Obesity is identified as a major challenge in the health sector all across the world. It is mainly considered as a major challenge to the children in the developed countries. In America, there has been an increase in the rate of obese children that have become a worrying problem. Obesity is a major concern since it only acts as a catalyst to the developments of other medical complications such as heart disease and other complications. This paper will show the results of an extensive study about the study of this problem. The study reviews qualitative study of the method used in which the participants were either obese children or their mothers.
The data to be collected will be both qualitative and quantitative. On the qualitative part, the study will focus to establish the background of the participants. This will include financial background of the participants and their family structure. This is to help establish whether there is any relationship between the financial stability of patients and their conditions. It will also help to establish the role a person’s diet plays in contributing to the obesity problem.
On the quantitative part, it will focus on establishing the number of family members who are obese in the participant’s family. It will also identify the frequency of fast foods that are consumed. It will be established whether there is a connection between the rate at which the children consumes fast foods and the rate at which the children become obese. The study will involve face to face interview with the participants who will be expected to respond to preset questions.
An online survey will also be needed in this research. This is to cater for the many people that cannot be accessed physically; online platform is the most effective way of reaching out to as many people as possible. The survey will not only be limited to children, but it will also be open to their parents who will contribute to the issue. A blog should be created specifically targeting the discussion; the blog will then be popularized through social media. Through the blog, people will be able to interact with each other where obese children will be free to air the challenges they go through and how they cope with them.
The interview is projected to be as short as possible and to be respondent friendly. No personal questions will be asked if the respondent is not willing to disclose it and the personal questions asked will be flexible to allow the interviewer to adjust them according to the respondent. The strategic places identified include near the fast food restaurants and also at the hospitals on the non- communicable diseases section (Owen & Koh, 2010). The study will also focus on the frequency of treatment that the obese children get and also whether they have changed their diet plans and their body activities since they were diagnosed with the condition. Following are some of the questions that will be asked:-
1. Age of the respondent
2. Genes and family history with obesity
3. Health complications
4. Medication
5. Financial background
6. Diet of the obese children.
7. Level of exercise
8. Frequency of medical attention
9. Any complications as a result of being obese
Detailed components of the foodstuff served by various cafeterias and fast food joints may also help in this research. It will be important to determine the role the diet the children take have to lay on their conditions. There might be a genetic problem in the family, but also, the problem might be created as a result of having a diet that has a high amount of calories. Must additional materials about the obese population (Mela, 2010)? What will be collected in the study will just be a sample. In order to determine whether a sample is a good representation of the whole population, health records of the obese people will be required so that a comparison can be made between the obtained details and recorded details.
Drawing graphs to show the relationship between various factors that influence obesity is one of the best ways of analyzing the data. Graphs show a clear relationship between two objects from the first glance. The relationship between two factors which will include either the rate of obesity and financial background or obesity rate and the family genes with obesity will be clearly shown using the graphs and charts (Gibbs, 2012).
The main issue to be raised on this study is the confidentiality. Many people who will participate including children will need to be assured of the confidentiality if they are to give a positive response. The respondents might not be willing to participate in an interview if there are chances of leaks in the information. For this reason, the data collected should only be unanimous and should not focus on very personal aspects. Issues like the name of the respondents should be left out so as to ensure the respondent is comfortable with the interview.
References
Gibbs, G. (2012). Analysing Qualitative Data. New York: SAGE.
Mela, D. (2010). Food, Diet and Obesity. Oxford: Elsevier.
Owen, W., & Koh, E. (2010). Introduction to Nutrition and Health Research. New York: Springer.
