Prevention of Obesity among Children, Adolescents, and Adults and Prevention of Food Deserts
Social Media Campaign
(B) Community Health Nursing Diagnosis Statement
According to the Healthy People 2020, obesity constitutes one at risk condition in childhood. The body mass index (BMI) of more than 30 is obesity indicator. Numerous issues are likely to arise as a result of obesity, including relationship with others, education, and chronic health concerns. Children with obesity tend to proceed with the condition to adulthood. In fact, prevention of obesity through increased physical activity and healthy nutrition across lifespan could be considered crucial. Given the increase in health problems, it could be inferred that the community health nursing diagnostic is at risk for obesity caused by absence of physical activities and poor nutrition.
(B1) Health Inequity/Disparity
Obesity and other problems are prevalent in Natrona County. According to the Wyoming Department of Health (n.d.), Wyoming and Natrona County reported 29% and 30.6% in terms of obesity rates between 2011 and 2015. In 2014, childhood obesity rates for children aged 10-17 years were 27.1% whereas for those aged 2-4 years it was 9.9%. For Natrona County, socioeconomic status, education, ethnic and racial groups, environmental factors, family factors, and food preferences were cited as contributing factors.
(B1a) Primary community and Prevention Resources
Citizens of Casper City and Natrona County receive prevention resources and primary community resources. Ballet barre, Zumba, forever fit, and barbell program are some of the fitness classes offered at the Casper Recreation Center. Daily group fitness running between 5 a.m. and 7.45 p.m. are offered at Natrona County's Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) facility. Five athletic facilities and 43 parks containing playgrounds are offered by the City of Casper. Health coaching classes, for instance, real food classess and sessions are offered by the Wyoming Medical Center. Additionally, Wyoming has established a nutrition sensitization program called the Cent$ible Nutrition Program (CNP), which helps in reinforcing obesity prevention. Physical activity and nutrition free classes are offered in the program. Besides, educational programs, including canning, preservation, and garden workshops are provided by the Wyoming Food for Thought Project. The Wyoming Food for Thought Project helps in filling up gaps for impoverished children by providing them with food bags on weekends. To tackle childhood obesity, maternal and child health (MCH) services are provided by the City of Casper. For school aged children in Wyoming, physical activity and nutrition that seeks to promote their health through a program called the Wyoming Action for Healthy Kids. Through the program, childhood obesity is prevented and lifelong health achieved using wellness programs and comprehensive programs that are developed and implemented in school districts.
(B1b) Underlying Causes
Sociocultural, environment, psychologic, physiologic and genetic factors are the causes of obesity. According to the CDC (n.d.), education, physical inactivity and activity, and dietary pattern are the contributing factors. Obesity is mainly aggravated by lack of physical activity. Obesity risk is increased by environmental and cultural factors. Obesity could be attributed vending machines, fast -food restaurants, and environmental factors. Powell & Chaloupka (2009) posited that rates of obesity increase with redundant dietary choices. Furthermore, obesity risk could be increased by psychological factors that include boredom, anxiety, and self-esteem. Additionally, obesity risk is influenced by socio-economic status.
(B2) Evidence-Based Practice
Public health practice could be complemented with scientific reasoning from the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). The EBPs for preventing obesity across the lifespan help in understanding obesity risk factors, particularly physical activity and nutrition. Currently, many people have sedentary lifestyles with poor nutrition and are not active. Linsey et al. (2004) posited that physical activity (PA) decreased the risk for disabling and chronic diseases, such as obesity and increased health-related fitness (p. 43). Field assessments on prevention of obesity at a middle school and elementary school in terms of physical activity and nutrition were interesting. Fort Caspar Academy (FCA) is an elementary school that offers 30-minute physical education (PE) sessions for children twice a week. PE class activities differ from fifth graders to kindergarteners. For instance, doing exercises, playing games, and jogging on designated areas are the activities that fifth graders will engage in. Furthermore, children have 20-minute recesses thrice a day. Eighth and sixth graders at Casper Classical Academy (CCA) have PE sessions on daily basis. Each class takes 30 minutes. A fitness program is provided for all children. They run for a distance of one mile around the school. The Natrona County School District (NCSD) takes part in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. The NCSD conforms to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines on child nutrition. The My Plate recommendation is followed by school lunch and breakfast programs. One plate combines dairy products, proteins, vegetables, grains, and fruits. Older adults that are confined within their homes and cannot prepare food on their own receive food from the Meals on Wheels program. Between Monday and Friday, The Meals on Wheels provide food at their offices. The meals they provide are consistent with one-third of the USDA guidelines, and nutritionists determine the type of meals that adults should be given.
