Research Proposal: Childhood Obesity andPreventable Research Topic Introduction: Theresearch topic I have chosen for ENG102 is focused on how childhood obesity is a preventable disease. The research question I wish to answeris: Canchild obesity, which has many causes, be preventable in American society? According to the Centers for Disease and ControlPrevention (CDC), “The percentage of children with obesity in the United Stateshas more than tripled since the 1970s” (Centers for Disease and ControlPrevention CDC, 2017). Today, approximatelyone in five school-aged children are obese (CDC, 2017). I have chosen this topic as a result of workingin the operating room (OR) as a nurse circulator. I see firsthand the long-term effects obesitycan cause a person, including non-communicable diseases and the physical,social, and psychosocial effects. I feelthis is an appropriate topic to discuss for ENG 102 because it is informativeto my readers and me. As a patientadvocate, it is important for me to be educated on this topic so I can providethe most effective care for my patients.
My main argument will be that theepidemic of childhood obesity in American society is a preventabledisease. I feel as a society, it iseveryone’s responsibility to help children achieve and maintain a healthyweight. I will be researching whatobesity it, contributing factors, and preventative strategies. My research will support my main argument thatthis disease is preventable and if we changed our way of living childhoodobesity would not be an epidemic. My goalis to educate my readers on childhood obesity by providing a high-leveloverview, but also to bring awareness with the hope through primary prevention;such as education I can have a positive impact on one person’s life.My research paper will begin with theintroduction where I will provide background information on childhood obesity,demographics, statistics, and my thesis. I will explore several contributing factors, associated non-communicablediseases, and prevention strategies.
Iwill include research on how genetics, environmental factors such as mediainfluences and fast food, and parenting in low-income families contribute to achild becoming obese. Together, thisresearch will help prove my thesis.Research Question: Can child obesity, which has many causes,be preventable in American society? Tentative Thesis: Child obesity is a preventable problemthat has become an epidemic in American society and greatly influenced bygenetics, environmental factors, and parenting issues.
Review of Literature: I used EBSCO host for a web search onkeywords: childhood obesity, overweight, adolescents, interventions, lifestyle,consequences, parental involvement, non-communicable disease, socioeconomicposition, complications of obesity, and physical activity. I found general information using theInternet and searching Google. During my preliminary research, I found primaryand secondary resources including peer-reviewed journals and articles using thefollowing evidence-based databases Cochrane Library, PubMed, and CINAHL.TheCDC website https://www.cdc.
gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htmhas background information on childhood obesity, statistics, contributingfactors, risk for additional health conditions, long-term effects and interventions. Peer-reviewed article “Trends in child andadolescent obesity prevalence according to socioeconomic position: Protocol fora systematic review” by Alexandra Chunget al. (2014) has research data on ifthe occurrence of childhood obesity differs based on socioeconomic status. Peer -reviewed article “Childhood obesity: causes and consequences” by Krushnapriva Sahooet al. (2015) provides the definition of childhood obesity and different causesof childhood obesity, such as genetics, dietary factors, environmental, activitylevel, socio-cultural factors, family factors, psychological factors, and consequencesof childhood obesity. Peer-reviewedarticle “Childhood Obesity: A GlobalPublic Health Crisis” by Sameera Karnik and Amar Kanekar (2012) discussesthe genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors contributing to childhoodobesity, the related physical, psychological, and social problems it can cause,and effective intervention strategies that are being used to prevent childhoodobesity. Peer-reviewed article “Childhood obesity: nurses’ role inaddressing the epidemic” by Registered Nurses’ Aifric Rabbitt and ImeldaCoyne, (2012) has information on how nurses should take a whole family-approach by working with the child and family and combine education materialwith behavioral and lifestyle changes.
Search Plan and RelevantSources: Currently, I have many great resourcesincluding websites and peer-reviewed articles which provide generalinformation, statistics, facts, causes, consequences, and interventions. I plan to further expand my research tofind additional primary and secondary resources. I would like to find some scholarly articles,which provide statistical data, as well as articles with personal stories ofhow obesity has affected the authors life.Key Challenges: Afterre-reviewing the remaining assessments I think the main obstacles I will facewith writing my research paper will be having a sufficient amount of time toproperly research my topic, finding and analyzing evidence-based sources, andconnecting the main points of my research to my thesis statement. Project Timeline: To help ensure I allow an adequate amountof time to produce work that I will be proud of, I mapped out the remainingassessments for this course using a calendar.
I created a timeline with tentative due dates for each assignment. I have allotted myself a few hours daily towork on my writing, including time for drafting, revising, editing, requestingpeer feedback, and writing an author’s note.
