Defining and describing the issue
The school-aged children experience many health challenges caused by poor diet. Children and young adults spend most of their time in school, and many have meals made in schools. The nutrition quality of these meals has a lot of impact on the health outcome of the child; hence, need to create a standard nutrition guideline that determines the type of food, the type of ingredients, and amount served to children during lunches. Many governments have implemented policies and legislations on school meals to prevent children from consuming unhealthy and unbalanced diets. The following paper uses the Local School Wellness Policy to address the issue of the lack of proper nutritional guidelines in schools to promote quality health and individual wellbeing of school-going children.
Background of the issue
The U.S. federal government lacks effective policy that seeks to address the issue of nutrition among school-going children. Schools should offer healthy meals to children all the time to promote healthy living and prevent the occurrence of non-communicable diseases. The need for effective nutrition guidelines for schools started back in 1977 when the Senate selected a Committee to recommend dietary goals for Americans. The government has been working closely with these committees to formulate new legislations for addressing different changes that have taken place since 1977 with the latest being the seventh edition of the Dietary Guideline (National Institute of Health, 2015). Health and nutrition stakeholders create new policies with new standards to meet health and nutrition needs of the current school-going generation.
Stakeholders
The main stakeholders involved in the developing the solution for the issue include the representatives from the ministry of education, teachers representatives, parent representatives, nutrition and diet experts, the government, and lawmakers.
Issue statement/statement of clarity
Poor nutritional guidelines for schools and colleges cause the high prevalence of obesity and overweight among school-aged children and youths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics shows the prevalence of obesity ranges between 17 to 20 percent affecting more than 12 million children and adolescents between ages of 2-19 years over the past decades (CDC, 2014). The lack of appropriate nutritional guideline programs for schools acts as the main cause of the problem. Introducing new meal patterns for school meals, especially lunches, through proper legislations and policy guidelines, would help get a solution to the problem.
Figure 1: Prevalence of childhood obesity in US (Scinta, 2014)
Possible methods of addressing the issue
The most significant method of addressing the issue is through identifying and addressing a current policy by the U.S. federal government that focuses on providing nutritional guidelines and developing alternatives that help increase the policy’s effectiveness. All stakeholders’ mentions have a big role to play in influencing the outcome of the proposed solution. Federal regulations help in ensuring stakeholders’ adherence to the planned change.
Goals and options for change
Successful implementation of the change process will have the following goals. First, the change aims at ensuring all schools in the United States follow the federally reimbursable school nutrition program. The goal allows stakeholders to create rules and regulations that prevent schools from administering meals to children that are of low standards; hence, affecting their health. Second, the change process will improve the health status of the community. Successful implementation of the policy will have significant positive outcomes in the practice of nursing and healthcare. Nurses will utilize their skills and experiences to educate the society on good nutritional guidelines that promote good health among children. According to Massachusetts Department of Public Health (2012), school nurses play important roles in ensuring children maintain healthy diets in school and at home by developing initiatives to promote good nutrition.
Risks and benefits of the change
Risks
The Local School Wellness policy offers an opportunity for schools to practice good nutritional guidelines to promote a healthy lifestyle among school-aged students. The plan will cost the federal government more revenues to fund the program, which may create economic risks. The government must set aside funds meant for creating awareness to children and parents, implementing different programs in all schools, and for continuous running of the program. Second, the change introduces risks on children's health. The program involves changes in diet and introduction of physical activities that may cause a significant impact on children's health especially because of changes in dietary intake.
Benefits
The successful implementation of the proposed change process brings many benefits to the country and the community. The change process will have significant benefits students by improving their health and eating habits that eventually creates positive academic outcomes. The new policy offers schools with specific guidelines on meal requirements for school lunches that ensure students take balanced diets. Good nutrition plays a critical role in influencing the academic performance of the student. Planning for a healthy meal during lunchtime by giving children food rich in proteins, whole grain, fruits, and salads helps improve the student’s concentration in class (Kid’s Health, 2014).
Second, the change process will have a significant positive outcome on the health outcome of students leading to reduced hospital visits and the growth of a healthy future generation. The policy creates regulations that reduce opportunities for competitive foods that contribute to poor health outcomes among school-aged children. The program will influence children’s eating habits and food choices by promoting a healthy diet; hence, reduced prevalence of chronic diseases among the young generation (Division of Adolescent and School Health & National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2011).
Evaluating Methodology
The policy change process will undergo different stages to ensure its compatibility with US Federal Nutritional Guidelines for school lunches. The effectiveness of a policy intervention, implementation, and processes depends on the methodological approach applied by people involved in planning for change. The first process in evaluating the methodology involves testing its ability to address the program goals. The method used to implement proposed change should consider the goal of the program to ensure successful implementation. Second, the evaluation focuses on stakeholders’ demands. Engagement of stakeholders in different change processes leads to the successful implementation of the program. Finally, the methodology will be evaluated on its ability to meet different federal standards and health benefits. Healthcare providers and diet experts will be interviewed to get their views on the proposed change to make it more effective.
Recommendations
The healthcare sector continues to experience significant challenges in managing population health because of an increase in unhealthy behaviors. The Local School Wellness Policy offers a better solution to unhealthy eating behaviors among school-aged children by providing schools with regulations that guide on the types of food to offer to children. Changes recommended ensuring adherence to US Federal Nutrition Guidelines for school lunches are as follows. First, the policy should provide guidelines for both public and private schools to increase the scope of coverage and ensure more children benefit from the program. Second, the federal, state and local government should plan for visits to all schools to conduct an inspection of the diet offered to schools. Schools that fail to comply with new guidelines should undergo thorough disciplinary actions. Finally, the government should introduce public awareness programs to educate parents on the importance of observing good dietary practices at homes. Figure 2 represents the ideal lunchtime meal nutritional guide that schools should adopt to promote healthy eating habits.
Figure 2: A nutritional guide for a balanced lunchtime meal for a schoolchild (Source: Chan, 2016)
References
CDC. (2014, Sep. 3). Childhood obesity facts. Overweight & Obesity. Retrieved 25 May 2016
Division of Adolescent and School Health & National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion. (2011, Sep 16). School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Chan T.H. (2016). The Nutrition Source. Harvard: School of Public Health.
Kid’s Health. (2014). Nutrition Can Greatly Impact Your Child’s Learning Ability. Food &
Health. Retrieved 25 May 2016 from http://www.timigustafson.com/2012/nutrition-can-greatly-impact-your-childs-learning-ability/#sthash.WtRuqzBq.dpuf
Massachusetts Department of Public Health. (2012, June). Health students, healthy schools:
Revised Guidance for Implementing the Massachusetts School Nutrition Standards for Competitive Foods and Beverages. Department of Public Health.
National Institute of Health. (2013). 2015 dietary guidelines advisory committee. DGAC
Meeting 1: Materials and presentations. Retrieved 23 May 2016 from http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-BINDER/meeting1/historyCurrentUse.aspx
Scinta, W. (2014, Sep 25). Childhood Obesity - What Do You Know? Euco. Retrieved 25 May
2016 from http://www.myeuco.com/news/2016/1/29/childhood-obesity-what-do-you-know
World Health Organization. (2011). Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2010.
Geneva: WHO Press
