The topic of
childhood obesity has personal meaning to me. Throughout my childhood, I was
overweight. I remember being teased in school as well as having to endure “well
meaning”, but often rude, comments from family members. Now as an overweight adult, I am a living
example of the correlation between overweight and obese children growing into
overweight and obese adults. As an
adult, I have more control over my diet and the knowledge to improve it; but
children lack a level of control over their environments and often times lack
the knowledge to make healthy choices. As a social worker in training, I
recognize why childhood obesity interventions are so important. Parents cannot
be expected to impart healthy lifestyle practices onto their children if they
have never had the opportunity to learn it themselves. Examining the causes of the current epidemic
of childhood obesity allowed me to understand that the individual is not always
to blame for their condition. The problem
is linked to how our society is structured. Low-income families have high rates
of obesity due to less access to healthy food, healthcare, and safe
environments for physical activity. Social workers have the responsibility of understanding the social and political forces that influence society, and advocating for members of the population who are adversely affected by those forces. The research for this project
helped me develop the following competencies:
Competency 3:
Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments and Competency 6: Engage in
research-informed practice and practice-informed research.
Competency 4:
Engage diversity and difference in practice.
Competency 8:
Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to
deliver effective social work services and
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