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.

Purpose of the Program
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.

History
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

Program Modules
The HOPE curriculum program is an online learning tool that pediatric clinicians can use to educate themselves about childhood obesity and preventative measures. The program has several different modules in the course. The module topics include: epidemiology and etiology of pediatric obesity, childhood obesity guidelines, oral health and obesity, behavioral counseling for effective dietary and physical activity change, motivational interviewing for weight management, cultural competency and weight, building a system for obesity management, and advocacy and childhood obesity. Each specific learning module is designed with different objectives and goals to be reached within the topic. The objectives for each topic include:
 * Epidemiology and etiology of pediatric obesity: to understand obesity and its prevalence in the US, the causes of childhood obesity, and the responsibilities’ of health professionals in preventing obesity among children.
 * Childhood obesity guidelines: to learn the process of diagnosing childhood obesity and the specific habits that cause it, and to review the stages of obesity management and care.
 * Oral Health and Obesity: To understand the correlation between oral health and obesity among children and learn methods of assessment of the two.
 * Behavioral Counseling for effective lifestyle changes: to understand the process of counceling parents and children on the topic of obesity and weight management issues, learn the proper ways of informing parents how to enforce healthy lifestyles in their children, and to learn how to create plans for patients to follow in order for them to live a healthier lifestyle.
 * Cultural Competency and Weight: to learn the major health differences between cultures and be able to create healthy living plans for each.
 * Building a System for Obesity Management: to learn the process of creating weight management programs that review and assess weight problems.
 * Advocacy and Childhood Obesity: to understand the restrictions families face that may cause health problems and obesity and to learn the responsibilities of being a health care professional in the field of childhood obesity.

Registering For the HOPE Curriculum
Pediatric clinicians and faculties that wish to participate in the HOPE program can contact a representative at hopeproject@ucsd.edu for more details and registration forms.Individuals who wish to complete the program may also register as well. Membership forms can be emailed to this address as well. Forms can also be sent to the following address: 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 8450 La Jolla, CA 92093.