The Regulation of Obesity, Poverty and Diabetes - Coursework Example

The Regulation of Obesity, Poverty and Diabetes Introduction The present-day American society has countersigned high-tech developments that have absolutely transformed the social order. Regardless of this, over 49 million Americans continue suffering under the verge of poverty, obesity, diabetes 2 and its related illnesses. The state government has committed millions of dollars into counteracting this socio and economic problems that are intimidating to engrave the contemporary society, undoubtedly due to ineffectual policies and strategies. According to Hughes (2011), there is a strong positive correlation between poverty, obesity and diabetes 2; many of the people diagnosed with obesity and diabetes 2 are Native Americans, blacks and Hispanics, where rate of obesity reaches upto 70%, and this has been accredited to their deprived economic conditions. Obesity and diabetes are among the vigorously growing health problems faced by Americans. The prevalence in obesity rates has caused massive cases of diabetes 2 which in turn causes amputations, hypertension and blindness, and also increases chances of developing depression, cancer, heart disease, asthma, immobility and arthritis. Allowing the current rates of poverty and obesity to continue increasing implies that America will be trailing on a perilous track. Moreover, the obesity endemic, if left unimpeded, will contravene the substantial progress made in life expectancy and health in the recent decades (Klein et al., 2004). Certainly, if current and future generations are to live longer, healthy and exciting lives, this cosmic problem must be contained through effective policy formulation and implementation. Obesity costs the nation over $160 billion in direct therapeutic costs every year. Estimates indicate that yearly medical expenditures can be plummeted by between 7-12% if the government succeeds to eradicate obesity and diabetes 2 (Levine, 2011). Additionally, through Medicare and Medicaid, a substantial fraction of this cost is financed by assiduous taxpayers and this affects both federal and state budgets and significantly hinders meaningful economic development. It is too costly to overlook the skyrocketing premature deaths resulting from obesity and obesity-associated chronic diseases. Consequently, this pilot study seeks to explore the state government’s roles in regulating the two lethal epidemics. It will seek to explore whether the policies of developing EMR system that back diabetes prevention, guaranteeing parity of mental and physical health services, promoting active lifestyles, increasing Medicaid funding for obesity and diabetes, and regulating the diet of Americans are effective and efficient in handling the poverty, obesity and diabetes menace (Levine, 2011). Additionally, it will focus on examining how the government has responded to the devastating conditions faced by diabetic and/or obese Americans taking into consideration the sheer fact that it is the institution with the power to revamp the deteriorated health conditions of Americans. Only an extensive mobilization of concerned activists, health professionals and citizens can persuade elected officials and policy makers to act now to thwart the diabetes and sufferings that diabetes is inexorably causing (Sami, 2013). Research goals My primary goal is to evaluate the effectiveness and adeptness of the current policies that are aimed at regulating, controlling and possibly jettisoning, poverty, obesity and diabetes from America. Noteworthy, this will be done so as to guarantee the attainment of the goal to encourage residents, health professionals and policymakers to respond to diabetes and obesity more vehemently and excellently. Additionally, the pilot study shall seek to examine the actuality of developing substantial policies, apart from those currently in place, which will help in forefending or containing the current situation. However, the pilot will be inadequate and seemingly superfluous without an ostensible explication of how and why the government has failed in reducing the depressing rates of obesity and diabetes. To accomplish this, I will undertake a qualitative substantiation of numerical findings, with an objective of pinpointing the futile policies and recommending policies that can be formulated and implemented to curb the continually increasing obesity and diabetes level, firstly through poverty reduction (Kettel et al., 2009). The operational changes required in healthcare will also be outlined in an effort to ensure that current and forthcoming generations will find operational policies and an America free from obesity and obesity-related illnesses, particularly the noxious diabetes 2. I prominently believe that through attainment of the aforementioned goals, I will contribute to the direly needed policy changes in the American healthcare sector and guarantee Americans an apt and pertinent existence, free from avertable deaths. Methods Predominantly, descriptive approach will be used to address “what” questions regarding the policies aimed at impeding progression of obesity and diabetes 2. It will be used to conceptualize the framework by grouping various populations together. This will make it easy to conclude and analyze the causal relationship between policies implemented and poverty, obesity, and diabetes 2. According to Denzin & Lincoln (2004), descriptive approach offers a clear understanding and illustration of the changes in data and this will make it stress-free to formulate a solid conclusion and propose operational policies. To gather data, I will use structured and unstructured questionnaires and a sample size of 100 persons (n=100), 60% being civilians, 30% medical practitioners, 5% and a measly 5% of health policymakers. I will seek to gain the participants’ perception of the reason for the upsurge in obesity and diabetes 2 among Americans and gauge the public’s confidence with the current health policies that are in place. Professionally designed questionnaires shall be placed in strategic positions where participants will pick, fill and drop them while those in distant locations shall receive the questionnaires through emails. Morse & Richards (2002) indicate that questionnaires can provide an ominously candid and ingenuous data due to the privacy that it guarantees. Due to this, the questions targeting the failed policies and policies that can be formulated will be included to help attain my primary goal. Such questions include; What policies can you consider to be a disgrace in the fight against poverty, obesity and diabetes 2? (list at least 3 policies). What health policies would you recommend the government to implement in order to guarantee a diabetes free environment? To guarantee the acquisition of more convincing and fundamental data, judgmental sampling, which has the advantage of reaching the sample swiftly and providing meaningful facts, shall be used along with a review of monographs. In judgmental sampling, I will involve 5 public hospitals administrators and 5 private hospitals administrators all with a working experience ranging from 8-20 years. This will be a group of people who will significantly be familiar with the operation of policies and policymakers within the healthcare industry. They will provide information regarding the various policies that have proved to be detrimental rather than beneficial (Morse & Richards, 2002). A comparison of their responses will indicate how different policies affect different hospitals’ capacity and aptitude to offer quality health services to encumber the development of obesity and diabetes 2 (Denzin & Lincoln, 2004). What’s more, this sampling shall be supplemented by a review of monographs that provide the various policy changes that have been witnessed, what was or is erroneous with the policies as well as the trend in poverty, obesity and diabetes in recent years. One of the challenges that might detriment the pilot study is financial constriction. Data collection might require a substantive amount of both human and financial resources which might not be available. Data available might also be insubstantial since a large number of persons are unacquainted and oblivious of the poverty, obesity and diabetes trend within America and the policies that are in place. However, mish-mashing the various methods can ominously help in overcoming these challenges. References Hughes, G. (2011). Ability to manage diabetes – community health workers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs. SEMDSA (Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of SA. Levine, J. (2011). Poverty and Obesity in the U.S. American Diabetes Association. Retrieved from http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/60/11/2667.extract# Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2004). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Kettel, K. L., & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U.S.). (2009). Recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the United States. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Klein, S., Sheard, N. F., Pi-Sunyer, X., Daly, A., Wylie-Rosett, J., Kulkarni, K., & Clark, N. G. (2004). Weight Management Through Lifestyle Modification for the Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale and Strategies: A statement of the American Diabetes Association, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition. Diabetes Care, 2(3), 134-253. Morse, J. M., & Richards, L. (2002). Read me first for a user's guide to qualitative methods. Thousand Oaks (Calif.): Sage. Sami, M. (2013). Healthy planning in California: Towards a theory of multi-level frame interaction. Read More