Physical Health and the Way towards It
| Site: | iLearn - Lernmanagementsystem der Hochschule Deggendorf |
| Course: | vhb Demo: English Competence and Research Training for Health Professionals_Alt |
| Book: | Physical Health and the Way towards It |
| Printed by: | Gast |
| Date: | Friday, 22 November 2024, 2:50 AM |
Description
Introduction
Research Training
In this chapter, you will learn about different aspects of the element ‘Methods/ Methodology’ in a research article and the importance of critically looking at the quality of a study.
English Competence
You will also learn about attitudes towards physical activity and exercise and how these attitudes and practices affect the overall health of children.
Contents - Physical Health and the Way Towards It
Case Study: The Miller Family
Tonya Miller is a single mother with two children who has to work two jobs to support her family. This does not leave a lot of time for her to encourage her children to have healthy eating habits and to do physical activity.
Last week, Tonya made an appointment for her children with a doctor who specializes in childhood obesity. Billy, age 10, and Sophie, age 7, have been raised with bad eating habits: they eat unhealthy snacks, have fast food more than three times per week and get little to no exercise.
When Billy and Sophie are seen by the doctor, they are both put into the obese category for their height and weight. Billy has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 32, while Sophie has a BMI of 29. Tonya wants to know what changes she should make to her children’s daily lives to prevent further obesity and promote a healthy way of life. It is not too late to change their habits.
You have the task to support Billy and Sophie to lose weight through exercises. You are interested in background information about which settings should be used to stimulate their physical activity and to start some research. You find a systematic review and want to know the study method's principles and how to detect if it is a high quality study.
Navigation
Article 1: Prevention of Childhood Obesity
Summary
Childhood obesity is the cause of many problems in different sectors (e. g. social, psychological, health) and is linked to obesity and poor health outcomes later in life. In this systematic review, 55 international studies were conducted which looked at programs to improve physical activity and nutrition.
Although many programs improved children's physical activity and/ or nutrition to some extent, only a few programs showed an effect on children's obesity levels.
After combining the studies' results, the researchers saw that the programs made a positive difference. However, there was much unexplained variation between the study findings. This could be due to the fact that there is a bias due to missing small studies with negative findings.
Only a few studies looked at results that may be harmful for children (e. g. level of underweight, unhealthy diets).
It is important to develop ways to ensure that research findings benefit all children by embedding successful program activities into everyday practices among different settings.
(Note: The information above contains parts of the article's abstract)
Article
In the following link you can find the full article:
Navigation
Article 2: Attitudes Towards Physical Activity
Summary
Physical activity and regular exercise are important to prevent and treat adolescent obesity. In the non-stationary setting, obesity treatment includes encouraging long-lasting sport participation.
The following study examined potential differences in attitudes towards physical activity and exercise between adolescents with body mass indices in obese and healthy-weight ranges.
To measure the attitudes, 395 adolescents from schools and 16 adolescents from a non-stationary obesity treatment program filled out a questionnaire and were measured for weight and other body parameters. They participated in a one-year obesity treatment program which combined dietary, psychological and physical activity and exercise-related interventions administered under medical supervision.
The results show that adolescents in the healthy-weight range showed more positive attitudes towards intense exercise/ sports competition. Independent of weight status, positive attitudes about “training and competition” and “social contacts” were related to children's involvement in physical and sport activity.
The researchers concluded that training and competitive activities offer a lower incentive for obese adolescents than for healthy-weight peers.
(Note: The information above contains parts of the article's abstract)
Article
In the following link you can find the full article:
Kopczynski, S. & Chen-Stute, A. & Kellmann, M. (2014). Navigation
Video: The Structure of a Systematic Review
Video
The following video explains the principles of systematic reviews and how they are conducted.
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Exercises
Exercise 1: Understanding a Scientific Article (Exercises
are not available in demoversion)
Exercise 2: Gaining Knowledge about Obesity (Exercises
are not available in demoversion)
Exercise 3: True/ False (Exercises
are not available in demoversion)
Exercise 4: Re-Arrange Simple Sentences (Exercises
are not available in demoversion)
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Conclusion
Tonya, Billy and Sophie left the doctor's appointment ready to make changes to their lives to promote a healthier lifestyle.
Tonya has decided to cook more meals herself instead of ordering fast food and take-out. Billy and Sophie will both get bicycles and try to spend more time playing outside. At first, this was hard for them since they got tired very easily.
After two months of these changes, they enjoy being outside more, and go outside at least six days a week for an hour or more. These changes are small but will make a huge difference in this family’s life.
Thank you for helping the Miller family. With these changes in mind, you can always encourage a patient and their family to develop healthier habits and lead a healthier life. You also might feel better to know that you are using high quality studies with evidence-based information.
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