Health Care Payment and Delivery Reform in Minnesota Medicaid

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Health Care Payment and Delivery Reform in Minnesota Medicaid

Assignment Required Reading:
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/case-study/2013/mar/1667_edwards_medicaid_minnesota_case_study_final_v2.pdf

Review the case study by clicking on the link. Prepare a paper that answers the following questions.

What are accountable care organizations (ACOs)?
What makes Minnesota unique in terms of a model for health system reform?
Why are states experimenting with different models of integrated care?
Are ACO’s a viable model to reduce the rate of growth in per-capita Medicaid spending? Why or why not?
Your paper should include the following:

Four to six pages in length, not including the title and reference pages.
Three to five peer reviewed references cited in the assignment.
Remember, you must support your thinking/opinions and prior knowledge with references; all facts must be supported; in-text references used throughout the assignment must be included in an APA-formatted reference list.
References should be current, not more than five years old; additional references articles from the popular press such as the WSJ and Washington Post should also be considered.
Format paper in APA writing requirements.

Microbiology One Page

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I need it in maximum 24 hour in one page as short as possible but answering all questions and site 2 reference in correct APA format using articles that that i can find online for free this is not writing homework

The Discussion Board this week will continue with the theme of ‘epidemics’. Please watch the following video on the London cholera epidemic in the 19th century. Keep in mind that this took place in 1854….just a couple of years before the beginning of the ‘Golden Age of Microbiology’. Therefore, during the time period of this epidemic very little (if anything) was known about microbes, transmission routes, control methods, etc. Please respond to the following prompts on the Discussion Board.

Here are the specific directions for the Module this week:

1). Access the web site for the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvHL0dHj3RM (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

2). In the Discussion Board for this Module, please respond to the following prompts:

– Discuss at least 3 things that you learned form this video.

– In addition, please research another epidemic in history and discuss:

– the specific organism that caused this epidemic

– when this epidemic took place

– the number of cases of the disease during this epidemic (if known)

– how the epidemic was investigated/how the causative agent was identified

– if changes/steps were taken to help prevent a similar epidemic in the future

3). You must include at least 2 scientific references posted in correct APA format.

Explain why it is important for the nurse to use effective verbal and non-verbal communication in the delivery of patient centred care.

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Explain why it is important for the nurse to use effective verbal and non-verbal communication in the delivery of patient centred care.
• Identify ways nurses use communication to provide culturally competent and effective education to promote patient health literacy and learning.
• Discuss how the use of thoughtful practice in nursing can support effective communication in providing patient centred care.

International and Intercultural Communication

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Week 2 – Assignment
International and Intercultural Communication
After reviewing section 2.4 of the text titled International and Intercultural Interpersonal Communication, visit The Hofstede Centre (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) and continue to explore national cultural dimensions. Here you will choose two countries to compare and contrast in terms of cultural dimensions.
Develop a two-page, APA-formatted paper that addresses the following:

Describe how the two countries are similar in terms of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions.
Describe how the two countries are different in terms of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions.
Given a scenario where two organizations, one located in each country, are to do business with each other, provide recommendations that would be beneficial in helping management address communications in terms of the different cultural perspectives. Your paper must be two pages (not including title and reference pages) and must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide. You must cite at least two scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment

The Art and Science of Persuasion

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The Art and Science of Persuasion
Read Harnessing the Science of Persuasion(Cialdini, 2001). Consider this source as you complete the Assignment.

