Page 388 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

OBSeRVATIONAL ReSeARCH DeSIGN n 355

in comparison with younger people, there to care for patients who are obese or have
appears a dearth of high-quality research obesity-related problems.
undertaken aimed at reducing obesity in Reducing obesity is one of the great- O
older adults. In view of the growing num- est global public health challenges of the
bers of obese older adults, clearly there is a twenty-first century. Nurses have a key role
need for further research to be undertaken in to play in the prevention, treatment and
in this area. management of obesity (Visram, Crosland, &
To date, obesity-prevention programs Cording, 2009). Obesity cannot be cured, but
have focused on the establishment of pro- effective prevention and treatment strategies
grams to promote awareness among the to effectively reduce and maintain a healthy
populations of the health hazards and means body weight and to create lifestyle transfor-
of controlling obesity. Apart from the use mation for obese people must now become
of general preventative information tools a major priority. Nurses are in the position
such as mass media campaigns, information to empower people through education and
booklets, leaflets, and posters, growing evi- information giving on the risks of obesity
dence suggest that preventive activities such and create environments that support behav-
as cognitive-behavioral interventions could ior change and deliver behavioral weight
be effective in changing and maintaining management programs (Lazarou & Kouta,
behaviors (Bachman, 2007). Given that the 2010). Despite recent developments in our
ultimate goal of health care is to improve understanding of obesity, to a great extent,
patient health, increasing nurse’s knowledge research in this area is confined to children
of obesity management is paramount. The and adults and research studies have yet to
literature suggests that education and train- explore obesity in the older adult context.
ing in obesity management for all health care Furthermore, greater attention needs to be
professionals is the key to successful obe- paid to the development of public health pol-
sity prevention. However, few nursing stud- icies and strategies to target obesity, which is
ies have identified the complexities faced by where the challenge now lies.
nurses in relation the management of obe-
sity or the impact of education training in Teresa Wills
obesity management. A study conducted by
Ogden and Hoppe (1998) assessed whether
two different educational programs changed
obesity attitudes of practice nurses. The find- ObservatiOnal research
ings revealed that there was no difference in
their attitudes, which were deep rooted and Design
difficult to change, but the nurses reported
the educational interventions had a positive
impact on their practice. The difficulties in Observational designs are nonexperimental,
challenging health care professional’s nega- quantitative designs. In contrast to exper-
tives attitudes to obesity are compounded by imental designs in which the investigator
the lack of inclusion of education programs manipulates the independent variable and
on obesity in undergraduate education observes its effect, the investigator conduct-
programs and in continuing professional ing observational research observes both the
education programs for registered nurses. independent and the dependent variables.
education is the key to the development of In observational studies, variation in the
excellence in nursing practice. Nurses must independent variable may be due to genetic
be educated to meet the challenges of the endowment, self-selection, or occupational
obesity epidemic and ultimately be able or environmental exposures. Because of the