Good Health In Obesity

Health has been long established to be positive but this differs within persons from one condition and life phase to another, involving cultural, medical, social and holistic view; also health is not necessarily the absence of illness and diseases (Allan 1999 & Moore, 2000), but ‘ a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living’ (World Health Organization, WHO, 1986). This definition of health might be impractical for some people with intellectual disabilities as people with mild intellectual disability could be able to make certain choices of resources for everyday living whereas for those with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities, health may seem to be an objective of living (Atherton & Crickmore, 2011). I chose to discuss reducing obesity as the secondary condition for this assignment because studies has shown a high prevalence of diabetes in adults with intellectual disabilities living in the communities than those in residential care settings (Royal College of nursing, RCN, 2011) and ‘Providing opportunity for leisure and enjoyment’ as the second aim to effective health promotion.

Obesity:

To be able to explain obesity, body mass index (BMI) needs to be explained first. It’s a tool which shows an individual’s healthy weight (Kozier, Erb, Berman, Snyder, Lake & Harvey, 2008). Body mass index is calculated by multiplying the body weight in kilogram (kg) by height in meters squared (m2), BMI falling in between 30 and 39.9 are classified as obesity, while over 40 is very obese (Haber, 2004). Therefore obesity is carrying too much body fat than required for a person’s height and sex (Health service executive HSE, 2013).Obesity is a secondary health condition and seen as global concern for people with or without intellectual disabilities, however a higher prevalence has been noted amongst people with Intellectual disabilities. It reduces life expectancy due to possible long term consequences of osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, increased cardio vascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes (World Health Organization WHO, 2004; Thomas and Kerr, 2011), and hypercholesterolemia, gall bladder disease, cancers of the breast, colon, prostrate and ultimately premature death (Haber, 2004).

The report of the National Taskforce on Obesity (2005) has identified obesity to be linked with social, economic and biological determinants of health comprising of, biological and genetic make-up, healthy child development, physical environment, social support networks, working conditions, personal health practices and skills, income and social status, educational attainment and ethnicity. These can be seen amongst people with intellectual disabilities, age, level of their intellectual disability; being mild or moderate increases risk, living independently or at home have more risk than living in a campus setting, side effects of drugs, having certain syndromes for example down syndrome and prader- willi syndrome, all are determinants of obesity in people with intellectual disabilities (Melville, Hamilton & Hankey, Miller, & Boyle, 2007).

Risk factors:

Genetics, lifestyle and environment are risk factors to obesity (Haber, 2004), drugs, such as corticosteroids and antidepressants and medical conditions like hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome in women, and Cushing’s syndrome (HSE, 2013) are also risk factors.

Genetics- Haber (2004) noted that a family history of obesity increase a person chance of becoming obese. Certain genes variations could contribute to how our body stores fat and some genetic disorder which increases appetite and causes the individual to eat excessively without the ability to regulate their appetite for example Prader-Willi syndrome poses a risk factor (HSE, 2013)

Lifestyles- In most cases of obesity, lifestyle factor is the main reason of becoming obese, healthy changes in lifestyle choices such as healthy eating habits and exercise would meaningfully impact on body weight by reducing it.

Environment:

Health Promotion:

Health promotion is the act of encouraging healthier lifestyles with the aim of reducing the occurrence and risk of disease and illness (Ryan, McNamara & Deasy, 2006). There are four major approaches to health promotion namely; Try This Supplement for quick result

i) Educational- presenting information to an individual or community for them to make informed healthy options,

ii) Preventative- preventing diseases and illness by changing in behaviors,

iii) Self empowering- development of self,

iv|) Radical- government’s approach to make social and economic changes for health improvement (Atherton & Crickmore, 2011).

Ireland formally published its first (National Health Promotion Strategy) in 1995 and a second one in 2000, since then there has been notable progress in implementing these strategies; the National Health Promotion Strategy (1995) clearly adopted a firm method of health promotion, which precisely aimed at communities, schools, work settings and health services (Ryan et al, 2006). For people with disability of which intellectual disability (ID) is inclusive, the main element of positive health should be empowerment ( Scriven, 2005), Therefore the need for nurses as primary health care givers to support the person with an intellectual disability to enhance their health.

Health promotion programmes:

All health promotion programmes should be based on these five areas of action in the Ottawa Charter for Health promotion (1986); ‘building healthy public policy’, ‘creating supportive environments’, ‘strengthening of community actions’, ‘developing personal skills’ and ‘reorienting health services’ (WHO, 1986).

PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY FOR LEISURE AND ENJOYMENT;

Role of the registered nurse in intellectual disability:

It is important that the registered nurse intellectual disability and other multidisciplinary team members caring for a person with intellectual disability, be familiar with the client, their family and have a good understanding of the client’s community in order to successfully employ a health promotion strategy.