Assignment Windshield survey community assessment

Assignment Windshield Survey Community Assessment

Conduct a “Windshield Survey” in a section of your community. Instructions for the survey can be found in Stanhope and Lancaster (2016) on page 416, Table 18-6. As you notice, conducting a Windshield Survey requires that you either walk around or drive around a particular section of the community and take notes about what you observe. A

Windshield Survey cannot be conducted by reviewing websites or Google Earth only. It requires actually taking a look at the selected area of the community. This survey should be focused on the problem and population you have selected for your practicum project. If you choose, for example, obesity among Hispanic schoolchildren, you might want to locate a section of the community where many Hispanic children live, or you might want to conduct the Windshield Survey around where Hispanic children attend school.

If Hispanic children are not found in a specific section of your community (e.g., Chinatown in San Francisco or Harlem in New York), then you may select the section of the community where you live or work but pay particular attention to your practicum population and practicum problem as you conduct a survey of the community as viewed through the eyes of the public health nurse.

BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 3

Submit a 3- to 4-page paper including:

• Introduction to the community, including the name of the community and any interesting or historical facts you would like to add about where you live
• Photographs of the selected area of the community that serve as evidence of your observations and hypotheses

Windshield Survey findings, including a description of the section of your community that you chose to survey

• Description of the Vulnerable Population and Available Resources
• Demographics of the vulnerable population
• What social determinants create their vulnerable status?
• What community strengths exist to assist this population?

Conclusions based on Nursing Assessment of the Community

Based on what you have found, what conclusions can you draw about your community and your selected population for your practicum?

Select at least 5 scholarly resources to support your assessment. Websites may be included but the paper must include scholarly resources in its development.

For this Assignment, review the following:

AWE Checklist (Level 4000)

BSN Program Top Ten Citations and References

Walden paper template (no abstract or running head required)

• The Assignment 3 Rubric Assignment: windshield survey community assessment Gerardi, T., Farmer, P., & Hoffman, B. (2018). Moving closer to the 2020 BSN-prepared workforce goal. American Journal of Nursing, 118(2), 43–45. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29369873/

Windshield survey community assessment Sample Paper

Obesity Among Hispanic School Children of The Lower Rio Grande Valley

The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), which runs along the US-Mexican border between Texas and Mexico and winds its way to the Gulf of Mexico, is primarily populated by Hispanics of Mexican descent, including both immigrants from Mexico and those with Mexican ancestors (US Census Bureau, 2021). Majority of this population are overweight with childhood obesity contributing a larger percentage of this number (Aguayo-Mazzucato et al., 2019). 

The Gulf of Mexico to the east and the Rio Grande River to the south define this region, which includes Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, and Willacy counties near Texas’ southernmost tip. Most of these people practice Mexican culture with minor influence from the surrounding American culture (US Census Bureau, 2021). Most of the inhabitants of this area speak Spanish at home with few speaking English outside their homes. 

Poverty is one of the characteristics of the region with the region registering the lowest per capita income. The state of education attainment in also alarming with only less than 12% of the population having attained the Bachelor’s degree. Majority of the population is made up of the youth with a median age of about 27 (US Census Bureau, 2021).

The culture of the Hispanic Americans living in USA has shown to be one of the predisposing factors to obesity (Forrest et al., 2017). Comparison to their counterparts in Mexico has shown that those in USA are more likely to be overweight or obese compared to those in Mexico. Historically, Hispanic Mexicans had a notion that being overweight is a sign of health. This link between health and weight gain is strongly ingrained in Hispanic culture and may be traced all the way back to childhood (Forrest et al., 2017). 

Among the Hispanic Mexican women, the idea of having “curvy” body figure is one of the major problems that is predisposed them to obesity. This distorted and inaccurate body image makes it difficult for them to perceive their own true weights (Forrest et al., 2017). Consequently, childhood obesity becomes one of the major health concerns in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Ismaeel et al., 2018).

METHODOLOGY

Design

Bowie Elementary School in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was selected based on purposive random sampling. 100 school going children between the age of 6 to 10 years were randomly selected and their height and weight measured. The results were then analyzed using the BMI-for-age percentiles method.

Findings

Out of the 100 randomly selected students of Bowie Elementary school, 12 students were found to be obese. 15 students were found to be overweight.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley Community

The population of the Lower Rio Grande Valley generally reflects on the Hispanic Mexicans inhabiting the American side of the US-Mexico border. Young people make up the majority of the population, with the majority of them living in abject poverty. Obesity as a public health hazard is reflected in the prevalence of childhood obesity (Ismaeel et al., 2018). The majority of current students acknowledged eating fast food in local restaurants, with soft drinks such as Coca Cola being reported as the commonly consumed drinks alongside snacks. 

Most people in this community work in local businesses and use public means for transport. The school going population studies in the local education institutions. The presence of a large number of youths within the age bracket of attending schools indicates that there is a large number of drop-outs. Social interactions between people of the same age-group appears as a common norm with individuals seemingly settling in groups of the same age groups. There are few physical activities going on the community in terms of sports taking place in the regions portrayed by empty basketball courts and football ground

Population at Risk of Obesity

The Hispanic schoolchildren were the selected population under the windshield survey. The school going children were between the age of 6 and 11 years from the randomly selected Bowie Elementary School. The population was at risk of being affected by obesity due to the fact that most school going children are uninformed about health-related issues (Ismaeel et al., 2018). Children of this age are also at risk of adopting bad feeding habits and therefore end up being obese (Ismaeel et al., 2018). 

Their lowest hierarchical age group also means that they are not involved in making most of the decisions regarding food intake and physical activities. This, as Medina-Remón et al. (2018) notes, predisposes such individuals to the risks of obesity.

The Hispanic Mexican population of Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) is built on ideals derived from their historical hunters and gatherer character, where individuals must work hard to make a life (US Census Bureau, 2021). When instilled in early children, the community’s hardworking attitude can play an essential part in ensuring that children are hardworking and competitive in their daily physical activities, keeping them in check in terms of body fitness.

Conclusion

Obesity in a population is determined by a multitude of factors, including working culture, feeding culture, and general appearance culture, in addition to genetics. Obesity is a major risk factor for a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, among others. As a result, obesity plays a critical role in defining a population’s health. A community, on the other hand, can play an essential role in regulating the health of its members by enforcing healthy behaviors that may cause obesity.

References

• Aguayo-Mazzucato, C., Diaque, P., Hernandez, S., Rosas, S., Kostic, A., & Caballero, A. E. (2019). Understanding the growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the Hispanic population living in the United States. Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews, 35(2), e3097. https://doi.org/10.1002/dmrr.3097
• Forrest, K. Y. Z., Leeds, M. J., & Ufelle, A. C. (2017). Epidemiology of obesity in the Hispanic adult population in the United States. Family & Community Health, 40(4), 291–297.
• Ismaeel, A., Weems, S., McClendon, M., & Morales, F. E. (2018). Interventions aimed at decreasing obesity in Hispanic children in the first 1000 days: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 20(5), 1288–1293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0672-7
• Medina-Remón, A., Kirwan, R., Lamuela-Raventós, R. M., & Estruch, R. (2018). Dietary patterns and the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, and neurodegenerative diseases. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 58(2), 262–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2016.1158690
• US Census Bureau. (2021). Race and ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html