Step 1- Big Picture- Purpose and Scope of the Assessment – 5 pts

Rationale-Briefly describe the health issue and the goals/objectives (HP 2020) for your specific
target. Do not explain the disease mechanism but what it is, why it matters (1 paragraph).

PA-5 Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in daily school physical education.
There is a significant lack of students participating in physical education (PE) in schools across
America. According to HP2020, “33.3 percent of adolescents participated in daily school
physical education in 2009.” 31% of children are considered obese in the Unites States, (Annie
E. Casey Foundation). The high childhood obesity rate correlate to the lack of participation in
school’s physical education. Using results from a survey I did at Moscow Middle School from
another class, most students do not enjoy their schools PE program and they would likely better
participate if PE was more “Fun.” With the increase of sedentary lifestyles in both adolescents
and adults, physical activity is needed to decrease obesity in both categories.

Step 2- Quality of Life and Social Assessment- 15 pts

 Demographics and Social and Economic Factors- Select a county/city and state for
your project. Use the following tools and/or the Community Commons.
http://quickfacts.census.gov,
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml and/or the Community
Commons http://www.communitycommons.org/
You decide which demographic and social context information is MOST important to
your topic. All projects should describe the population (age, race/ethnicity), education
and poverty. Add at least 4 other data points that relate to your topic. Display your
findings in table form (example provided in class). (10 pts.)

Moscow Idaho
Population 23,800 1,567,582
White 22,567 1,493,155
Black 244 10,433
American Indian 169 21,454
Asian 873 21,630
Hispanic 1,164 195,589
Healthy Weight 35%
Overweight 38.3%
Obese 26.7%
No Physical Activity 19.4%

 In 1-2 paragraphs describe what you learned about the quality of life in your area. (5
pts.)

The city of Moscow Id, is not as diverse as I thought. Once I think about it I realized that
my findings above are probably based of permanent residents of Moscow and not
counting University of Idaho students. Moscow seems to not have many active people
 which surprises me with all the outdoorsy and activities to do around here. Only 35% of
the population is at a healthy weight, 38.3% is considered overweight, and a crazy 26.7%
is obese which I find extremely hard to fathom. I could not find Idaho as a whole that
compares obesity and physical activity, etc. but I can imagine that Moscow has a lower
percentage because of all the outdoor activities Moscow has to offer.

Step 3-Epidemiological Assessment- Discuss the related health data in terms of

morbidity/mortality, disability prevalence/incidence and/or trends – (health outcomes, not health
behaviors). The Community Commons reports on most common data. 10 pts.
 Share findings in chart/graph or table form (can upload from Community Commons).
Number any table/figures used and refer to it by number if your text.

Obesity doesn’t directly lead to death but it can lead to other significant chronic or acute
illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery/vascular disease, heart
attack, stroke and cancer which can all lead to death.

Mortality by Obesity per year in the Unites States

Heart Disease 633,842 23.4%
Stroke 140,323 5.1%
Diabetes 79,535 2.9%
Cancer 595,930 22.5%

Mortality by Obesity per year in the Idaho

Heart Disease 2, 825 20%
Cancer 2,849 22%
Stroke 641 5%
Diabetes 403 3%

 Write 1-2 paragraphs discussing the epidemiological data findings. Are the risks worse,
the same or better than state or national levels? Discuss any health disparities that exist.
See the CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report
http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/CHDIReport.html

Idaho state mortality rates by specific factors of obesity are extremely comparable to that
those at the National level. The biggest different is of heart disease, at the state level 20%
of deaths are caused by heart disease and in the US 23.4% of deaths are caused from
heart disease. My biggest explanation of this could be the difference of eating, I noticed
that south has a such higher rate of death from heart disease and I understand there is
much more fried/greasy food down in southern states. Besides heart disease, every other
mortality rate that can be caused from obesity is comparable to the rest of the country. I
was hoping to find more mortality rates of adolescents but there is not much research out
there, especially from deaths from obesity.

