HOPE curriculum

The Health and Obesity: Prevention and Education (HOPE) curriculum is a program designed to teach existing and future pediatric clinicians about childhood obesity and the steps to teach patients and their families to live a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent obesity. The programs goals are to raise awareness for healthy living for children and their families, and the effects and preventative methods of childhood obesity. Topics covered in the HOPE curriculum include nutrition, medicine, dentistry, behavioral counseling, and education, all designed by experts in that particular field. Pediatric clinicians complete the HOPE curriculum through series of online classes, all teaching the effects of obesity in young children and ways of counseling families with children who may be at risk for health problems due to obesity. The HOPE curriculum program is delivered online through a series of learning videos, role playing exercises, lectures through PowerPoint, and testing in order to become certified. The tools supplied in order to complete the course are lecture videos with PowerPoint and clinical tool kits that include: clinical algorithms’, assessment forms for patients, handouts and brochures containing information on healthy living and childhood obesity, and resource lists of places more information pertaining to the program. The activities and leaning modules can be completed alone or in groups, but the role playing activities are recommended to be practiced in groups. After the completion of the HOPE curriculum and passing the test, 10 and a half hour of credit is received in the AMA PRA (American Medical Association Physicians Recognition Award) category.

Obesity is becoming a problem in the United States and children are not as healthy as they should be. More than 30% of children in the US are considered overweight and over 16% are considered obese. These children are at risk for several health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, which will all lead to shorter life expectancies. Raising awareness about this issue to the children as well as the families of children is becoming an issue that needs to be delivered. The HOPE curriculum program was created to teach pediatric clinicians how to raise awareness and communicate with families about these health issues due to obesity. The different learning modules will inform clinicians on how to handle these situations in order to assist children and create healthy lifestyle plans that will fit the child.

The HOPE curriculum was created in September 2006, with advisory boards made up of professional experts in the core topics covered in the program: nutrition, medicine, dentistry, behavioral counseling, and education. The program started receiving financial support in March 2008 after 15 different publications from different national health organizations recommended prevention, assessment and treatment programs be created on childhood obesity. The HOPE curriculum used the major recommendations that were made in the publications as the basis of the main topics that would be covered in the program. Other associations and groups that assisted with creating the core curriculum topics are the American Dietetic Association, the American Medical Association, the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, the Institute of Medicine, and the American College of Preventative Medicine, all credible and trustworthy sources for information pertaining to childhood obesity. The HOPE curriculum became available as an online class for pediatric clinicians in 2009. The program is considered a success and in 2012, received an award for being in the top 100 Award-winning programs for E- learning education

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