(B2a) Identification of Data
The State of Obesity (2017) revealed that Wyoming at position 34 had the highest rate of obesity and among the youth it had the lowest rate of obesity at position 14. However in 2000, there was an increase in obesity rates from 16.6% to 28.8% in 2017. The rate of obesity was 28.6% for individuals above 65 years, 35.4% for those aged between 45 and 64 years, 28.6% for those aged between 26 and 44 years, and 13% for those aged between 18 and 25 years. There was a reduction in the rate of childhood obesity for children aged between 2 and 4 years from 11.8% in 2010 -9.9% in 2014, and in terms of position, it was 49th out of 51 states. Whereas, the combined rate of obesity and overweight for children aged between 10 and 17 years was 27.1% in 2016, and in terms of positioning, it was in 38th out of 51 states.
(C1) Social Media Campaign Objective
The social media campaign sought to reduce the rate of obesity for Natrona County by about 5% at the close of 2019.
(C2) Social Marketing Interventions
YouTube and Facebook constitute two recommended social marketing interventions. Increasing awareness and campaigns on obesity prevention through social marketing constitutes one suitable approach nowadays. Furthermore, social marketing constitutes one strong and effective channel of easily connecting with targeted individuals. Both YouTube and Facebook constitute ideal tools of improving health messages on preventing obesity across lifespans. Because parents could access YouTube and Facebook, they could utilise the information in promoting obesity prevention among children. Obesity prevention awareness among teenagers could be increased through YouTube and Facebook. Creation of hashtag and Facebook pages will be undertaken for the Facebook campaigns. The hashtag campaign would go a long way in increasing obesity awareness among individuals within the County. The hashtags are exemplified by #obesityprevention, #ilovebreastfeeding, #iloveexcercise, and #iloveveggies&fruits. The page would offer information concerning obesity prevention using resources, exercises, and diets. For the YouTube campaign, all schools within Natrona County conduct exercise challenges adorned in different outfits. This helps in creating awareness on the importance of physical activities in childhood.
(C3) Description of Social Media Platform
The Statistics Portal (2018) revealed that there were 2.23 billion active users on Facebook in the second quarter of 2018. There were variations for Facebook users aged between 13 and 65 years and above; nevertheless, the age group with the highest number of Facebook users was that between 25 and 34. There were variations for YouTube users aged between 18 and 75 years and above. Nevertheless, the age category with highest users was that for between 18 and 34 years. In view of this, the social media platforms selected are ideal for interacting with the targeted population in all age groups. The users of YouTube and Facebook post comments in their accounts. Comments will go a long way in creating obesity prevention awareness. Children are likely to have an interest in physical activity if they watch the interactive activities on YouTube.
(C3a) Benefits of Social Media Platform
Increasing knowledge and strengthening attitudes towards obesity prevention through YouTube and Facebook is beneficial. Obesity prevention awareness, including resources, physical activities, and nutrition could be enhanced using Facebook pages. Physical activity experiences and interactive learning can be achieved through YouTube. The two platforms of social media are vital in communicating during campaigns that involve continuous response from users. Besides opening up opportunities, both platforms will increase obesity prevention awareness among communities.
(C4) Benefit to Target Population
Health messages benefitted the targeted population through decreased risk for health conditions and serious diseases, including physical dysfunction, mental health problems, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, low life quality, breathing problem and sleep apnea, stroke, coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and high LDL cholesterol, and hypertension.
(D) Best Practices for Social Media
The CDC offers guidelines on social media toolkit of the health communicator, which is useful in health campaigns. Implementation of Facebook best practices during health marketing involves developing evaluation plans, engaging the content, examining partner pages, developing promotion plans by allowing fans to exchange videos or pages, creating comment policies, providing communication and engagement materials, and understanding the differences between Facebook profiles and Facebook pages.
Implementation of YouTube best practices during health marketing involves creating evaluated plans, including URLs for additional information, thoughtful and careful choice of music, creating promotion plans that connects to other social media platforms, keeping short videos, and preparing relevant content to suit the targeted population.
(E1)Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities
Promotion of physical activities and healthy diets within a community requires the participation of many stakeholders. Numerous responsibilities characterize each role of the stakeholder. Project managers, public health practitioners, school nurses, PE teachers, and parents are tasked with the responsibility of implementing social media campaign plans. Parents could play an important role by encouraging the children to participate in outdoor activities rather than just staying indoors and by providing healthy diets. Through YouTube, parents could encourage their children to engage in physical activity challenges and through Facebook, parents could share opinions. Physical education teachers could provide useful tips regarding physical activities on Facebook pages and direct children to engage in physical activity challenges using YouTube. Public health practitioners and school nurses can use the Facebook page to provide good tips on healthy diets and to monitor the health of adults and children. The responsibility of managing YouTube and Facebook page falls on project managers. Successful social media campaigns depend on project managers. Editing posts, handling and determining social media campaign comments, and promoting YouTube and Facebook pages is the role of project managers.