Step 4- Health Behavior Data -This step identifies behavior and lifestyle risks for health issues.
  Briefly, describe the health behavior/lifestyle factors related to your health topic. Use
behavior risk factor surveillance data (age appropriate data) and at least one source of
literature to understand what health behaviors matter most. 15 pts

Nowadays children are such more sedentary then in the past. The more screen time
means there is less physical activity time. “Every day, children ages 8 to 13 spend nearly
6 hours watching TV, playing video games or on the computer,” (US Department of
Health & Human Services). The more time children spend in front of the TV or other
screens directly correlates to their weight and health. As mentioned above, 31% of
children from 10 to 17 are categorized as obese or overweight. “Nearly half (47%) of
children in the United States do not exercise regularly,” (Annie E. Casey Foundation). By
promoting physical activity, limiting screen time and encouraging healthy eating,
childhood obesity rates will decrease. Not only in Idaho, but nationwide.

 Which behavior factors are most important and changeable and what supports your
conclusion?

I believe limiting screen time is the most important changeable behavior actor. With
technology constantly changing and new ideas are happening, there is a significant
increase of screen time in the United States compared to 20 years ago. Parents play a
huge role in this. 1/3 of adolescents have a TV in their bedroom which encourages a
sedentary lifestyle, if parents can decrease the amount of technology and distractions in a
children’s life, they will participate in more physical activity.

Step 5- Environmental Data- see four types of environmental data described in class-10 pts
 Which of the 4 environmental factors are most important to change (natural and physical
environment, social environment, political environment- laws, policies and/or economic
environment). What data is available for your health topic? Discuss your findings.

Social environments play a huge role in physical activity. Many people strive off
motivation and determination from their peers while participating in physical activity.
Gyms and specific schools that offer physical education classes can be expensive so those
in a poorer environment might have an issue participation in the activity they need. It is
also proven that different races are more prone to obesity. Out of adults, 47.8% of
African Americans are obese, 42.5% of Hispanics, and 32.6% of whites are obese. There
is not exactly a specific reason of why these rates are significantly different but I can
imagine the different social environments and lifestyles can have a impact on obesity
rates of different races.

 What primary data is needed to learn about environmental factors and what methods
could you use to obtain it? (e.g., photo voice, observations, surveys, interviews, etc.)
Discuss what methods you suggest.

Of all the social environment data, I found involving fitness or obesity only uses adults. I
would like data using adolescents specifically but I believe that rates will be similar since
 children often take over similar lifestyles as their parents. I suggest using surveys to gain
more information of social environments in children and how it affects obesity and
physical activity, comparing this information to rates in adults would be interesting and
beneficial to understanding to decreasing obesity.

Step 6- Identifying the Program Purpose -This step answers the question what makes it easy
or hard to adopt healthy behaviors and what most impacts behavioral and environmental factors.
Use peer reviewed sources (empirical/experimental) – 20 pts.
 Predisposing Factors- Assess knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and self-efficacy
 Find and discuss the findings of at least 2 articles with research on the predisposing
factors related to your topic. (Use search terms like factors, predictors, perceptions, self-
efficacy, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. What did you learn? Mastery >2 articles
Marina A Njelekela did a study assessing the attitudes towards childhood obesity in
schools. She noticed childhood obesity has increased over the past two decades and is
likely to continue through adulthood. Of 446 children included in the analysis only 51.1%
of students heard about obesity from their teachers in class, 45.4% had knowledge of risk
factors relating to obesity. In conclusion, there was a lack of knowledge about childhood
obesity in schools and had a negative attitude towards obese children. I learned obese
children are over looked in school and do not get the opportunity to improve their
wellbeing in school. Children did not receive knowledge of obesity such as how to
prevent it, and even that they are obese.

 Discuss the primary data that is needed to better understand the predisposing factors of
this population.

This study was taken in Tanzania, I would like to see more studies taken in the United
states in different areas such as all states and compare findings to different demographics
and see what regions do the best jobs of maintaining childhood obesity and help the ones
that don’t do a great job improve.

 What primary data collection tools do you suggest for your topic and why?

I like the study was done, it showed concrete evidence that there is a lack of knowledge
of childhood obesity in students and even compared to the number of obese children
which correlates with the lack of knowledge.

