8% of Hispanic children from their birth (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the needs of vulnerable populations, primarily, Hispanic children, should be met in a timely and appropriate manner. For this reason, a coherent model for reducing the levels of obesity by building awareness and encouraging a change in the nutrition of target demographics must be deemed as a necessity.
The organization under analysis provides extensive assistance to the children that suffer from obesity and the related issues, as well as offers extensive support for their family members and guides the rest of the community members toward healthy lifestyle, pointing to the necessity to support children suffering from obesity and comorbid diseases (Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan, 2014). The organization supplies medications to the families that cannot obtain the necessary medicine and other essential items due to financial constraints, as well as helps raise the levels of community awareness concerning childhood obesity in vulnerable populations and the factors that lead to its development, such as poverty, poor patient education, lack of support from family and community members, prevalence of prejudices toward obese people, shunning people with weight and nutrition issues, etc. (Guttmacher, Kelly, & Ruiz-Janecko, 2010).
The organization includes around 80 staff members and is currently expanding. Particularly, the goal of exploring opportunities for building a bond with community members with the help of social networks and other IT tools is studied. In addition, the organization seeks to explore the wide range of factors that affect the development of the problem. To be more specific, the organization does not restrict itself to the study of health-related concerns but, instead, embraces the factors associated with the economic and financial status of the target population, the environment in which its members reside, sociocultural factors such as language issues (particularly, for the Hispanic demographic), the technological development of the community, the infrastructure and its impact on the provision of essential information, medications, healthcare services, etc. Finally, by studying the identified issues, the organization creates the foundation for seeking the ways of improving the current state of affairs, particularly, by assisting people in obtaining the necessary information and resources, as well as promoting patient education as one of the building blocks for enhancing the health levels within the target community. The organization strives at establishing a connection with not only adult members of the community but also children since the specified demographics is affected to the greatest extent, and since children also require extensive patient education for their further development of independence, as well as the active promotion of a healthy lifestyle.
Program Description
Mission, Goals, and Objective
The mission of the program is to ensure that the well-being of children of Hispanic origin belonging to a local community are met, and that they are provided with an opportunity to develop a better understanding of their own health needs, as well as the means of addressing these needs and ensuring the safety of their health. The program is aimed at reducing the rates of obesity among Hispanic children within a year.
Problem Statement
The levels of child obesity have been on the rise over the past few years not only within the community under analysis but also in the U.S., in general (Simmonds, Llewellyn, Owen, & Woolacott, 2016). Hispanic children belong to a particularly vulnerable population. Being unable to access relevant health management resources and information management tools, the identified demographic suffers extensively from the lack of a coherent program that will shed light on the issue. Furthermore, the lack of availability of the medication, services, and other items that are crucial for the provision of assistance for children suffering from obesity is also evident in the identified environment. Thus, a program that will encourage the active education of patients and their family members, as well as introducing available and easily accessible resources that will help reduce mortality levels and increase the quality of patients’ lives and the number of positive outcomes is crucial.
##Intervention
The intervention will imply building awareness among the members of the target community and encouraging the active process of patient education. The program will imply introducing children to the concept of healthy and nutritious dieting by using cooking-related activities and encouraging children to participate in learning about healthy dieting. The program will be carried out as a series of game-related activities revolving primarily around the concept of cooking. It is expected that the successful implementation of the program will lead to a subsequent 15% drop in the levels of obesity among Hispanic children in the target community. Furthermore, the program aims at impacting the levels of childhood obesity within the specified environment by providing patient education among both children and their family members.
The importance of family involvement must be regarded as one of the key elements of the program since it will provide the platform for the development of a support system that will help children develop the required behaviors and acquire the eating habits that will contribute to a drop in weight. Specifically, the members of children’s families will encourage their children to follow the prescribed steps despite their urge to eat the amount of food that they consume on a regular basis. As a result, even with an extreme likelihood of children developing resistance toward the program, the support of the family will serve as the cornerstone for the successful implementation thereof (Long et al., 2016). The key SMART goal can be outlined in the following way: By the end of 2019, the levels of obesity among the Hispanic children living in the target community will be reduced by at least 15%.