Part I: Examples
Assemble advertisements, commercials, or personal experiences/observations that illustrate each of the six fundamental principles identified in Cialdini (2001). Do not use examples from your textbook.
Submit “Part I”, a separate document with the examples you located. Preferably, copy and paste print media examples, along with proper citation information; links are acceptable for broadcast or electronic media (television, internet, etc.). If neither images nor links are available (e.g., in the case of a personal observation or experience), a brief description will suffice. Label your examples clearly and provide a one paragraph explanation for each.
Part II: A Social Psychological Analysis of _______
Explain in-depth how social psychological principles of persuasion are relevant for one of your selected advertisements, citing relevant research. Relatecharacteristics of the communicator, the message, and the target audience.
Formulate a plan to intentionally enhance persuasiveness. What are various alternative techniques one might employ effectively?
Submit “Part II”, structured as a paper and written in APA style.
The Art and Science of Persuasion paper

Must include Parts I and II.
Must be 3 to 5 double-spaced pages in length (including Part I, but not including title and references pages from Part II) and formatted according to APA style as

Anatomy & Physiology Discussion Question

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Memory: Immediate, Short, and Long.

Discussion:

Provide in your own words, not as a copy and paste from other sources, a short paragraph, of no more than 200 words, with yourdiscussion about:

Memory, (immediate, short, and long memory).

Your discussion should contain your point of view about this concept, and the main differences among the different types of memory, and the implications in clinical settings.

Requirements:

How to submit your discussion:

Click under that discussion question.

Click under: Click to Launch.

Click under: Create a Thread.

Copy your discussion of approximately less than 200 words, as a “Word document” that you have prepared, and after spelling check, paste it into that window for discussions.

You can also create your discussion directly into that window, but it is not recommended because of the risk of losing the material if Blackboard goes off or down, etc.

Creating a Welcoming Workplace for the Older Worker

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The nursing workforce is aging rapidly. In fact, Baby Boomers constitute the largest group of nurses currently practicing. This aging workforce poses two significant ramifications for nurse managers. First, due to the volatility and uncertainty in the world and national economy, many Baby Boomers have shifted their retirement plans and are staying in the workforce. This is requiring creative responses on the part of employers. Conversely, as these highly experienced and knowledgeable nurses do begin to exit the active workforce, experts anticipate a “brain drain” that will affect all levels of health care environments.

In this week’s Assignment, you critically assess your current organization or one with which you are familiar to determine why older workers may stay in or leave their positions. In addition, you suggest strategies that could help to retain and further engage this specific population of nurses.

To prepare

Review the article, “From Veterans to Nexters: Managing the Multi-Generational Nursing Workforce.” Reflect upon the key ideas: the challenges and implications of managing a multi-generational workforce, common generational differences, interventions for increasing generational motivation, and strategies for retaining the older nurse.
Reflect on your current organization or one with which you are familiar and determine the demographic breakdown of employees based on age. Then, consider how this specific work environment might present difficulties for older workers and think about factors that might cause these employees to leave your setting.
Use this week’s Learning Resources, as well as your own scholarly research, to identify strategies that could engage and retain this population of nurses.
To complete

By Day 7 of Week 10
Submit a 3- to 5-page paper in which you do the following:

Identify the demographic breakdown of employees in the organization. If you are unable to access exact demographical data, provide your best estimate for each of the following age ranges: 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–60, and 60–70, and 70+.
Describe at least two ways the work environment is conducive to older workers and at least two difficulties it might present. Support your response by citing authentic examples from the workplace and this week’s Learning Resources as applicable.
Propose at least four specific strategies you could implement to engage and retain older workers.

Required Readings
Beheri, W. H. (2009). Diversity within nursing: Effects on nurse-nurse interaction, job satisfaction, and turnover. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 33(3), 216–226. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Beheri’s article examines the effects of diversity in nursing. The study found that nurses who are satisfied with their jobs and have a higher level of education are more likely to tap into the potential offered by cultural diversity.
Collins-McNeil, J., Sharpe, D., & Benbow, D. (2012). Performance potential. Aging workforce: Retaining valuable nurses. Nursing Management, 43(3), 50–51. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Due to the increasing connectivity between patient safety and government-sponsored financial incentives, it is important for nurse managers to understand the specific language used by finance. This article examines the importance of this topic.
Harton, B. B., Marshburn, D., Kuykendall, J., Poston, C., & Mears, D. A. (2012). Self-scheduling: Help or hindrance? Nursing Management, 43(1), 10–12. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article discusses the possibility of allowing nurses to create their own schedules to boost retention.
Outten, M. K. (2012). From veterans to nexters: Managing a multigenerational nursing workforce. Nursing Management, 43(4), 42–47. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The author of this article addresses the need for effective management of a multigenerational workforce. Increased nurse turnover and interpersonal conflict are some of the consequences of overlooking this type of diversity.
Wisotzkey, S. (2011). Will they stay or will they go? Insight into nursing turnover. Nursing Management, 42(2), 15–17. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

