By Onika Shabazz, WHF Intern
As a Masters in Social Work (MSW) candidate, my focus is on understanding obesity from a more holistic perspective, which includes one’s childhood experiences. So, it was perfect when I was tasked with writing about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health outcomes in adulthood. For years I have struggled to explain my point of view: For many, obesity is not (just) about food, but about emotional scares, past histories and other things that we cannot see, but I think the ACEs study helps make my point more understandable.
For nearly three decades, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser have been exploring the connectedness between ACEs and health outcomes in adulthood, and what they have shown thus far is astonishing. However, their findings simply support what lay people have been saying all along; that childhood experiences indeed affect health and influence our behaviors throughout the lifespan. Either way, it’s great that this important information has surfaced.
In the mid-1980s, physicians in Kaiser Permanente's Department of Preventive Medicine, while doing an obesity study, discovered that patients successfully losing weight in the Weight Program were the most likely to drop out. “This unexpected observation led to our discovery that overeating and obesity were often being used unconsciously as protective solutions to unrecognized problems dating back to childhood. Counter-intuitively, obesity provided hidden benefits: it often was sexually, physically, or emotionally protective” The ACEs study grew out of Kaiser’s obesity research, and has since led to various papers explaining the correlation between adverse childhood experiences and later health outcomes.
ACEs refer to traumas/experiences including (but not limited to):
Recurrent physical abuse
Recurrent emotional abuse
Contact sexual abuse
An alcohol and/or drug abuser in the
household
An incarcerated household member
Someone who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
Mother is treated violently
One or no parents
Emotional or physical neglect
The study further explains that the more ACEs you have, the worse your health outcomes will be. The purpose behind this ongoing collaborative study is to “Bridge the gap between childhood trauma and negative consequences later in life”.
I am not writing this blog to simply provide information on what ACEs are, but to ask that we all be aware of these experiences and how they have shaped our own lives, the lives of people we love, and how we can interrupt and prevent ACEs in the lives of children around us (be it our own, a niece/nephew or neighbor). Understand that ACEs do not just affect health outcomes, but habits that may permeate our everyday lives like smoking, alcoholism, drug use and abuse, violent behaviors, depression and obesity, which affect the people around us.
Understanding ACEs allows us to realize the power and necessity of programs like HeadStart, nurse-family partners, community health promoters, and a host of other programs and organizations that work with and support children and families to prevent and/or overcome adverse childhood experiences. Let’s remember, children are resilient, and given love and support following any type of traumatic event can make a tremendous difference.
I am also writing this blog to emphasize that, with this knowledge we can empower ourselves, build stronger families, communities, improve our health and fight for programs and services that support these endeavors.
The ACEs research has done more than provide statistics and outcomes related to adult health, it has provided a platform, an open space and evidenced based research, for individuals who have for so long, struggled to explain the connection between their medical illness and past/historical traumas. This research offers a language for us to articulate and command that our voices and stories be heard in the medical realm and around all issues of health and wellness.
Rural Impact: Recently Omak, WA brought an ACEs instructor to train the community about this research. There are resources out there so if you want someone to come to your community, email Renee Gubert @ rgubert@omaksd.wednet.edu , AmeriCorps member at Omak School District, to learn how she helped make the training possible.
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