The organizational plan, therefore, implies primarily offering target demographics access to the relevant information, as well as services, and consultations provided by the members of the healthcare facility in question (Carroll-Scott et al., 2013). The specified goal is expected to be achieved by utilizing the strategy aimed at teaching children through games an interactive sessions. As a result, the target demographic will be able to learn essential information and acquire crucial skills in managing their diet and making food-related choices without exposing them to a vast amount of boring information and restricting their access to the food that they find tasty. Instead, it is expected that children will be enthusiastic about participating in the activities and learning to be able to make their own diet-related choices.
The service utilization plan will incorporate the following elements: the interventions aimed at raising awareness and the cooperation with the Choices: Fighting Childhood Obesity organization. The specified cooperation is expected to affect the quality and speed of teaching target populations about healthy eating. The logic model, in turn, will be represented by the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework, which suggests the program implementation based on key social, environmental, cultural, technological, and economic factors that may affect its outcomes (Binkley & Johnson, 2013).
Program Evaluation Description
Evaluation Resources
The evaluation process will occur in the environment of the organization in question. The level of understanding of proper nutrition habits among the participants will be identified. In order to assess the efficacy of the proposed framework, one will have to consider using the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model (Binkley & Johnson, 2013).
Data Sources and Collection
The essential information will be collected based on the assessment of the changes in the participants’ weight before and after the implementation of the framework. The information that will have to be taken into consideration when evaluating the proposed intervention will mostly contain participants’ health records, especially the changes in their weight. The data will be obtained by conducting regular assessments of changes in the children’s weight. The participants will be weighed to detect any tendencies in the changes in their weight and, thus, identify the potential usefulness and impact of the program. The data collected in the course of the regular assessments of participants will be utilized to conduct an analysis in the course of which the hypothesis concerning the efficacy of the intervention will be proven wither right or wrong.
##Personnel
The assessment of the children’s medical condition will have to be multilateral and include an array of information that can be used to prove that the program has a tangible effect on the health status of the target demographic. As a result. conclusions can be made regarding efficacy of the suggested intervention and the changes in participants’ weight and eating habits.
Therefore, recruiting an interdisciplinary team of experts that will provide a detailed evaluation of the changes in the participants weight and other health issues should be viewed as a necessity. The team will include dieticians, pharmacists, health club operators and instructors, nutritionists, physical therapists, physicians, teachers, nurses, psychologists, schools, universities, churches, NGOs, and social workers, to name just a few. Seeing that experts forma range of domains will have to cooperate in the specified project, the principles of collaboration and multiculturalism will have to be deployed to ensure successful negotiation and management of conflicts, should any arise. The specified aspect is especially important for the successful management of the program since the lack of concord among participants is common in the realm where interdisciplinary communication exists (Knowlden & Sharma, 2013). Thus, the concept of negotiations based on the notion of collaboration and compromise must be regarded as a necessity.
Furthermore, a set of clear and rigid guidelines for the evaluation of the participants will be provided to avoid any misconceptions. To prevent the instances of any misunderstandings, the active use of the latest communication tools, including social media, will have to be utilized. Thus, the uninhibited flow of information and the enhancement of knowledge sharing will be facilitated, which will lead to a significant drop in the possibility of a misunderstanding or misinformation.
