For this discussion, you will obtain monitoring data analyzed within a Healthy People objective, and then interpret this information for its influence on the decision-making process.

Step 1—Healthy People Data Visualization: Visit the DATA2030 database for Healthy People (i.e., the Data Search tab on www.HealthyPeople.gov ). From the Topic Area (Chosen Topic – Cancer) drop-down menu, select any area of interest (Chose – Cancer

C-3 Reduce the female breast cancer death rate

Revised

. Click the Search button to review search results. On the results page, scroll through the entries and select one (1) Healthy People Objective that has a View Chart button. This will open a new page that depicts a visual representation of this Healthy People objective’s data. Take a screenshot of this data visualization (you will insert this into your initial post).
Step 2—Public Health Research, Policy, or Practice: Use the Shapiro Library and identify a peer-reviewed journal article pertaining to the topic area you selected in Step 1. The article should be published in a public-health specific (i.e., nonmedical) journal and should involve research, policy, or practice within the topic area. Download the full text of this article and review it carefully.
Using the data visualization (from Step 1) and the journal article (from Step 2), please proceed with your initial discussion post.

In your discussion post, please address the following:

Part 1—Explanation of Topic Area and Data Visualization (100 words): First, summarize the topic area and indicate the selected Healthy People Objective. Interpret the findings/trends from the data visualization. Is progress being made towards the desired outcome? Please explain your rationale for interpreting the data in this manner. Include a screenshot of the visual with your submission.
Part 2—Summary of Journal Article (100 words): Discuss the public health research, policy, or practice and its relationship to the Healthy People Objective identified in Part 1.
Part 3—Connecting Data Trends and Decision Making (100 words): Imagine that you are a health professional who (co)authored the selected journal article. How would the Healthy People data visualization inform the decisions you make? What would you have done differently compared to the actual author(s)? Please explain your rationale and provide examples.

8-1 Discussion Response Posts: Evidence-Based Public Health Decisions

For this discussion respond individually and separately to the following 2 posts, ask questions to increase the clarity of the responses and your understanding. Also, provide your thoughts on how a public health organization could respond to the findings to help improve the corresponding health issue in their community. Is further research necessary? Is there a program addressing this issue in place? Does a new program or policy need to be created? Think about how a public professional would try to address the issue this data has identified.

Using the latest Healthy People data and resources, visit the Healthy People 2030 site.

Submission Guidelines: 1 to 2 paragraphs Times New Roman 12-point font, 2-3 APA (7^th Edition) Reference citations. Please include correct in-text citations.

Post 1

Children and Adolescents with Obesity: NWS-04

Robert Marfia

Overweight and obese individuals is a well-documented issue in the United States tracked by Healthy People 2030. The issue has been either directly tracked in some capacity or a strongly related objective has been tracked since the inception of Health People in 1990. I’m specifically interested in the proportion of obese kids (children and adolescents ages 2 thru 19 years).

The above graphic displays data available and shows a target percentage of 15.5% with 17.8% of the measured population being obese from 2013-2016 and 19.7 percent from 2017-2020. I went back to Healthy People 2020 to see additional data for the similarly named objective displayed below which displays the trend has been increasing since at least 2005-2008.

We are now to the point where approximately 1 in 5 kids are obese and 1 in 3 are overweight (Cecchini & Sassi, 2015) and we have not many any progress towards the current or previously set Health People objective outcomes. If we were to look back to the beginning of the millennium, we would see that obesity in adults increased 1.5 times and has doubled for children aged 5 thru 19 (Ju-Suk, 2022). The trend is that the number of individuals that are overweight and obese continues to increase year after year. Chen et. al (2018) discusses that by 2030 half of the U.S. population will be obese.

For this assignment I reviewed the study in the Public Health journal by Chen et. al (2018) in detail titled: Obesity trend in the United States and economic intervention options to change it: A simulation study linking ecological epidemiology and system dynamics modeling. In this study, the authors review economic interventions that may have a positive effect on the current obesity trends within the United States. One takeaway from their model was that if the current trends continue the overweight and obesity rates would be over 78% by 2051 in the United States which is in line with historical trends (Chen et. al, 2018). Additionally, the model suggested that if individual income groups were improved from lower to middle income groups (defined by federal poverty level groups) then it may result in a decrease in the prevalence of overweight or obesity but there are many other considerations that need to occur. One of the considerations discussed is that identification of the correct economic intervention is of most importance since adverse effects were found based on various intervention types. The final conclusion was that reemployment along with increased income may be the combination needed to reverse the current obesity epidemic (Chen et. al, 2018).

