The School Nurse Teacher\u27s Role in Preventing Childhood Obesity at School

Childhood obesity has become a major health concern for children of all ages. One out of every three children have been identified as being overweight or obese, putting those children at an increased risk for detrimental health consequences such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and early mortality (Institute of Medicine, 2014, & CDC, 2014). The continuation and progression of incidences of childhood obesity are also contributing to a potential issue for America’s national security, due to children being physically unfit to fight for the country (Christeson, Taggart, & Messner-Zidell, 2010). This paper is focused on the findings from nursing research on school nurse teacher prevention of childhood obesity related to three main objectives: Identified communication barriers for school nurse teachers, effective educational practices, and nursing interventions that have proven to be effective. This paper identifies effective, evidence-based nursing interventions utilized by school nurse teachers in reducing childhood obesity at school. This review of literature demonstrates that school nurses can have a major impact in preventing obesity. A pamphlet identifying the effective, school nurse led interventions was created and will be distributed to school nurses to be used as a resource for trying new methods in controlling the “obesogenic” environment found in their school system (Penn & Kerr, 2014)