MF2783

Tandalayo Kidd & Carolyn Snyder, Kansans move into health: leader's guide, Kansas State University, July 2007

MF2782

Tandalayo Kidd & Carolyn Snyder, Kansans move into health, Kansas State University, July 2007

KNACK online: An evidence-based website developed to address adolescent obesity

Nearly 9 million children and adolescents are overweight in the United States. The prevalence of overweight children aged 6-11 and overweight adolescents aged 12-19 has more than tripled in the past 30 years.1 Recognizing overweight and obese children may be quite easy. However, contributing factors such as family, medical, and/or dietary history and associated risk factors such as hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes make addressing the verweight/obese issue complex.2 The Institute of Medicine3 recommends multiple stakeholders from various segments of society, including families and communities, to address this growing public health problem. The purpose of this project was to develop an evidence-based website that provided parents, community advocates, and youth workers reliable, useful and action-oriented resources to address early adolescent (ages 11-14) obesity

Assessing Physical Activity Determinants in Urban Settings: Comparison of Perceptions and Environmental Audit Findings

Sedentary lifestyles are a contributor to obesity and urban adolescents are less physically active than rural adolescents. Supportive physical activity environments, understood as the geography, observations, and perceptions of features such as recreational facilities, sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic patterns, etc., have been positively associated with adolescent physical activity behaviors within urban settings. As part of a Socio-Ecological intervention to improve physical activity behavior, the Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA), the Active Neighborhood Checklist (ANC), and focus groups were used to assess the physical activity influences within an urban middle school and surrounding community. The assessments suggested that lack of parks, lack of walkability in the streets, perceptions of crime, lack of school programs, parental and peer influences were barriers to physical activity opportunities. The ANC, PARA, and focus groups each added valuable information for program planning to improve adolescent physical activity behavior

Using the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Approach in Childhood Obesity Prevention

Childhood and adolescent obesity has increased drastically in the past 30 years. While this is troubling, there is also evidence of large disparities among certain ethnic groups such as African American and Hispanic children and adolescents. The Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Model emphasizes a collaborative, co-learning, mutually beneficial, and community-partnered approach to research. Unique aspects of this model include viewing community members as equal partners in non-hierarchical teams, working together in a strengths-based, action oriented research process. This review consists of an investigation of the CBPR approach, its important tenets, and why such an approach may be more effective for childhood and adolescent obesity intervention program development, especially in stratified communities

Ignite-Sparking Youth to Create Healthy Communities: A Protocol for a Community-Centered Effort for the Prevention of Adolescent Obesity

Objective: To observe outcomes of a community-centered approach to identifying behavioral and environmental factors that influence overweight and obesity in 6th-8th grade youth in selected lowincome, racial/ethnic communities. Design: Five-year, tri-state, quasi-experimental design with environmental assessments and a questionnaire measuring nutrition and physical activity knowledge and behavior conducted in all communities at pre and post. Setting: Low-income, minority communities targeting 6th-8th grade youth. Participants: One experimental and one control communities will be selected via each state’s Cooperative Extension network through an application and review process with the random selection of participating communities. Intervention(s): Academic institutions will work with community leaders to establish and help support community committees tasked to plan, implement and evaluate one nutrition and one physical activity intervention. Main Outcome Measure(s): Assess environmental changes associated with increased intake and variety of fruits and vegetables; decreased intake of foods high in solid fats and added sugars; and an increase in physical activity among 6th-8th grade youth. Analysis: Baseline and post environmental data and pre and post questionnaire data will be analyzed using t-tests, chi-square, and ANOVA with a p < 0.05 to establish statistical significance

An Examination of Factors Associated With Self-Efficacy for Food Choice and Healthy Eating among Low-Income Adolescents in Three U.S. States

Citation: Muturi NW, Kidd T, Khan T, Kattelmann K, Zies S, Lindshield E and Adhikari K (2016) An Examination of Factors Associated With Self-Efficacy for Food Choice and Healthy Eating among Low-Income Adolescents in Three U.S. States. Front. Commun. 1:6. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2016.00006Background: Self-efficacy is a crucial component in effective health communication and health promotion interventions and serves as a moderator for behavior change. Although awareness and risk perception are important in the behavior change process, self-efficacy gives people the necessary confidence in their ability to engage in advocated health behaviors. In addressing childhood obesity, self-efficacy plays a crucial role in dietary decisions. Informed by the social cognitive theory, this study examines the personal and environmental factors that determine self-efficacy for healthy food choices and healthy eating among adolescents in low-income communities

