Background and Methodology of the Research Process to Problems in Health Care Essay Example for Free

Background and Methodology of the Research Process to Problems in Health Care Essay Background and Methodology of the Research Process to Problems in Health Care Childhood Obesity HCS/465 August 2, 2012 Donald Steacy Introduction The purpose of the paper is to show how to develop and understand methodology of the research process when pertaining to health care. The process consists of retrieving a peer-reviewed article and applying the research methodology to the article selected. The article selected for the research methodology was Childhood Obesity: A Global Public Health Crisis written by Sameera Karnik and Amar Kanekar written January 2012. Based on the information in the article will help determine the methods of defining the problem, the purpose of the study, research questions, hypothesis, study variables, conceptual model, the review of related literature and the study design of the selected article. Definition of Problem The problem addressed in the article is childhood obesity. â€Å"Childhood obesity is a major public health crisis nationally and internationally† (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012, para. 1. ) The concerns for childhood obesity have grown to a government level requiring action to help children to eat healthy and encourage physical activity. One of the causes for childhood obesity is an imbalance between calorie intake and calories utilized. Several factors such as genetics, behavioral and environmental can enhance the chances of childhood obesity. The concerns for childhood obesity have grown as well as the number of children suffering from this condition. The importance to educate parents and children on eating healthy has become vital to children’s health. The urgency to stop the epidemic of obesity is because children can develop long-term illnesses. The illnesses contracted due to childhood obesity are diabetes, heart disease, physical and social health problems. Purpose of Study The purpose of the study is to determine how to tackle childhood obesity at a population level by education, prevention, and sustainable interventions (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012). Further education is required for parents and children to help promote healthy eating and provide nutritional facts. Parent education is vital to help parents understand how their practices for healthy eating may not be effective and how to improve parenting skills in nutrition. Educating parents, facilities and children is required to show how to promote healthy eating; physical activity can prevent long-term illnesses. Intervention for parents of those children currently suffering from childhood obesity is vital to help with knowing good nutrition vs. bad nutrition. Intervention will also help parents understand about how to help their children eat healthy, help with physical activity and eliminate the chances of long-term illnesses Research Questions Is childhood obesity about a matter of genetics, poor eating habits, behavioral factors or lack of physical activity? Hypothesis Why is childhood obesity a growing concern for the United States and internationally? a. Childhood obesity can be a genetic issue b. Childhood obesity exists due to lack of physical activity c. Childhood obesity can cause diabetes, heart disease, social and psychological issues d. Childhood obesity exists because of poor eating habits Study Variables The independent variable would consist of the following question: poor eating habits leads to childhood obesity? The dependent variable consists of child hood obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease, social and psychological concerns. Conceptual Model The meaning of a conceptual model is a type of diagram, which shows the relationship between factors that impact or lead to a target condition or a diagram that shows the theoretical entities and the relationship between them. The conceptual diagram above reflects the relationship between poor eating habits, genetics and poor physical activity that leads to childhood obesity. The contributing factors listed above all contribute to childhood obesity if not properly taken into consideration by parents. Literature Review Childhood obesity has become an epidemic over the years nationally and internationally. The increasingly amount of children suffering from childhood obesity has grown over the years. One or more factors contribute to the development of childhood obesity. Such factors are genetics, behavioral (poor eating habits) and environmental (physical activity). Childhood obesity can cause physical, psychological, and social health problems (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012). On the other hand, the most recent strategy used is interventions to prevent and control childhood obesity (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012,). The purpose of the article is to discover the factors influencing childhood obesity as well as the use of various interventions and governmental actions addressing obesity while getting an understanding of the challenges for managing the epidemic. Study Design The study design used in the article research was he historical study design. The authors of the article used scholarly articles from Medline, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) to determine the factors of childhood obesity (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012). The authors also collected data from a time span of 1999 – 2011 to further gain details from the selected sources to draw a conclusion of analysis. The utilization of the scholarly resources was used to determine the contributing factors for the epidemic of childhood obesity. If interventions such as school based, family based, community based, play based and hospital based are an effective way to address childhood obesity (Karnik amp; Kaneka, 2012). The authors did not study a particular organization but rather used a variety of sources to further their research method. Conclusion Overall, the research process is very extensive and certain methods are used to help gather information. The process starts with retrieving a scholarly peer-reviewed article pertaining to healthcare. After determining, what topic to use it is important to use these methods gain knowledge of analysis.