YOUTH ENVIRONMENTS PROMOTING NUTRITION AND ACTIVITY

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DESCRIPTION (adapted from investigator's abstract): This study will test whether theory-driven youth + adult-based environmental change interventions can build and sustain targeted diet and activity behaviors among middle school youth. The study proposes to test the effects of school environment and curriculum interventions promoting fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption, physical activity (PA), and their environmental determinants. The project involves goal-setting and efficacy building interventions designed to develop the skills and group efficacy of both adult school personnel and students. The adult-based interventions are designed to change the school environments through a school coalition assisted by a local coordinator; the youth interventions involve the participation of students in the processes of building the local health behavior environments, targeting both school lunch and after school activity environments. Eight schools will be randomly assigned to experimental and eight to control (no treatment) conditions. Measurement of F&V and PA behaviors will be conducted in the spring of 6th (baseline), 7th, 8th, and 9th grades, constituting primary outcomes, and will be assessed by self-report and verified by objective measures of school lunch purchases and physical activity monitoring. The impact of the program on hypothesized personal, environmental, and behavioral determinants of F&V and PA will also be measured. Process evaluation will monitor environmental change, program implementation, and system changes.