##Plans for Evaluation
When considering the evaluation of the program, its overall strengths and weaknesses, and the effects that ti will ostensibly produce, one will have to use the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model as the foundation for the measurement of the suggested intervention (Binkley & Johnson, 2013). The specified tool will provide the platform for determining the slightest alterations in the children’s well-being, as well as their eating habits and behaviors (Acheampong & Haldeman, 2013). When considering the benefits of the proposed framework, one must admit that it helps determine the impact of an array of factors on the target population’s well-being. These factors range from social (e.g., the pressure of modern media, which foists particular standards on children and promotes unhealthy lifestyles to them) to culture-related ones, such as the standards of appearance that may conflict with the existing health standards and, thus, pose a threat to children. While the PRECEDE stage will allow embracing the array of factors that has led to the development of the problem, the PROCEED stage will involve the evaluation of the changes that the suggested program will have on children’s weight. The assessment will include routine checks of changes in the children’s endocrine etiologies, as well as correlation between changes in the patients’ weight and their stature, height velocity, etc.
The evaluation resources, in turn, will be acquired from the available repositories. For example, the equipment for assessing changes in children’s weight, as well as other alterations in their physiological conditions, will be acquired form the resources of the healthcare facility in question. Furthermore, the tests that will serve as the platform for stating the overall efficacy of the proposed intervention will be acquired form trustworthy organizations. It should also be borne in mind that, apart from evaluating children’s weight changes and overall physical health trends, one will also need to conduct a psychological evaluation of the participants. Thus, the prevention of mental health issues such as depression due to the rapid and drastic changes in their diet, as well as restrictions regarding the consumption of the products that they are used to eating on a daily basis, will become a possibility (Scimeca et al., 2016).
Process evaluation
The assessment of the intervention while it will be carried out should be regarded as a necessity since ti will shed light on the way in which children perceive new instructions and the overall concept of a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, the adoption of the specified technique will help prevent the development of resistance toward the intervention among the participants. By detecting a drop in the levels of enthusiasm and engagement among children, one will be able to shape the program and adjust it to the need of the target population. The use of the PRECEDE stage of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model will have to be integrated into the evaluation due to the opportunities that it offers for embracing the vast range of factors that shape participants’ attitude toward the program. To determine the efficacy of the programs while it will be running, one will have to consider using regular reports submitted to summarize the daily activities of the participants in the context of the program, the changes that have been made, and the issues that have arisen in the process. As a result, detecting even minor obstacles that can possibly jeopardize the efficacy of the program or the veracity of its results will be located and eliminated at the earliest stage of their development.
Outcome evaluation
The assessment of the outcome will be completed by conducting Student’s t-test to compare the children’s health status prior to introducing the program and after it is finished. The specified stage aligns with the PROCEED element of the framework discussed above and implies determining the effects of the suggested program on children’s awareness of the issue, their obesity levels, the effects of parental involvement, community support, use of the latest technologies, etc.
Impact evaluation
Similarly to the previous step, the effects of the program will be evaluated based on the principles of the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework. Particularly, the comparison between the pre- and post-test health status of the children that will participate in the program will have to be viewed as a necessity. The Phase 8 of the model implies the assessment of the impact that it will presumably make on the levels of obesity among Hispanic children. Particularly, conclusions regarding way in which the outcomes of the program will inform healthcare experts regarding issue of educating the target demographic regarding importance of healthy nutrition rules should be regarded as an essential objective.
Program Budget
Budget Narrative
Personnel costs
It is assumed that the participants will be provided with the salary that will encourage them to engage in the process of meeting the target population’s needs appropriately and offer extensive services to them. Out of the available amount of money ($100,000), $20,000 will be used to pay the multidisciplinary team that will be involved in the process of providing Hispanic children suffering from obesity with the necessary resources, establishing a dialogue with their parents, offering counseling services, conducting assessments, etc. As shown in Table 1, the amount of money paid to the people participating in the program will depend heavily on their contribution and level of involvement, which will be measured in the hours spent on research, provision of the required services, etc. Thus, the opportunities for meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved will be created.
###Table 1. Personnel Costs.
