February Summary

Question one asked how you would target intervention strategies with youth in relationship to physical activity and diet to help prevent metabolic syndrome. It also asked to focus primarily on group interventions since this is more typical of the type of setting you’ll be utilizing. General themes in response to this topic focused primarily on motivation of physical activity and healthy eating. Educating adolescents on the WHY might help make them more motivated. It was also mentioned that possibly setting goals and making realistic small changes would be beneficial. Most agreed that the school setting would be a great intervention area particularly in gym class. There were some excellent ideas involving interactive games, cooking demos and other ideas that would focus on the positive. It was also mentioned that getting the whole family involved especially the parents is key to helping behavior change. However, in some settings you might want to separate the classes for parents and students as you would likely want to discuss different topics with parents versus their children. Portion sizes, easy exercise options and healthy snacks and joining sports teams were all presented as great interventions that promote positive body image.

Question two asked how your intervention strategies would be altered when considering the inconsistent contributing factors among the 3 racial groups studied and the two genders. General agreement seemed to lean toward targeting overall heart healthy eating strategies and physical activity that would benefit anyone. There was also a big emphasis on prevention efforts. Many people mentioned the importance of educating at an early age. I also think it is important to mention cultural sensitivity. Many spoke to the fact that you could address the various risk factors with different groups and make general suggestions but you also mentioned the importance of understanding cultural food preferences and not wanting to be insulting. A few also mentioned that you could tailor interventions toward certain groups if you were aware of their background and educations. You are right in that no group is going to have everyone be exactly the same in background but often times groups will have similar socioeconomic status or racial background and you can then put more focus on the needs of those groups. Again prevention and overall heart healthy recommendations were all good points to make when addressing this situation.

Question three asked how you would target weight management interventions with children and their parents sensitively as to not further exacerbate the issue. The group consensus seemed to focus primarily on a whole family intervention so as to not single out the child with the weight issues. This would not only be beneficial to the family as a whole but seems to be related to better long term results. Also, many people mentioned that for adolescents the focus should be on not limiting calories but rather changing the types of foods we eat to be increased fruits and vegetables, whole grains and less fat. This would not be limiting but rather promoting positive healthy eating and in turn would result in naturally slimming down or normal growth. I think the most important thing to remember is that every child grows differently and the parents really need to be educated on what is “normal” growth within their child’s growth curve and what is “abnormal” meaning 2 standard deviations above or below their growth curve. By properly educating parents on how to offer healthy choices, the children can focus instead on just being a kid.

Overall, the issue of increased metabolic syndrome is not surprising given the rise in obesity in this county. However, while we realize prevention is key, knowing how to best tackle this topic is puzzling. In general, focusing on healthy eating and exercise is a great way to start and creativity in approaches as described above can be a great step in the right direction.