Fight against Obesity

Name of Student

Institution

Fight against Obesity

In this assignment about APRNs role in fighting obesity, I have chosen the article by the title “Obese parents influence children’s weight”. The article is available at http://www.ucirvinehealth.org/health-library/content/?contentTypeID=1&contentID=713. The article summarizes the influence that obese parents have on their children’s weight gain. In addition, the article provides useful statistics on the status of obesity among children. According to the article, parental factor is the leading influencer of children’s weight gain. The article also connotes that about eighty percent of children with obese or overweight parents are likely to be obese in their adulthood. The link is due to the role of genes and lifestyle on weight gain. The article cites the CDC in agreeing that; even though obesity can be managed by regulating diet and lifestyle, it proves a bit hard to manage obesity in predisposed children. In addition, the current generation of children has recorded a tremendous decrease in activity levels, a factor likely to predispose them to obesity and uncontrolled weight gain.

I have selected this article because of the inspiration that the fight for weight gain in innocent beings, like children gives me. When a child is gaining weight, they are not in a position to understand the danger they are exposing themselves. The parents are in the best position to protect their children from unnecessary weight gain. Even though the risk due to the genetic make-up may not be controlled, the parents can control the lifestyle, and dieting habits of a child to shield the child from unnecessary weight gain. Although the blame game in who is responsible for obesity in children is a matter that is debatable, parents stand at the best position to safeguard their children from unnecessary weight gain. They determine the food the children will eat, the schools the children will attend, the activity schedules of the children, and the overall lifestyles of the children. In their practice, nurses ought to emphasize the role of parents in the fight against obesity in children.

In the fight against obesity, the advanced nurse practitioners have a big role to play. According to their curriculum and regulations, all advanced nurse practitioners are nurse leaders, who are supposed to provide leadership in terms of problem solving skills in healthcare challenges. Diabetes and unnecessary weight gain are key areas that have posed challenges in healthcare delivery. With regard to their role in the healthcare system, the advanced nurse practitioners are supposed to show competence and expertise by devising unique ways of handling this challenge.

Advanced nurse practitioners are respected for their wide base of knowledge, experience, skills, research and expertise. The society expects that such category of people provides solutions to the daunting problems in society. In this regard, the healthcare system is faced with obesity and uncontrolled weight gain as daunting challenges. The system thus expects that its expert members shall provide unique solutions to tackle these daunting challenges. In essence, the advanced nurse practitioners are expected to invent new ways and procedures of handling the problem of obesity. The APRNs are also very much respected for the role they play as educators. With the current challenge of obesity that is facing the system, the advanced nurse practitioners are supposed to teach other nurses on new ways to handle the challenge. In addition, the APRNs should invest heavily in research, in order to discover new knowledge in the area of diabetes.