Expenses                      Amount ($)
Wages and benefits                 20,000  
Affiliations (Choices: Fighting Childhood Obesity) 30,000  
Incentives                     5,000   
Other than personnel services (OTPS)
It should also be borne in mind that the program will require the active use of an array of services associated with information management, transportation of crucial materials, etc. Therefore, corresponding expenses will have to be taken into account as well. It is believed that the specified costs will amount to roughly $15,000. The remaining amount of money will be used to address unexpected costs that may occur due to extraneous circumstances. Thus, the possibility of introducing sustainable management of the available financial assets will be built.
###Table 2. Additional Costs.
Expenses          Amount
Materials and Supplies   20,000
Health Education Materials 5,000 
Equipment          10,000
Information Management   7,500 
Miscellaneous        2,500 
Budget Worksheet
###Table 3. Budget.
Expenses                      Description                                                                                                      Amount
Wages and benefits                 Dieticians, pharmacists, health club operators and instructors, nutritionists, physical therapists, physicians, teachers, nurses, psychologists, schools, universities, churches, NGOs, and social workers       20,000
Affiliations (Choices: Fighting Childhood Obesity) The organization will supply extensive information regarding means of and strategies for addressing the target population and their parents or legal guardians to ensure efficient collaboration.           30,000
Incentives                     In case some of the staff members lack enthusiasm in tending to the needs of children with obesity, or the lack of innovative solutions is observed, incentives will encourage people to be proactive.         5,000 
Materials and Supplies               Equipment for measuring children’s health status, as well as required medications, will have to be provided.                                                      20,000
Health Education Materials             Posters, interactive applications, food resources for the cooking-related part of the program, etc., will have to be acquired.                                             5,000 
Equipment                      Devices for measuring children’s BMI and vital signs, checking their systems, and carrying out an all-embracive assessment will have to be provided.                                  10,000
Information Management               Crucial IT devices for maintaining the communication between the members of the multidisciplinary team, as well as keeping the communication with the community on social media consistent, will have to be provided. 7,500 
Miscellaneous                    Phone bills, internet services, transportation-related costs, etc., will have to be included in the expenses category.                                                 2,500 
Project Timeline
It is expected that the program will be accomplished within 12 months (a year). Thus, a rigid set of stages for its implementation must be followed closely. The participants an members of the program will have to adhere to the stages of program development, its implementation, and evaluation shown in Table 3 (see Table 3 below).
###Table 4. Project Timeline.
Step           Steps                                               Coordinator              Started   Finished  
              * Identifying essential goals and outcomes;                                                          
Program design       * Determining the available resources;                              Organizational leader         07.01.2018 07.08. 2017
              * Creating the environment for successful collaboration; Outlining key program stages                                     
              * Defining information management strategies and tools;                                                    
Managing Resources     * Outlining the framework for sustainable use of the available resources;            Organizational leader         07.01.2018 07.04.2018 
              * Allocating the resources appropriately.                                                           
              * Establishing a dialogue with the community;                                                         
Community Involvement    * Providing them with the necessary information;                         Organizational leader and assistants 07.01.2018 07.20.2018 
              * Encouraging them for further collaboration;                                                         
              * Emphasizing the significance of their support.                                                       
              * Communicating with parents of the children;                                                         
Participants recruitment  * Providing them with informed consent letters;                         Assistants              08.01.2018 08.08.2018 
              * Collecting essential information regardingir children;                                                   
              * Explaining the role of parents in the program                                                        
Program: Stage 1     Carrying out the initial assessment of participants                        Organizational leader and assistants 08.10.2018 08.24.2018 
Program: Stage 2     Providing participants with crucial information about health                    Organizational leader and assistants 09.01.2018 09.14.2018 
Program: Stage 3     Offering children an opportunity to participate in cooking- and diet-related games and activities Organizational leader and assistants 09.15.2018 10.07.2018 
Program: Evaluation    Assessing the participants’ progress                                Organizational leader and assistants 10.10.2018 10.24.2018 
##Conclusions        Evaluating the results and making the necessary conclusions/                    Organizational leader and assistants 10.30.2018 10.30.2018