Obesity in African American Families

Obesity in African American Families

Community Assessment: Obesity in African American Families

Grace Guobadia

Walden University

September 17, 2018

Community Assessment: Obesity in African American Families

I currently live in Houston, Texas, a large metropolitan area. There are several smaller communities in Houston and surrounding areas, so I chose to focus on a community on the northern side of town. For my community assessment, I am interested in finding interventions and prevention programs for tackling obesity in African American families. I frequently volunteer at Kujawa Elementary, a local school that has a high percentage of African American families. The school recently held a family night to present some accolades from the previous year, along with introducing the programs available to children and families. I chose this setting to conduct the windshield survey as I had the opportunity to survey several different families at once.

Windshield Survey Findings

Houston is located within Harris County, a large area that covers millions of people. Kujawa Elementary services a few different zip codes, so I chose to use the demographics of the school’s zip codes since the survey was conducted at the school. There are approximately 28,552 people in this community and the median household income is $41,119. 16,192 persons are White, 7,085 are Black/African American, 236 are American Indian, 2,020 are Asian, and 17,552 are of Hispanic ethnicity. 25.1% of individuals in this community live below the poverty level. This community is known based on the school district it is located within, so it is often referred to as the Aldine area. There are several neighborhoods surrounding the school, in addition to two large apartment complexes. One of the complexes is next to the school and the other is across the street from the school. A major highway is less than a minute from the school, but there are no bodies of water nearby. The neighborhoods consist of homes that were built as early at 1939 and as late as 2017 as there is plenty of new construction in the surrounding areas that are zoned to the school. The condition of the area varies based on the street you drive on as some are well kept and others have seen better days. There are older shopping centers closer to the neighborhoods and then newer shopping centers closer to the highway. There are some community members walking around to the local store or the bus stop as public transportation is nearby, even though most of the community uses their personal vehicle for transportation. People hangout at the park at the school and there is a county park a couple of blocks from the school. The areas near the parks appear to be well kept and there are also doctor offices for different specialties in addition to an urgent care facility. Lastly, the area has several different businesses, ranging from hotels, grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, children’s play center, etc.

After directly speaking with 10 separate African American families, community members are generally satisfied with the area. I also determined that Kujawa is a Magnet school, so there are individuals that don’t directly live in a zoned neighborhood. The one thing parents and kids did mention was the heavy traffic in the area that made parents nervous regarding the safety of their children walking to and from school. I questioned parents about their nutrition habits and found that the school does provide many nutritious options, but the accessibility of fast foods near the school was an easy alternative to cooking.

Vulnerable Population

With obesity continuing to be a widespread epidemic, risks factors associated with this are prevalent in all communities. In speaking with my local health department, one of the key issues noted was lack of physical activity. Sedentary behavior is described as sitting for long periods of time and is a major risk factor for poor health (Munir et. al, 2018). While most people living in the community are aware of this notion, there is a general lack of understanding and resources to change this. African American families are considered a vulnerable population because they are minorities and they are facing an obesity epidemic. According to the Houston State of Health, 2015 data showed that 71.1% of adults in Harris County were considered obese. This number was higher than both the state and country averages. The obesity rate for Black/African American individuals is higher than that for any other race, indicating a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Johnson et al. (2014) researched the relationship between nutrition behaviors in families and found that the portion sizes children were given were dependent upon their parent’s eating choices. Furthermore, heritability for obesity is estimated at 40% – 70% in addition to genetic markers related to BMI, so early intervention and prevention methods are desperately needed (Gong et al., 2013).

Conclusions

I am satisfied with the community I’ve chosen as there are an abundance of resources I can make use of. Since Kujawa is a well-respected school in the area, I’d like to seek volunteers in the area to assist with my community intervention. This community has several people that are not financially stable, so they need interventions that are cost-efficient and close to home. I can make great use of the county parks in the area as they are well kept, and many families make frequent use of them. I have a tough job ahead, but Harris county has enough resources to help these families, I just need to show them how to access them and how to make the best use of environment they live in.

References

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(2013). Fine Mapping and Identification of BMI Loci in African Americans. American Journal Of Human Genetics, 93(4), 661-671. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.08.012

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(2014). Portion sizes for children are predicted by parental characteristics and the amounts parents serve themselves. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 99(4), 763-770. doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.078311

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from:https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Obesity/state/TX

Zand, B. (July 11, 2017). How Obesity is Shrinking our Lives in Texas. Houston Chronicle.

Retrieved from:https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/How-obesity-is-shri