In this article, the author focuses on creating a work environment that will decrease the effects of nurse turnover. The author states that organizational commitment has the most direct effect on these turnover rates.

Self Reflection Log profile

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Katrice Bottoms

Grand Canyon University- LDR- 612

2/21/2018

Self-Reflection Log

During your coaching and mentoring experience, you are required to complete a self-reflection log of your experiences and obstacles. This log will be a helpful component to evaluating and modifying the overall coaching/mentoring experience. Please respond to each response with a minimum of 100 words.

Topic 1:

1. Describe how you will use your personal qualities to contribute to your coaching or mentoring abilities. Some of my personal qualities I will contribute to coaching or mentoring my mentee are communication, approachability, compassion, fairness, ability to listen. These qualities will help me and my mentee establish a relationship where my mentee will be able to approach me with any situation or problem she might have knowing I will not judge her but assist her in any way I can in helping her achieve her goals. The desire to succeed can be overwhelming for a senior in high school; dealing with peer pressure; and the feeling of leaving to go off to college.

2. How do these qualities serve as a value to your mentee? These qualities will serve as a value to my mentee as she progress through her senior year and hopefully she will see my qualities and adapt them as her own and utilize them throughout her life. As I communicate with my mentee I will be clear of the things that was taught to me from my mentor. I will make my mentee feel comfortable approaching me for advice and consultation. I want my mentee to feel comfortable approaching me with any situation, being open with your mentor brings value to your mentee mentor relationship.

3. How do you establish trust with your family? With your friends? With your coworkers? Is this an important factor to establish in the mentor/mentee relationship? Trust is a funny word it takes a lot for me to trust my family, associates, and co-workers. I work with a certain level of trust in each situation, with my family you need to be loyal to me in order for me to trust you, I do not have any friends, I have associates to establish trust with me through this bunch it is not reachable. With my co –workers trust is gained through me in an ethical way at work. For example, if a co-worker sees another co-worker violating a safety rule and do not report it, to me I cannot trust that co-worker.

Topic 2:

1. What personal qualities do you prefer in those individuals you seek to coach or mentor? Are there different qualities more suitable for coaching than mentoring or the vice-versa?

The personal qualities I prefer in my mentee is commitment my mentee needs to be a full partner in the mentoring or coaching process; flexibility in a mentee and mentor relationship it takes time to develop so there needs to be two way communication, I will need my mentee to listen and consider new options; openness I will need my mentee to know he/she can discuss their needs and objectives. My mentee will also need to listen and except different point of views before making any rash decisions.

2. How difficult is it to select a person to coach or mentor who possesses the qualities for which you are looking? What could you do in your workplace to identify potential mentee opportunities? It is very difficult to select someone with the qualities I am looking for in a mentee. I usually mentor or coach high school students, and it is very hard to find the qualities in these millennials. It is hard for them to focus because of social media, most of these high school seniors you cannot talk to because they think they know everything, In the workplace what I could do is suggest a mentoring and coaching program to see if any employees would like to partake in a mentee mentor relationship.

3. How do you decipher goals that are short-term verses long-term? As you are working with your mentee, how do you guide the mentee through developing short-term and long-term goals that would meet the mentee’s vision?

Topic 3:

1. Reflect on two coaching techniques selected to support the short-term and long-term goals of your mentee. Why were these techniques selected and how can they help your mentee achieve success?