Engaging Communities to Enhance Physical Activity among Urban Youth

As part of a USDA multi-year grant, this project has used community-based participatory strategies to help overcome barriers to eating more fruits and vegetables and increasing physical activity, and ultimately sparking youth to create healthy communities for a lifetime. The project supports teams of community and school partners in limited income neighborhoods. Obesity is a multifaceted, complex problem, but a sedentary lifestyle is a major contributor to this national health issue. Approximately one-third of children nationwide are overweight or obese; and minority children and those with a low socioeconomic status have the highest prevalence rates. Urban youth have been shown to be less physically active than rural youth. Supportive physical activity environments (understood as the geography, observations, and perceptions of features such as recreational facilities, sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic patterns, etc.) have been positively associated with adolescent physical activity behaviors within urban settings. As part of a socio-ecological intervention to improve physical activity behavior, the Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA), the Active Neighborhood Checklist (ANC), and focus groups to assess the physical activity influences within an urban middle school and surrounding community were completed. The assessments suggested that lack of parks, lack of walkability in the streets, perceptions of crime, lack of school programs, and parental and peer influences were all barriers to physical activity opportunities. The ANC, PARA and focus groups each added valuable information for program planning to improve adolescent physical activity behavior. From our initial experiences, environmental audits and focus groups are relatively easy to conduct by Extension professionals, working in partnership with a school and community team, and support a socio-ecological approach to improving physical activity with an urban setting.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Susan Zies, Educator, The Ohio State University Extension, [email protected] (Corresponding Author); Tandalayo Kidd, Extension Specialist, Kansas State University Extension; Kendra Kattelmann, Professor, South Dakota State University; Dan Remley, Field Specialist, Food, Nutrition and Wellness, The Ohio State University Extension; Erika Lindshield, Extension Associate/Project Coordinator, Kansas State University; Nancy Muturi, Professor, Kansas State University; Koushik Adhikari, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia; Beth Stefura, Educator, The Ohio State University Extension; Marcia Jess, Program Coordinator, The Ohio State University Extension; Shannon Smith, Program Assistant, The Ohio State University Extension.A physical activity environmental assessment using the Physical Activity Resource Assessment and the Active Neighborhood Checklist instruments was completed as part of a United States Department of Agriculture grant targeting obesity in sixth- to eighth-grade students in an urban middle school. The assessments provided baseline data about the physical environments such as recreational facilities, sidewalk, bike lanes, and traffic patterns, in the neighborhood around the urban middle school identified in the project. Focus groups were conducted with adults and with youth to determine perceptions of physical activity in the neighborhood. The focus group data added valuable insight beyond the physical activity environmental assessment. Crime was a major concern among focus group participants as well as lack of non-competitive physical activity opportunities

Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling of Students’ Dietary Intentions/Behaviors, BMI, and the Healthfulness of Convenience Stores

When dietary behaviors are habitual, intentions are low, and environmental cues, such as the consumer food environment, might guide behavior. How might intentions to eat healthily and ultimately actual dietary behaviors, be influenced by the consumer food environment (including the availability and affordability of healthy foods) in convenience stores? This study will determine pathways between the healthfulness of convenience stores and college students' dietary intentions/behaviors, and body mass index (BMI)

Cooking and Meal Planning as Predictors of Fruit and Vegetable Intake and BMI in First-Year College Students

The objective was to determine if cooking skills and meal planning behaviors are associated with greater fruit and vegetable intake and lower body mass index (BMI) in first-year college students who are at risk for excessive weight gain. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using baseline data from a multi-state research project aimed at preventing weight gain in first-year college students. Cooking type, frequency and confidence, self-instruction for healthful mealtime behavior intention, self-regulation of healthful mealtime behavior, and cup equivalents of fruits and vegetables (FV) were measured using validated surveys. BMI was calculated from measured height and weight. First-year students (n = 1108) considered at risk for weight gain from eight universities completed baseline assessments within the first month of entering college. Multiple linear regression was used to determine associations among independent variables of cooking patterns, meal planning behaviors, and dependent variables of fruit and vegetable intake and BMI, after controlling for the influence of sex. Cooking more frequently, cooking with greater skills, and practicing meal planning behaviors are associated with greater fruit and vegetable intake and lower BMI in first-year college students. Interventions aimed at improving health in college students may be enhanced by incorporating cooking and meal planning components