Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The rate of obesity across the country is rising at an alarming rate and its growth is considered one of the most urgent health care threats facing families in the United States. This report considers the issue in the state of Arkansas where nearly 38 percent of children are overweight or at risk for becoming overweight. In this paper, the authors explain the efforts made by the state leaders to combat the obesity problem. Among other provisions, Act 1220 of 2003 called for a number of measures to be adopted in public schools including improved access to healthier foods and beverages, the creation of local committees to promote physical activity and confidential reporting of each student's body mass index (BMI) to his or her parents. [BREAK] In the school year 2006â€"2007, 99 percent of Arkansas public schools in 251 out of 253 school districts participated in the statewide BMI assessments. The authors describe some of the programs initiated by Arkansas educators to ensure that students in Arkansas schools are practicing healthy living habits. The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement has played an important role in working with policy-makers and school personnel to implement Act 1220. Although the progression of childhood obesity in Arkansas appears to have stabilized in the past four years, an unacceptably high number of children are still overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
In 2003, Arkansas became the first state to undertake a statewide initiative (Act 1220) to combat childhood obesity and future related illnesses. Under Act 1220, 94 percent of public school students in Arkansas were weighed and measured and assigned a body mass index (BMI). Thirty-eight percent of them were classified as overweight or at-risk for weight problems. About 15 percent of kindergartners were overweight and 17 percent were at-risk; 23.3 percent of 5th to 7th graders were overweight and 18.4 percent were at-risk; in high school, proportions declined as the number of overweight girls fell. However, 40 percent of high school boys remained either overweight or at-risk. Overweight was not evenly distributed racially, as Caucasians had lower rates (37%), and African Americans and Hispanics higher rates (41% and 46%, respectively). Many children from all ages and categories had not been previously identified by a doctor as having a health risk. Act 1220 also contains provisions for eliminating or reducing food and beverage vending machines in elementary schools, reporting by schools of money obtained from such contracts, incorporating nutrition and physical activity into school plans, and other related provisions. This report summarizes individual schools and school district profiles, providing the first detailed assessment for any state on childhood and adolescent obesity at state, county, school district and school levels. The report also describes how a BMI is calculated, how the data were collected and who collected them, what reports were generated from this data, and what was sent to parents or guardians. All data is broken down by age, racial/ethnic classification, gender, grade, and aforementioned geographical/district information. For example, for each county, information concerning how many African Americans are overweight, how many males, and total number overweight students, is available. Acts 1220 and 29 also are reproduced in their entirety. A sample of the report forms sent to parents are duplicated. Clinicians' guides to weight problems in children and adolescents also are included in this report, as they were part of Arkansas' initiative. Arkansas' childhood overweight problem is significantly higher than the national average. The statewide assessment detailed in this report is a groundbreaking effort by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement to inform parents and communities of potential health risks to their children, and to spur action that will reduce the problem of overweight in Arkansas' youth.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309442745 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 301
Book Description
Obesity has come to the forefront of the American public health agenda. The increased attention has led to a growing interest in quantifying obesity prevalence and determining how the prevalence has changed over time. Estimates of obesity prevalence and trends are fundamental to understanding and describing the scope of issue. Policy makers, program planners, and other stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels are among those who search for estimates relevant to their population(s) of interest to inform their decision-making. The differences in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data have given rise to a body of evidence that is inconsistent and has created barriers to interpreting and applying published reports. As such, there is a need to provide guidance to those who seek to better understand and use estimates of obesity prevalence and trends. Assessing Prevalence and Trends in Obesity examines the approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation that have been used in recent reports on obesity prevalence and trends at the national, state, and local level, particularly among U.S. children, adolescents, and young adults. This report offers a framework for assessing studies on trends in obesity, principally among children and young adults, for policy making and program planning purposes, and recommends ways decision makers and others can move forward in assessing and interpreting reports on obesity trends.
Author: Peter D. Vash Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1498719899 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 312
Book Description
This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.Child obesity is a serious condition that affects children around the world in growing numbers. With obesity comes an increased risk of other chronic diseases as well, making it even more important to understand and treat this condition from a variety of angles. This current volume seeks to under
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Subcommittee on Children and Families Publisher: ISBN: Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 84
Author: David A. Jolliffe Publisher: Syracuse University Press ISBN: 0815653786 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 294
Book Description
In rural America, perhaps more than other areas, high school students have the ability to contribute to the revitalization and sustainability of their home communities by engaging in oral history projects designed to highlight the values that are revered and worth saving in their region. The Arkansas Delta Oral History Project, a multiyear collaboration between the University of Arkansas and several public high schools in small, rural Arkansas towns, gives students that opportunity. Through the project, trained University of Arkansas studentmentors work with high school students on in-depth writing projects that grow out of oral history interviews. The Delta, a region where the religious roots of southern culture run deep and the traditions of cooking, farming, and hunting are passed from generation to generation, provides the ideal subject for oral history projects. In this detailed exploration of the project, the authors draw on theories of cultural studies and critical pedagogy of place to show how students’ work on religion, food, and race exemplifies the use of community literacy to revitalize a distressed economic region. Advancing the discussion of place-based education, The Arkansas Delta Oral History Project is both inspirational and instructive in offering a successful model of an authentic literacy program.
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Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Author: Peter D. Vash
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Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Subcommittee on Children and Families
Author: Gopal K. Singh
Author: David A. Jolliffe