Ethical Considerations and Human Rights Protection
Data collection and data analysis were conducted following ethical approval from the local University Ethical Committee and the state Research Ethics Committee. The prevalence of obese children is rapidly increasing in the United States, proving the obligation to investigate the fields and address the child’s needs at different levels (Lin, 2019; Smith et al., 2020). When it was necessary to decide on treatment options and the benefits for obese children, the primary ethical consideration touched upon the child’s health being compromised by obesity. It was not enough to identify the effectiveness of weighing control measures but the overall capacity of the participants to be evaluated. Direct parental involvement in the study was characterized by such ethical concerns as parents’ rights and responsibility to protect their children and play an important role in decision-making processes (Lewis, 2017). The child had a limited capacity to understand the risks and benefits of the offered interventions, but this kind of participation was crucial. The plan to protect children’s rights in a longitudinal study included the obligations to prevent childhood obesity, provide adequate food, support the right to health, and admit voluntary participation.
Limitations of Proposed Study
This study has some limitations that should be properly identified for positive changes in future research projects. First, the sample size was small, and no attention was paid to decisive demographic factors age, gender, and race. Due to a limited number of participants, it was impossible to introduce differentiation issues that could be closely related to child obesity and prevention techniques. The second limitation touched upon the decision to use the results of self-reports about the height and weight of the children as the main participants of the study. Parents were responsible for measuring physiological changes in their children, which could increase the subjectivity of information and biased results. Such issues as the participants’ honesty, reflective ability, and the interpretation of the numbers may be confusing for a project with a quantitative research method. Finally, there was no clear information about body composition and the possible metabolic measures that could affect the outcomes and become a critical factor in achieving or failing the desired goals. These limitations could significantly reduce the accuracy of results, and the researcher had to consider the impact of previously conducted studies with the current findings.
Implications for Practice
This project reveals the relationship between parental education and childhood obesity prevention. Although some people find it effective to address a pharmacological option and help children manage their weight with the help of medication, this study contributes to a better understanding of human interactions. It was suggested that weight monitoring developed by parents who were properly educated could decrease the prevalence of overweight with time. Thus, further implications of the findings should include some options for parental participation. The strength of the study is the possibility to involve participants from middle-income suburban neighborhoods where citizens continue facing a variety of social problems and have to solve their obesity-related problems. Not all families could afford to buy expensive medications and treat their obese children. Parental education is one of the cheapest interventions that does not require much financing but focuses on families’ willingness and interest. Childhood obesity has already become a serious health and social problem, and it is high time to find a solution and improve children’s life quality. Education is a solid background for further obesity interventions that could differentiate in terms of new demographic, social, and economic factors.
References
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Childhood obesity: Physiological and psychological implications and ethical responsibilities. Journal of Health Ethics, 13(1). Web.
Lin, C. Y. (2019). Ethical issues of monitoring children’s weight status in school settings. Social Health and Behavior, 2(1), 1-6. Web.
Smith, J. D., Fu, E., & Kobayashi, M. A. (2020). Prevention and management of childhood obesity and its psychological and health comorbidities. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 16, 351-378. Web.