...... Healthy Weight Kids Coalition of Southern Kentucky is a coalition of health-related professionals and organizations with the goal of preventing and treating the serious  problem of overweight in children.

Healthy Weight Kids Survey

In the Fall of 2003, the planning committee for Dr Blackerby's CATCH grant (this is a grant funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics) conducted surveys of physicians, teachers, and parents. Dr Marilyn Gardner and Lisa Thomason at WKU did much of the work in tabulating these surveys. These tools were designed to reveal attitudes and practices in overweight awareness, prevention and treatment. Some results were predictable, but others were quite shocking!

Physician Survey

• Physicians reported that about 28% of their pediatric patients are overweight. (Which is close to the national average.)
• They identified diet training as the most important factor in treating these kids, and exercise training as the second most important factor.
• 90% of physicians said they were likely to refer overweight children to a medically supervised weight management program if available.
• Physicians tended to blame the patients and families as the major barriers to treating overweight, but also blamed lack of a good treatment center to refer patients to.
• Only a third of physicians regularly offered any diet and exercise counseling to their overweight patients.

Parent Survey

• Of the parents responding to the survey, 42% had at least one overweight child, based on BMI calculation. However, only 10% correctly identified that child as overweight.
• Parents listed cost as the number one barrier to enrolling their child in a treatment program.
• 3/4 of parents feared that talking to an overweight child about diet might cause an eating disorder (anorexia) or make him feel bad about himself.
• Only half of parents said they would participate in a family program to help an overweight child lose weight.

Teacher Survey

• Over 40% of teachers use food as the primary reward for their students.
• Teachers ranked lack of exercise as the number one reason for overweight in children.
• A majority of teachers felt that overweight children needed both nutrition and exercise training.
• Teachers felt that parental obesity and lack of incentive by the family were the top barriers in treating overweight children.
• About half of teachers thought that most overweight children will "outgrow" their problem.