One technique that I use that my mentees struggle responding to is collaboration. In an article about collaboration it states that collaboration is the key element for success when working with one or more people (Villa, 2017). This is why I am using collaboration with my mentees. It is natural to feel uncomfortable when collaborating with others, especially when it is about something personal. When my mentees start to feel uncomfortable I make sure I am going everything I can to make them feel comfortable again.

All the other techniques I use my mentees have responded very well too. They love when I push them and use motivational coaching. It actually makes them work even harder to accomplish their goals. They also love using peer coaching to get feedback on what they can improve on. And they also love that I encourage excellence because it has pushed them to reach some of their goals.

2. Reflect on two mentoring techniques selected to support the short-term and long-term goals of your mentee. Why were these techniques selected and how can they help your mentee achieve success?

According to Grace (2014), mentorship is critical because it drives growth and success in others. It helps to improve performance while offering fulfilling rewards to both mentor and mentees alike. The mentoring technique that I have applied thus far is more of a strategy and a technique but it is efficient. My mentee is a visual learner so I use different situations or scenarios to aid in the mentoring process. I have orchestrated two scenarios to expose my mentee’s self-confidence level and how she handles herself around other. One scenario was created in a group setting (lunch with colleagues) while the other was in a one-on-one setting (interview with a colleague). However, the role that I played in both scenarios was that of a silent observer.

References

Grace, M. (2014). Coaching and Mentoring for Business. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

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3. How did you decide which technique(s) to use with your mentee? How do these techniques account for both your and your mentee’s values and beliefs? What ethical considerations did you have to account for in developing your Individual Development Plan?

Topic 4:

1. How important is the Individual Development Plan in meeting the goals of your mentee?

After establishing what your mentee needs through the assessment; the mentor will sit down with the mentee and formalize and agree upon an Individual Development Plan. This process is important because it allows the mentee to update and summarize in each area of the IDP, identifying challenges and barriers as well as new goals that needs to be accomplished by developing an action plan. The IDP is important also because it helps the mentee and mentor keep track of the goals being accomplished, as a mentor this plan is important for the mentee to stay focus on completing her short and long term goals.

2. List a minimum of three activities you could present to your mentee. Reflect on your decision to use these activities to meet the vision for your mentoring experience. To meet the vision for the mentoring experience I would ask my mentee to describe the tentative goals that are a part of their vision, help them take steps towards what they would like to do. Another activity I would suggest to my mentee to work on her soft skills to leverage or build on; another activity I would engage my mentee to is introducing her to two people who could be helpful to her in the IT area.

3. How could you incorporate leadership skills into your mentoring experience that demonstrate kindness, compassion, and the good of the organization and the community?

4. How do you distinguish between coaching activities and mentoring activities? Label your activities as either coaching or mentoring opportunities.

Topic 5:

1. How can coaching activities benefit the culture in your work environment? Is it beneficial to develop activities individually or as a group activity? How can you leverage on an individual’s knowledge, strength, and skills to create a positive outcome for the individual and work environment?

2. Describe the follow-up schedule you will use with your mentee. Does it support the activities listed in the Individual Development Plan? Does it require modifications or adjustments? Explain.

3. Are there ethical considerations (e.g., culture, religion, personal beliefs, etc.) that must be considered when preparing activities for an Individual Development Plan? Discuss potential considerations and how to ensure you have developed an experience that meets the needs of your particular mentee.

Topic 6:

1. Discuss possible strategies to hold your mentees accountable for the activities and to reach both short-term and long-term goals. How can these strategies support the growth process?

2. Reflect on the evaluation and observation process of the mentoring experience. Discuss the importance of evaluating your mentees prior to setting goals. What advantages and disadvantages come with the evaluation and observation process?

Topic 7:

1. As a mentor, how do you feel about the progress your mentee made toward the achievement of the goals?

2. How does your mentee feel about the progress made toward the achievement of the goals?

Topic 8:

1. In a brief reflection (250-500 words), discuss the feedback you received on your Mentor Evaluation. Reflect on the development of your Individual Development Plan, its success, and the results for your mentee. Was this process rewarding? What were your strengths and weaknesses as a mentor? If you had it to do over again, what specific elements would you change? If you would not change anything, explain why?