 Enabling Factors-What enabling factors are important to this topic: availability of

resources, services, standards, policies, etc. that help make the healthy choice easy and help
reject the unhealthy behavior? What needs to be changed, maintained, and abandoned? 5
pts

Policies are a huge factor of my topic. Every state and even every school district have
different requirements of promoting health and physical activity at their schools. I think if
there was nationwide guidelines that made schools teach the importance of physical
activity to their students, and required a certain amount of time a day of physical activity
 it can help decrease childhood obesity. Even ideas such as monkey bars in the hallways
can create more physical activity that is fun.

 Reinforcing Factors- If you know the community, discuss the people and community
assets that would reinforce your health topic positively. If you don’t know the community,
write about the types of reinforcement that would help improve the health issue. 5 pts

School administration is needed to improve my health issue because they have the power
to change the school and how the school deal with health issues such as childhood
obesity and give their students hope and confidence to change for the better and give
them the resources to do so.

Steps 7- Validating needs and conclusion- Review Steps 1-6 and answer: (5 pts)
 Who is the most important target for this health issue? Why? (E.g., for youth drinking, the
main
target might be parents, not the youth.

Both parents and children are important for this health topic. It is common that obese
parents raise obese children because of the bad habits and lack of physical activity so
parents play a huge role in childhood obesity and children’s physical activity. I believe the
children themselves are more of a target of children fitness because need down they need to
see the importance of it and can want to change. Adolescents are at the age where they can
start to make decisions for themselves, such as TV time vs. outdoors, video games vs.
playing soccer, etc. all which can play a huge role in their physical health. Although parents
also play a role of their children’s health, in my project I will target the children as
individuals to reach their physical activity goals.

 Which predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors seem most important to address health
behavior or change the environmental conditions and why? Make a solid case.

Creating more ways and abilities for students to participate in physical activity. It might
be path ways to walk and run, more basketball hoops, soccer fields or indoor activities
such as rock walls in hallways. If students see ways to do physical activity everywhere
they will more than likely participate in the activity.

Step 8- Assessment Team- All successful health promotion includes partners who are affected
by the health issue or influence it in some way. This question related to the building and
mobilizing partners lecture. Answer the following questions-answers should reflect
readings/class notes. (10 pts)
 Who is most affected and how can they be meaningfully involved? What barriers do you
need to consider for their involvement and how can you overcome them?

Children are affected by childhood obesity. Yes, their parents can play a role in it but
individual children need to see the issues and make a different to better their health and
wellbeing. Barriers can be their parents, at such young age parents are known to provide
everything for their children such as food, and education. If the parents have an unhealthy
 lifestyle such as being sedentary, poor diet and un-motivational it can cause a huge
barrier for the children. The children might not even know they are at risk of obesity, this
is a good time for teachers and educational professionals to step in and provide the
answer to their problems.

 What types of influencers are needed for this topic and why?

Teachers, most students spend most the day at school and if they constantly hear about
childhood obesity and ways to be active they will realize the issues and change their
ways.
 Works Cited

Njelekela MA, Muhihi A, Mpembeni RNM, et al. Knowledge and attitudes towards obesity
among primary school children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Nigerian Medical Journal :
Journal of the Nigeria Medical Association. 2015;56(2):103-108. doi:10.4103/0300-
1652.150692.

Casey, A. E. (2018, January 30). Three in 10 U.S. Kids are Overweight or Obese. Retrieved from
http://www.aecf.org/blog/three-in-10-us-kids-are-overweight-or-
obese/?gclid=CjwKCAjw4sLVBRAlEiwASblR-4lR-
umlYzZxBevHDLTGxz3S5XK58oX14R2kqxpJfO_lAaJgPBeZYRoCo9IQAvD_BwE

We Can. (2013, February 13). Retrieved from

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/news-events/matte4.htm

CDC Health Disparities & Inequalities Report (CHDIR). (2015, September 10). Retrieved March
20, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/CHDIReport.html

Enrich your community work with maps and data reports that can be shared and saved. (n.d.).
Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.communitycommons.org/maps-data/