Childhood Obesity
One of the emerging fields for occupational therapy is childhood obesity. I find this to be very important because obesity in America is becoming more and more prevalent. This is not only affecting adults, but children as well. I think part of the problem is because of parent's bad habits, as well as technology. Parents often times give their children their bad habits and almost always give them their health habits. A child is not gonna make a salad when their parents are making chicken tenders for dinner. More often than not, parent's just put their child in front of an iPad and hope they stay quite. The value of playing outside has been lost and this is something that OT's can advocate for and educate parents about. I think advocating is a major way OT's will work in this field. Children do not understand the importance of eating well and exercising if it is not taught to them. If a child's parents do not value the importance of health, the children are being set up to become obese. As OTs, we need to work to help them live the healthy life they deserve.
Childhood obesity becomes part of the OT scope of practice because it is often associated with other health issues. Working with one disability becomes significantly more difficult when obesity is also a factor. It also correlates with occupations like play, activities of daily living, or education. Occupational therapist can advocate and educate at the same time by setting up programs for children to help them learn why health is so important. The Occupational Therapy Department of Touro University of Nevada has set up the "Healthy Choices for Me" program with two local elementary schools. Three of the major components to this program was physical exercise, goal setting, and nutrition. As students, I feel as though this is an amazing program that we could set up here, because people in the south typically having higher rates of obesity. Educating children is important because they often do not understand why they need to eat the vegetables that don't taste that good rather than the tasty chocolate cake. I think for teenagers it would be important to set up programs helping them learn how to budget to eat healthy as they get older. Unfortunately, eating healthy is a lot more expensive that eating fast food for every meal. It is important for people to learn how to eat healthier in a cheaper way.
I find this to be very interesting because I want to work in pediatrics. I worked for the YMCA for a while and it was also so sad to watch the more heavy set children play verses the children who were a healthy weight. They typically wanted to sit or go inside when we were on the playground and they would not play as much with the other kids, because they would be running around. It was also interesting to watch those same children eat lunch. The ones who were not interested in playing outside were also the ones who ate cookies and chips for lunch. The more active children typically had a balanced lunch. Of course, all of those factors directly relate back to the parents. As OT's we can educate the parents and advocate for the children to be given the opportunity to live a more healthy lifestyle. I would like to be part of the solution to this problem in my future career.
This relates directly to the AOTA Vision 2025 because the goal is to maximize health (which starts with childhood), well-being (which directly relates to health), and quality of life (which can be improved by a healthy lifestyle). They want to do this through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living. It is significantly more difficult to participate in everyday living when your obese. It is also significantly more difficult to break habits that were started in early childhood. I think that childhood obesity is a very important emerging area of practice for OT's to address.
Childhood obesity becomes part of the OT scope of practice because it is often associated with other health issues. Working with one disability becomes significantly more difficult when obesity is also a factor. It also correlates with occupations like play, activities of daily living, or education. Occupational therapist can advocate and educate at the same time by setting up programs for children to help them learn why health is so important. The Occupational Therapy Department of Touro University of Nevada has set up the "Healthy Choices for Me" program with two local elementary schools. Three of the major components to this program was physical exercise, goal setting, and nutrition. As students, I feel as though this is an amazing program that we could set up here, because people in the south typically having higher rates of obesity. Educating children is important because they often do not understand why they need to eat the vegetables that don't taste that good rather than the tasty chocolate cake. I think for teenagers it would be important to set up programs helping them learn how to budget to eat healthy as they get older. Unfortunately, eating healthy is a lot more expensive that eating fast food for every meal. It is important for people to learn how to eat healthier in a cheaper way.
I find this to be very interesting because I want to work in pediatrics. I worked for the YMCA for a while and it was also so sad to watch the more heavy set children play verses the children who were a healthy weight. They typically wanted to sit or go inside when we were on the playground and they would not play as much with the other kids, because they would be running around. It was also interesting to watch those same children eat lunch. The ones who were not interested in playing outside were also the ones who ate cookies and chips for lunch. The more active children typically had a balanced lunch. Of course, all of those factors directly relate back to the parents. As OT's we can educate the parents and advocate for the children to be given the opportunity to live a more healthy lifestyle. I would like to be part of the solution to this problem in my future career.
This relates directly to the AOTA Vision 2025 because the goal is to maximize health (which starts with childhood), well-being (which directly relates to health), and quality of life (which can be improved by a healthy lifestyle). They want to do this through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living. It is significantly more difficult to participate in everyday living when your obese. It is also significantly more difficult to break habits that were started in early childhood. I think that childhood obesity is a very important emerging area of practice for OT's to address.
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