© 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.

Find an article giving example of a person or organization demonstrating characteristics of an ethical behavior

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The assignment is to….

Find an article giving example of a person or organization demonstrating characteristics of an ethical behavior
Review and Summarize the article
Tell whether you believe that person or organization is ethical as a whole, not just in light of the specific behavior, characteristics, or actions cited in the article you are reviewing.

Details:

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Details:

In this assignment, students will pull together the change proposal project components they have been working on throughout the course to create a proposal inclusive of sections for each content focus area in the course. At the conclusion of this project, the student will be able to apply evidence-based research steps and processes required as the foundation to address a clinically oriented problem or issue in future practice.

Students will develop a 1,250-1,500-word paper that includes the following information as it applies to the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need profiled in the capstone change proposal:

1. Background

2. Problem statement

3. Purpose of the change proposal

4. PICOT

5. Literature search strategy employed

6. Evaluation of the literature

7. Applicable change or nursing theory utilized

8. Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures

9. Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome

10. Appendix section, if tables, graphs, surveys, educational materials, etc. are created

Review the feedback from your instructor on the Topic 3 assignment, PICOT Statement Paper, and Topic 6 assignment, Literature Review. Use the feedback to make appropriate revisions to the portfolio components before submitting.

solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, you are required to retrieve and assess a minimum of 8 peer-reviewed articles. an abstract is not required, CITE WEBSITE SOURCE.
Running Head: CHILDHOOD OBESITY 2

Topic: Childhood Obesity – PICOT Statement

P-I-C-O-T Statement

P- Obese children under the age of 12 with a BMI index of 30 or more.

I-Educational Nutrition programs involving Proper diet and engaging in physical activity

C- Children who will be involved in the educational program versus those who will not be engaged.

O- Reduction in obesity among children below the age of 12 by increasing knowledge on nutrition education

T- A period not less than 1 year

Introduction

It is evident that obesity and overweight in general have become worldwide epidemics as illustrated by the widespread concerns. Moreover, this menace has been associated with other life-threatening complications such diabetes, cancers, cardiovascular complications and a wide range of health problems, making it an even complicated case that needs to be attended to (Reilly, & Kelly, 2011). For children below the age of 12, obesity has not only resulted to the mentioned health problems, but also forms a basis for ridicule and overall loss of the self-esteem that is vital in development into adulthood. Due to this continued prevalence, there is need for the involved stakeholders such as the government and other policy makers in the healthcare system to have in place research-based interventions that will ensure a drop-in number of children affected. It is further crucial to understand the implications of obesity go beyond affecting the individual directly and affect both the individual and the nation through the high cost of treatment. All these can be addressed in a nutrition education program that is suggested by this paper. The following is a PICOT statement intends to find lasting solutions to this problem; Comment by Melissa Reedy: You actually want to include your PICOT statement here as well

Population

Despite recording some decline in the prevalence of obesity among children below the age of 12, the numbers are still too high, and something must be quickly done before we completely lose control of this problem. Statistics indicate that, 12.7 million children and adolescents are affected by obesity (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012). The target population for this research is children below the age of 12.

Intervention

All intended intervention procedures should be based on research evidence and they should primarily focus on preventing children from being overweight and treating those that are already affected. The intervention suggested here is having a nutritional education program that highlights dieting and exercising. Dieting as an intervention requires changing the general food environment and making available healthy choices. Intense physical activities on the other hand are meant to eradicate sedentary lifestyles and creating policies that seek to change the overall socioeconomic environment could impact positively on the health of the population (O’Reilly, Cook, Spruijt‐Metz, & Black, 2014).

Comparison

Through research-based evidence, the caregiver is mandated to educate the entire community on the entire subject matter. This means conducting civil education and ensuring information is readily available in the community (Summerbell, 2011). For this to work, the evidence provided must be compared to the practice being opposed. In this case, the practitioner suggests comparing results from obese children involved in an education nutritional program vs those not involved in one.

