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Working with Families to Prevent Obesity: A Community-Campus Partnership
Dart, Lyn ; Frable, Pamela Jean ; Bradley, Patricia J. ; Bae, Sejong ; Singh, Karan ; Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, v97 n2 p20-28 Apr 2005
Target Group:
Low income families at high risk for obesity and related chronic disease
Program Name:
Healthy Weigh/El camino saludable (HW)
Location:
Texas
Study Objective:
University faculty and community agencies collaborated to design and implement Healthy Weigh/El camino saludable (HW), a family-focused obesity prevention and intervention program in a low-income, urban community at high risk for obesity and related chronic disease.
Study Design: Mixed methods
Intervention or Program:
- Hispanic and African American families participated in 12 weekly sessions.
- HW objectives included: (a) increasing community awareness about lifelong benefits of healthy eating and physical activity, (b) evaluating effectiveness of a community-campus partnership in a family-focused program, and (c) providing service-learning opportunities for university students.
- Offered in English and Spanish, sessions included exercise classes, lessons based on Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and family meals with facilitated "table-talks" about how families were applying lesson content.
- Program assessment was based on participant evaluation and outcome measures for improving nutrition and exercise knowledge; improving diet, exercise, and weight management patterns; and achieving individually-determined goals.
- HW included two 12-week sessions, one each in summer and fall, 2003.
- Participants chose to enroll in the English or Spanish language version of HW.
- Each evening session included exercise classes, family meals with facilitated "table-talks" about how families were applying nutrition and exercise content, nutrition and physical activity lessons, and child care for preschool children.
- More than 100 undergraduate and graduate students from two universities served as educators, exercise leaders, coordinators of meal preparation and service, tabletalk leaders, child-care workers, health screeners, and research assistants.
- Data were collected by interview and direct measurement.
Impact on Physical Activity:
- Participants demonstrated improved nutrition/exercise knowledge, dietary practices (92%), exercise patterns (54%), weight management (84%), and they attained individually determined goals (92%).
Implications for Practitioners :
- Nova Scotia has a high number of universities and colleges throughout the province
- This would foster the creation of community-based teams that might include sport animators, active health consultants, etc.
- This type of program would be a good skill and knowledge building program for the grade 12 or university students involved as well.
- Staffing included a university research team directed program implementation, which was coordinated by registered nurses, a registered dietitian, paid staff, community volunteers, and supervised students from Nursing, Nutritional Sciences, Kinesiology, Social Work, and Medicine
- Age of child and adolescent participants in this study was 5-18
- Of importance, child care was provided for program participants
- Perhaps exercise patterns were lower than some of the other impacts on physical activity as the behaviour change model would indicate that it can take much longer to effect change in exercise behaviours.
Author's Email: Lyn Dart l.dart@tcu.edu
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