I think the data visualization from the Healthy People website reinforces the perspective of the study in that obesity is a serious epidemic that shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. The research provided an interesting perspective on one potential way to provide benefits in line with the aforementioned Healthy People objectives. We all have learned about the critical impacts of SES/SEP on public health throughout this program. The only change I may have introduced to this study would be additional socio-economic factors to analyze additional relationships. We already know there is a clear inverse relationship between familial income and obesity rates for children and adolescents in addition to adults. As family income increases the percentage of obese individuals decreases (ODPHP, 2020). I would hypothesize that additional socioeconomic variables such as race and location are a significant predictor for individuals at risk for obesity. The obesity epidemic is becoming increasingly costly due to comorbidities and it’s not going to be a one size fits all intervention to end it. Just like weight loss itself, it didn’t occur overnight and you certainly can’t undo it overnight.

References

Cecchini, M., & Sassi, F. (2015). Preventing Obesity in the USA: Impact on Health Service Utilization and Costs. PharmacoEconomics, 33(7), 765-776. https://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fpreventing-obesity-usa-impact-on-health-service%2Fdocview%2F1716012268%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D3783

Chen, H. J., Xue, H., Liu, S., Huang, T., Wang, Y. C., & Wang, Y. (2018). Obesity trend in the United States and economic intervention options to change it: A simulation study linking ecological epidemiology and system dynamics modeling. Public health, 161, 20–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.01.013

Joosse, L., Stearns, M., Anderson, H., Hartlaub, P., & Euclide, J. (2008). Fit Kids/Fit Families: a report on a countywide effort to promote healthy behaviors. WMJ: official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin, 107(5), 231–236.

Ju Suk Lee, Mi Hyeon Jin, & Hae Jeong Lee. (2022). Global relationship between parent and child obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical & Experimental Pediatrics, 65(1), 35–46. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.3345/cep.2020.01620

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2020). Overweight and Obesity. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/overweight-and-obesity

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents with obesity — NWS‑04. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/overweight-and-obesity/reduce-proportion-children-and-adolescents-obesity-nws-04/data?group=All+groups&state=United+States&from=2013&to=2020&populations=&op=Show+Data

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Post 2

8-1 Discussion: Evidence-Based Public Health Decisions

Purvi Patel

Part 1

Adolescents need at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, including muscle-strengthening activities at least 3 days a week. Physical activity improves heart, muscle, bone, and mental health in adolescents. Strategies at the community and family level and in schools and childcare centers can promote physical activity in adolescents.

Part 2

Physical education is very important as a physical activity for school-aged children. “Differences and Associations Between Physical Activity Motives and Types of Physical Activity Among Adolescent Boys and Girls” is an article aiming to motivate adolescents to increase physical activity (Fromel, 2022). A few goals that this article wanted to achieve was to first, identify the differences and associations between physical motives and types of physical activities in boys and girls. The level of motivation seen in boys versus girls was also observed. The research involved 2,149 Czech and 1,927 Polish adolescents aged 15–19 years (Fromel, 2022). The highest differences between both the low and high motivated boys and girls are between recreation physical activity and all types of motivation. Enjoyment, competence, and appearance motives in both boys and girls increased the likelihood of achieving physical activity recommendations. The decrease in physical activity motives among girls calls for an increased attention to gender differences and the greater application of appearance motives in girls (Fromel, 2022).

Part 3

Based on the Healthy People PA-7 objective, there have been gradual but no significant changes. Reviewing this data helped to understand the impact the specific programs for physical activities had on adolescents and it allowed decision-making to be more informed based on specific needs. This research was done before COVID-19, therefore I think seeing comparison of before and after would give a good perspective behavior wise.

Reference

Frömel, K., Groffik, D., Šafář, M., & Mitáš, J. (2022). Differences and Associations between Physical Activity Motives and Types of Physical Activity among Adolescent Boys and Girls. BioMed Research International, 1–13. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1155/2022/6305204