Outcome

The general outcome is to ensure research and evidence is used to guarantee a society that is working towards healthy living and is characterized by continued care for the affected and prevention measures (Puhl, & Heuer, 2010). At the end of the intervention process, there should be little risk of obesity in the United States and an overhaul of the entire system that has for a long time not dealt with the issue. One of the leading causes of previous interventions because modifications is targeted at the micro levels. Whereby targeting children individually, families, or schools make it harder to achieve positive outcomes or impacts on other influences on weight status that affect the general environment at the macro levels. Therefore, successful obesity control efforts must require a more macro-environmental strategy in addition to the micro level behavioral adjustments.

Time

Since obesity is a problem that has affected the community for years, the intervention process can only last for at least a year before meaningful conclusions can be drawn. The time it takes to completely have an impact on the problem will also depend on the number of disciplines that work together to find a lasting solution. Since research evidence is based on multidisciplinary collaboration, coming up with a fool proof solution to obesity in children will take a considerable amount of time (Han, Lawlor, & Kimm, 2010).

References

Bonomi, A. G., & Westerterp, K. R. (2012). Advances in physical activity monitoring and lifestyle interventions in obesity: a review. International journal of obesity, 36(2), 167.

Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A., & Kimm, S. Y. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet, 375(9727), 1737-1748.

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2012). Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. Jama, 307(5), 483-490.

O’Reilly, G. A., Cook, L., Spruijt‐Metz, D., & Black, D. S. (2014). Mindfulness‐based interventions for obesity‐related eating behaviours: a literature review. Obesity reviews, 15(6), 453-461.

Puhl, R. M., & Heuer, C. A. (2010). Obesity stigma: important considerations for public health. American journal of public health, 100(6), 1019-1028.

Reilly, J. J., & Kelly, J. (2011). Long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: systematic review. International journal of obesity, 35(7), 891.

Wang, Y., Wu, Y., Wilson, R. F., Bleich, S., Cheskin, L., Weston, C., … & Segal, J. (2013). Childhood obesity prevention programs: comparative effectiveness review and meta-analysis.

Waters, E., de Silva‐Sanigorski, A., Burford, B. J., Brown, T., Campbell, K. J., Gao, Y., … & Summerbell, C. D. (2011). Interventions for preventing obesity in children. The Cochrane Library.
LITERATURE REVIEW 1

LITERATURE REVIEW 7

INSTRUCTOR COMMENT: Your recommendation for further research is really not present, THIS IS WEEK SIX.

Topic: Literature Review

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1

Childhood Obesity: Literature Review

Introduction

Obesity has for a long time been a subject of concern, not only for adults but also for children. Due to the serious health implications that obesity has, a lot of efforts have been made to devise ways to prevent it. This includes several studies that are aimed at understanding the prevalence of obesity across the ages. This review is specifically for eight studies conducted by different researchers to address the various aspects of childhood obesity for children less than 12 years, from its prevalence, causes and prevention efforts as part of a capstone project aimed at establishing guidelines to be followed when coming up with intervention measures.

Comparison of research questions

Although each of the eight studies covered childhood obesity as the main study subject, there were specific research questions that varied across the studies. Bleich, Segal, Wu, Wilson, & Wang (2013) conducted a systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention while Tester, Phan, Jared, Tucker, Leung, Gillette, Sweeney, Kirk, Tindall, Olivo-Marston, & Eneli (2018), focused on the characteristics of obese children between 2-5 years. Cunningham, Kramer & Narayan, (2014), differed with the first two since their study involved the identification of obesity prevalence in the United States at the national level. Lee, Scharf & DeBoer, (2018) also conducted a study that was concerned with the causes of childhood obesity and focused on the relationship between food insecurity and obesity and was trying to answer the question of whether food insecurity is an independent risk factor for obesity in the United States.

