Efficiency of Orem’s Theory of Nursing in Easing the Issue of Obesity in America

Efficiency of Orem’s Theory of Nursing in Easing the Issue of Obesity in America

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Abstract

Obesity among American citizens both children and adults has been a common occurrence with current statistics showing that that the problem has reached a crisis.  Recent research done indicate that in every three children one of them is obese while the percentage among adults who are obese stands at 35%. The pervasiveness of obesity in the United States has tripled since the 1970s leading to a declaration that obesity becoming a major health concern for parents in the United States having surpassed the more common problems such as drug abuse and smoking. Many health problems that are associated with obesity are very common in occurrence. There are various nursing theories that have been brought forward with an aim of easing the issue of obesity in the United States by applying methods that are more clinical. This paper tries to explain one of the major theories and commonly used Orem’s theory and help understand the effectiveness of the theory in accordance to the main problem at hand in the current generation among children. A brief summary of common research articles that was conducted to find the effectiveness of the Orem’s theory are also included in the paper.

Keywords: Nursing, Nursing theory, Orem’s theory, Obesity, Othering

Introduction

The growing prevalence of obesity amongst adults and children is a major public health challenge both nationally and internationally. Being overweight or obese can increase the risk of developing a range of other health problems such as coronary heart disease (CHD), type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and stroke and reduce life expectation. The concerns of obesity are not limited to the direct impact on health. Being obese also has adverse social consequences through perception, social exclusion, reduced earnings and has a huge influence on the wider economy. For instance, working days lost and fewer efforts are channeled towards national development. This research paper provides a comprehensive analysis with an aim of explaining various reasons as to how and why obesity has become such a risk to all individuals, the resulting effects of the disease that could be extremely fatal and how Orem’s nursing theory can be applied to reduce the spread of obesity in United States. Orem’s theory provides a better platform in understanding how clinical methods and procedures can be used to control the prevalence of obesity among children and adults in the United States. Obesity has become a major clinical problem that ought to be addressed before the problem goes out of hand in the near future (Berry et.al, 2004, p.56).

Search for evidence

The search for evidence was completed by use of various researches conducted and stored in various databases including Wall Street journals, science journals and the journal of the American Medical association (JAMA) database. The search based on the research articles between the year 2004 and 2016 with exemption of other articles written by Dorothea Orem in previous years herself. The main terms used to get information included prevalence of obesity in the United States, Orem’s theory, nursing care and people living with obesity (PLWO).

In a research conducted by Ali Mokdad et.al to study the spread of obesity epidemic in the United States between the year 1991 to the year 1998. The study was conducted with an aim of addressing the increasing prevalence level of obesity among American citizens. The research scientists carrying out the research were able to obtain results that the occurrence of obesity increased greatly from the year 1991 by a surprisingly high percentage of 5.9 percent. It was also noted that there was a steady increase in the spread of obesity from the data sampled in all the states across all sexes, age groups, races, and educational levels and strongly unrelated to the smoking habits of respondents reflecting the whole population. However, there was significant increase in younger individuals between the ages of 18 to 29 at 6.9 percent increase. The researchers therefore were able to come to a conclusive agreement in relation to the study conducted that obesity continues to spread across the United States at a high rate of which if not controlled it would lead to a national disaster. In order to combat the spread of obesity in America, several strategies and theories have been implemented with a common objective of keeping the American population free from obesity (Mokdad et.al, 1999, p.45).

 Since obesity is mostly influenced by the lifestyle of people, various mechanisms have been suggested to allow easy and perfect transition. Different scholars have developed far-reaching theories that can be perfectly implemented to control the spread of obesity in the United States.

Another research study conducted to strengthen the main idea that obesity in the United States is a clinical problem worth addressing was conducted by Cynthia Ogden et.al between the year 2011 and 2012. The research was a follow up another study conducted between the years2003-2004 and the year 2009-2010 that found conclusive results that more than one third of adults in the United States are obese with 17 percent of youth suffering from the same health complications across all the states. The study concluded that obesity prevalence in the United States remains as a high over the years. (Ogden et.al, 2011, p.35).