Vol 59 (1), Mar 2015

 

Little is known about undergraduates’ understanding of complex health issues like childhood obesity. Researchers sought to examine to what degree prehealthcare undergraduates can identify and describe the complexity of childhood obesity to inform premedical curricular approaches in light of the 2015 changes to the Medical College Admissions Test®. Through this qualitative analysis, researchers determined that prehealthcare students with nutrition and social science majors and health minors and significant experience with obese people or prevention programs were more knowledgeable about childhood obesity than their counterparts. All students were able to describe many causes of childhood obesity, putting a focus on the child’s diet and familial influence. However, they did not describe the complexity of prevention as well, citing mostly programs they had personally seen in practice or had heard about in popular media. Based on these findings, we suggest undergraduate institutions provide students with specialized coursework and service learning experiences that include exposure to health behavior-related concepts, such as the social ecological model. Because community programs targeting children are often accessible by college students, childhood obesity is a useful context to provide this education, helping students deepen their understanding of health and reflect on their roles as future healthcare providers.