Article Critique Paper
The purpose of this paper is to review a scholarly article about a community health concern and the role nursing plays within the community setting. Because community health nursing focuses on providing care and implementing health education to groups or families within communities, it is important to understand how understand how nursing affects specific groups and populations.
The article Being overweight and obese: Black children ages 2-5 years by Hudson (2008), describes the negative health effects obesity has on children and the social and economic impact that carries through adulthood. The article describes the prevalence of obesity in Black children to be slightly higher than their White counterparts (Hudson, 2008). Many factors affect the likelihood of obesity such as level of activity, diet, culture, environment, and parental attitudes, and ideas. Obesity is measured by using the body mass index (BMI) scale at a percentage of over 95%. According to Hudson, (2008), “the prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled, increasing from 5.0% in 1971-1974 to 13.9% in 2003-2004.” As noted in the article, the percentage of obesity steadily rises in the black community compared with the white community as children become adults suggesting a problem in school-aged children (Hudson, 2008). With obesity there is an increased risk of type II diabetes and hypertension thus making childhood obesity a topic of concern for public health nurses.
Exposure to fast food and candy along with lack of physical activity are vital factors leading to childhood obesity in the black communities, particularly in low income neighborhoods. According to Hudson (2008), lack of physical activity may be related to the concern for the safety of children in certain neighborhoods. There may also be a problem with the perception parents have regarding...