| Friday, 21 July 2006: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM | |||
| Evidence to Guide Best Practice with Overweight Children & Adolescents | |||
| Learning Objective #1: Describe the latest evidence on prevention and treatment strategies for overweight children and teens. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Discuss clinical intervention strategies for overweight children and teens, based on the best evidence from research. | |||
| The number of children and teens who are overweight has tripled over the last three decades, with Type II diabetes now reaching epidemic proportions in these age groups. It is estimated that 16 percent of children and teens are overweight (i.e., gender and weight-specific body mass index [BMI] at or above the 95th percentile as plotted on the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] growth charts). Overweight children and teens tend to become overweight adults and are more likely to experience medical risks related to cardiovascular disease than those who are not overweight. The major negative physical health consequences associated with obesity include Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, asthma, sleep apnea,and a shortened life-span. Evidence from numerous studies also indicates that obese teens have a higher incidence of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and poor self-esteem than non-obese teens. Thus, there is an urgent need to educate clinicians regarding the latest evidence from intervention studies so that they can implement effective interventions with this high-risk population. This symposium will present the latest evidence from intervention studies with three age groups of overweight children: (1) adolescents, (2) school-age children, and (3) pre-schoolers who are overweight or at risk for overweight. Critical appraisal of these studies will be highlighted, with implications for key strategies for implementation in clinical practice. | |||
| Organizer: | Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN | ||
| Evidence to Guide Best Practice with Overweight School Age Children Diana L. Jacobson, MS, RN, CPNP | |||
| Evidence to Guide Best Practice with Overweight Adolescents Stephanie Van Blankenstein | |||
| Evidence to Guide Best Practice with Overweight Preschoolers and Preschool Children at Risk for Overweight Leigh Small, PhD, RN, CPNP | |||