The other study under review was conducted by Fetter, Scherr, Linnell, Dharmar, Schaefer, & Zidenberg-Cherr (2018) and was aimed at determining whether physical activity patterns improved School-Based Nutrition intervention. This differed from the rest in that instead of focusing on the causes of obesity, it was more concerned with the intervention measures at school level. Lydecke, Riley, & Grilo. 2018, conducted another study in which they were trying to answer the question regarding the relationship between parenting, eating behavior and the contribution they made on weight gain. Another study by Marcum, Goldring, McBride, & Persky (2018), questioned the micro-level choices that people make in their daily lives and their effect on their dietary behavior as an intervention to obesity. The last study under review was conducted by Vollmer, (2018) and was aimed at understanding how parents and specifically fathers understand obesity in their preschool aged children.

Comparison of sample populations

Since the different studies addressed different research questions, the sample populations were also different. One notable aspect of the sample population in all the studies however, is that the main study subjects were either child under 12 years or parents. For instance, Tester et al. (2018) investigated 7028 children between 2 and 5 years while Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan (2014) had 7738 participants who were in kindergarten in the year 1998 and 2007. Vollmer (2018) used 117 fathers with an average age of 35 years while Marcum, Goldring, McBride, & Persky, (2018) used 221 mothers. Another study that included parents is the one conducted by Lydecke, Riley, & Grilo (2018) who included a sample of 581 parents.

It is important to note that the selection of the samples was much targeted and involved relatively large samples selected systematically. The reason behind the large samples was to have representation form as many regions as possible, given that the focus was the United States and the more the samples the more the reliability of the findings.

Comparison of the limitations of the studies

Each of the eight studies provided valuable findings that would greatly aid in the process of formulating policies for intervention measures. However, there were various limitations of the studies. Generally, since they were all conducted at different times with different research questions, it would be somehow difficult to generalize all their findings to arrive at a single conclusion. This therefore means that each study should be looked at exclusively as they address different questions. Because the studies only focused on obesity in children less than 12 years, there could be a challenge when formulating intervention measures. This is partly because the studies somehow overlooked the fact that some cases of obesity occur even past 12 years. Therefore, coming up with intervention measures for childhood obesity and focusing only on those below 12 years would leave out a significant number of children who are obese but fall above 12 years.

Studies such as those conducted by Bleich et al, (2013) were restricted to the quality of studies and the rejection criteria used. Also, all the other studies were qualitative in nature and therefore meant that their results were only restricted to what they were told by the participants. For instance, if any questions were left out during an interview or while answering a questionnaire, then this would largely affect the outcome of the results.

Conclusion

The findings of the studies would no doubt add a lot of value and insights on ways in which to carry out the capstone project. By focusing on specific facets of childhood obesity and carrying out systematic studies, there is a high chance of having a successful project that would probably change the way intervention measures are always put in place and this could provide an invaluable guideline within which to combat the problem of childhood obesity and the associated health implications once and for all. Comment by Melissa Reedy: What recommendations do you make for further research?

References

Bleich, S. N., Segal, J., Wu, Y., Wilson, R., & Wang, Y. (2013). Systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention studies. Pediatrics, 132(1), e201-e210.

Cunningham, S. A., Kramer, M. R., & Narayan, K. V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(5), 403-411.

Fetter, D. S., Scherr, R. E., Linnell, J. D., Dharmar, M., Schaefer, S. E., & Zidenberg-Cherr, S. (2018). Effect of the Shaping Healthy Choices Program, a Multicomponent, School-Based Nutrition Intervention, on Physical Activity Intensity. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1-7.

Lee, A. M., Scharf, R. J., & DeBoer, M. D. (2018). Association between kindergarten and first-grade food insecurity and weight status in US children. Nutrition, 51, 1-5.

Lydecker, J. A., Riley, K. E., & Grilo, C. M. (2018). Associations of parents’ self, child, and other “fat talk” with child eating behaviors and weight. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1-5.

Marcum, C. S., Goldring, M. R., McBride, C. M., & Persky, S. (2018). Modeling Dynamic Food Choice Processes to Understand Dietary Intervention Effects. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 52(3), 252-261.

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