Transcript Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle for Foster Care Youth: A Grant Proposal Kim Bigelman California State University Long Beach May, 2013

Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle for Foster Care Youth: A
Grant Proposal
Kim Bigelman
California State University Long Beach
May, 2013
INTRODUCTION
• One of the most devastating health challenges that the 21st
century is facing is childhood and adolescent obesity.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010), in 2010 the
estimated number of overweight children under the age of five was over 42
million worldwide.
• Approximately 12.5 million adolescents and children ranging in age from 2-19
years old are considered obese (CDC, 2012a).
• The obesity rate among adolescents’ ages 13-19 years has tripled in the last 30
years (Ogden, Carroll, Curtin, McDowell, Tabak, & Flegal, 2006).
• Being obese increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases,
premature death, diabetes, some forms of cancers, and psychosocial
disabilities (Agarwal, Slining, & Yaemsiri, 2010).
SOCIAL WORK RELEVANCE
• For an individual to have the ability to cope with the physical
and psychological stress of being obese, he/she will need mental
and emotional support, and will also need to develop a sense of
confidence that they can overcome this disease physically. Social
workers who research different and alternative options that
obese clients have to help themselves will enable their clients to
reach out to these resources for mental and emotional relief.
Social workers need to have an understanding of how an obese
person feels, as well as how he or she became obese in the first
place. Social workers in the child welfare system have the
connections through the Independent Living Program in their
communities to help reduce the risk of foster care youth and
former foster care youth from becoming obese by teaching the
importance of healthy eating and exercising regularly.
CROSS-CULTURAL RELEVANCE
• Obesity is a universal problem and does not discriminate against races,
ethnicities, or cultures.
•
“53% of non-Hispanic Black women and 51% of Mexican-American women ages 4059 were obese compared to 39% of White women” (Carroll, Flegal, McDowell, &
Ogden, 2007, p2)
• non-Hispanic Black men overall had a higher percentage of being obese than
Mexican-American men or White men (Carroll, et al., 2007).
• Hispanic boys aged 2-19 years old are more likely to be obese than nonHispanic White boys (CDC, 2012a).
• Mendocino County includes an ethnically diverse population made up of
Caucasians, Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans.
METHODS
•
Target Population
The target population this grant intends to serve is current foster care
youth/non minor dependents ages 15-21 and former foster youth between
the ages of 18-24.
•
Strategies Used to Identify and Select Funding Source
Conducted Internet searches via local, state, and federal websites.
California State University Long Beach Library database.
Keywords used: obesity and foster youth, foster care youth and
independent living skills, and obesity and health consequences.
METHODS CONT’D
• Needs Assessment Information Sources
There are a multitude of sources of information that can provide information
for the needs assessment for this grant. The Department of Children and
Family Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute of Health,
medical journals, California State University, Long Beach Library databases,
The World Health Organization, and other government websites will be
utilized.
• Budget Guidelines
The estimated budget for this project includes the cost of honorariums for
guest speakers, who would be utilized to enhance the learning experiences of
the youth on topics such as nutrition, diet, and exercise. The budget also
includes funds for expenses such as training materials, supplies, and the rental
cost of the room.
GRANT PROPOSAL
•
The purpose of this project is to write a grant to acquire funding which would support
a 12 week program to enhance health awareness and promote living a healthier lifestyle
for foster care youth or recently aged out foster youth in Mendocino County.
•
The objective of this program is to incorporate an understanding of the health risks of
being obese by having youth learn how to read food labels, make healthy food choices
while grocery shopping, create meal plans that would include the daily recommended
allowances for vitamins and minerals, write out grocery lists, and develop exercise
routines, all of which will promote a healthy way of living.
•
The program will be designed to encourage adolescents to enjoy an active, healthy
lifestyle.
•
The program will focus on educating the youth about the benefits of eating healthy
and increasing their physical activity.
•
The classes will include information on how obesity affects a person mentally,
emotionally, and physically.
SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS
• Foster youth and former foster youth deal with challenging situations that
they are not always prepared to handle. Social workers provide services to
these youth regardless of their gender, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status,
and physical, mental and mental health needs. Social workers need to have
the ability to identify the special needs that these youth present. Overweight
and obese youth deal with an array of issues including ridicule, peer alienation,
and low self-esteem in addition to putting themselves at a greater risk for
developing serious health problems as adults. Grant writing is one way for
social workers to advocate for these youth so that special programs may be
implemented to meet their needs.
• Social workers’ roles include providing services to clients in addition to
helping promote positive change in the community. As the economy
continues to decline, the services and resources that social workers have
available to them to assist their clients also decline. Hence there is a great
need for social workers to have the skills to acquire funds through grant
writing that would enable them to develop and implement innovative
programs that could create positive change.
REFERENCES
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Agarwal, S.K., Slining, M.M., & Yaemsiri, S. (2010). Perceived weight status,
overweight diagnosis, and weight control among U.S. adults: The NHANES
2003-2008 Study. International Journal of Obesity, 35, 1-8. Doi: 10.1038/ijo.
2010.229
Carroll, M.D., Flegal, K.M., McDowell, M.A., & Ogden, C.L. (2007). Obesity among
adults in the United States-no statistically significant change since 2003-2004.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics, 1.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012a). Obesity rates among all children
in the United States http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Curtin, L., McDowell, M., Tabak, C., & Flegal, K. (2006).
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. Journal
of the American Medical Association, 295, 1549-1555.
World Health Organization. (2012). Childhood Overweight and Obesity on the rise.
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood/en/