Journal of Hospital & Medical Management

Community-based Preventive Interventions for Childhood Obesity: Design Strategies for Implementing a Population Health Management Program

The statement of problem: The high prevalence of childhood obesity signifies a serious global health crisis. A systematic review on social and behavioural determinants of obesity reveals the complexity of childhood obesity and the need for comprehensive and innovative care management approaches at the population or community level.
Objective: This paper identifies a Trans disciplinary framework for integrating personal and societal determinants of childhood obesity and proposes the implementation of population health programs for obesity.
Approach: The pathogenesis of obesity is attributable to multiple factors. Thus, preventive efforts have to employ evidence-based implementation research to examine a complex set of etiologies and their relative influences on the outcomes of intervention programs. This investigation adopts a person-centered orientation coupled with the use of health information technology to design and evaluate care management programs for a target group of children at risk for metabolic disorders.
Implication: This prospective study design may generate workable care management plans targeting specific needs of obese children and enable us to yield useful information for expanding personal and social care models for population health management.
Conclusion: The longitudinal study of children served by community health centres may offer unique opportunities to provide practical information for enhancing the continuity of care and care management activities such as patient engagement management, risk identification and management, clinical case management, utilization management, and quality management of community services. Thus, optimal solutions to childhood obesity can be achieved by collaborative efforts of multi-sectorial partners such as academic, public health, private foundation, and community organizations.

Author(s):

Thomas TH Wan

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