Adolescent Obesity: Academic-Community Partnership

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is designed to obtain the perspectives of 50 adolescents as well as 100 parents and community members about barriers to and effective community-based interventions for managing adolescent obesity. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable disease in the United States and as such is a public health priority. Twenty-five percent of all adolescents are overweight or obese and of those seventy percent will become obese adults who are at risk for diabetes, hypertension, and cardiac disease. This proposal relies on the combined resources of Saint Paul's Missionary Baptist Church (serving a low income African American population), Ponderosa High School (a rural school serving a large number of Hispanic/Latino teens), California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, an EARDA school), and the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California Davis (UCD, a research intensive school). Six focus groups aimed at identifying the causes of and solutions to adolescent obesity will be conducted. Phenomenology will be used to analyze the results of the focus groups and workshops will be designed based on those results. Nine workshops will be offered by CSUS' and UCD faculty members to promote healthy adolescent lifestyle choices and minimize obesity. A nationally known NIH funded researcher will also present a workshop on preventing and treating adolescent obesity. Subsequent focus groups will be held to evaluate the perspectives of teens, parents, and community leaders about the effectiveness of these 10 workshops as an intervention to minimize adolescent obesity. Planning groups will also be held to design a translational intervention grant targeting adolescent obesity. In summary, specific aims of the proposal include: 1) identifying and documenting adolescents', parents', and community leaders' views regarding the attitudes, beliefs, health behaviors, and lifestyle habits that influence adolescent eating and exercise habits, and 2) developing a translational intervention grant designed to minimize adolescent obesity at Saint Paul's Missionary Baptist Church and Ponderosa High School. These specific aims are planned to establish a community-academic partnership capable of reducing the health disparities associated with adolescent obesity in two low-income communities.