(E2) Potential Public and Private Partnerships
The City of Casper Park Division, the NERD Health and Wellness Center, the Casper Recreation Center, the YMCA, the Natrona County WIC Program, the Casper-Natrona County Health Department, the Meals on Wheels, the Cen$ible Nutrition Program, the Wyoming Food for Thought, grocery stores, local healthcare providers, and school district are potential private and public partners. By encouraging schools to enroll in the challenge on YouTube, school districts could promote physical activities. Promotion of healthy cooked meals at home and healthy food choice on Facebook pages could be boosted by the Natrona County WIC program, the NERD Health and Wellness Center, the Meals on Wheels, the Cen$ible Nutrition Program, the Wyoming Food for Thought, and grocery stores. Provision of information regarding exercise and promotion of physical activities on YouTube and Facebook page could be achieved with the assistance from City of Casper Park Division, the NERD Health and Wellness Center, the Casper Recreation Center, and the YMCA.
(E3) Timeline
It will take one year to implement the campaign that will be split into four stages. The first stage commences from the first month of social media campaigns to the third month of social media campaigns. In phase one, stakeholder information regarding prevention of obesity will be obtained. The role of the project manager will include meeting with donors and stakeholders over the social media campaign, assessing the readiness, drafting the plans, setting up working goals, and social media campaign objectives. Phase two commences from the fourth month and ends in the sixth month. Here, revising and reviewing goals, and planning the kick-off of the campaign will be the role of the project manager. Planning physical activity challenges and creating a Facebook will constitute the functions of the project manager. Phase three commences from the seventh month and ends in the ninth month. This phase marks the readiness of launching the campaign. A Facebook page with hashtags regarding how obesity could be prevented will be released by the project manager. The project manager would visit different schools on daily basis to record physical activity challenges and upload the videos on YouTube. Phase four commences from the tenth month to the twelfth month. The social media campaign will be evaluated in this phase. The project manager would compile a final report about the campaign and provide stakeholders with appreciation letters.
(E3) Timeline
It will take one year to implement the campaign that will be split into four stages. The first stage commences from the first month of social media campaigns to the third month of social media campaigns. In phase one, stakeholder information regarding prevention of obesity will be obtained. The role of the project manager will include meeting with donors and stakeholders over the social media campaign, assessing the readiness, drafting the plans, setting up working goals, and social media campaign objectives. Phase two commences from the fourth month and ends in the sixth month. Here, revising and reviewing goals, and planning the kick-off of the campaign will be the role of the project manager. Planning physical activity challenges and creating a Facebook will constitute the functions of the project manager. Phase three commences from the seventh month and ends in the ninth month. This phase marks the readiness of launching the campaign. A Facebook page with hashtags regarding how obesity could be prevented will be released by the project manager. The project manager would visit different schools on daily basis to record physical activity challenges and upload the videos on YouTube. Phase four commences from the tenth month to the twelfth month. The social media campaign will be evaluated in this phase. The project manager would compile a final report about the campaign and provide stakeholders with appreciation letters.
(E4) Evaluation
Questionnaire surveys and online surveys are ideal tools for evaluating the campaign. Information and opinions from Facebook members was gathered by the campaign project manager using SurveyMonkey. Similarly, the project manager could request teachers to assist in distributing survey questionnaires by accompanying children to their homes. The questionnaire surveys focus on physical activity challenge campaigns and whether the videos encourage adults and children to engage in more physical activities.
(E5) Cost of Implementing the Campaign
Signing up for YouTube and Facebook is free. However, financial support will be required to implement specific aspects of social media campaign, including healthy prizes for participants of physical activity challenge, office supplies, and travelling costs. No wages will be paid because participation of stakeholders was voluntary.
(F) Reflection on Social Media Marketing
The community health nurse can benefit from use of social media marketing by improving individual health. Members of the social media could support one another, share opinions, access information on health. Prompt access to social media applications for all individuals can be done. Additionally, sharing of experiences and free access to information on health concerns for all individuals is possible. The Casper-Natrona County Health Department, the Z-Pac Tribetalk, and the CDC Facebook page exemplify social media applications. Disease prevention and health promotion information is provided on CDC Facebook page. October 15th, dubbed the global handwashing day, exemplify one health promotion initiative. The Z-Pac Tribetalk constitutes a Facebook page. Matters of healthcare are discussed by members of the page. Vaccination awareness is promoted through the Z-Pac Tribetalk's page. Public health promotion that include breastfeeding awareness, mental health disorder awareness, and vaccination promotion constitute the function of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department's page. Birth defect prevention, child safety prevention, and cancer prevention awareness are raised by the Casper-Natrona County Health Department's page.
(F1) Reflection on Future Nursing Practice
The future nursing practice could benefit immensely from use of social media campaigns. Target populations could be reinforced and public health behavior influenced when nurses use social media campaigns. Promotion of community health and individual health using YouTube channel and Facebook can be achieved by nurses. Through both platforms, nurses are able to share their professional views with the communities. The best means of making everyone within the community healthier is through disease prevention and health promotion. Direct delivery of health information to the targeted population by nurses could be achieved through social media campaigns; in view of this, targeted population could link with the providers when there are issues relating to their health. Additionally, the targeted population could connect with individuals with similar interests. For facilitation of best practice within the communities and expansion of their knowledge, social media campaigns could be used by nurses.