Brazos Partnership for Childhood Obesity Research

描述（由申请人提供）：根据德克萨斯州人口统计学家的说法（Bibbach & Fonseca，2009），儿童肥胖在过去20年中增加了一倍多，德克萨斯州四年级学生的超重/肥胖率是全国四年级学生平均水平的两倍。此外，德克萨斯州拉丁裔和非洲裔美国儿童的肥胖率是全国最高的。这是有问题的，因为70%的超重和肥胖的年轻人成为超重和肥胖的成年人，这大大增加了其他慢性疾病的风险。 在得克萨斯州布拉索斯县，一组当地利益攸关方已将儿童肥胖症确定为一个关键的社区问题，并将其列为优先事项。这些利益攸关方的网络松散，目前的项目将加强这一网络，以利用资源和能力从事与政策有关的研究。 大多数以学校为基础的儿童肥胖干预措施针对能量平衡的某个方面-减少卡路里消耗或增加体力活动。这些项目中的差距一直影响着整个学校的体育活动。动态教室使用学生站立式工作站是一种相对低成本，低努力的被动增加孩子们在教学时间的身体活动的方法，因为在这个年龄段，站立比坐着燃烧高达30%的卡路里。站/坐课桌允许学生自由站立或坐下，而不会在同学中造成干扰或引人注目。 动态课堂研究旨在实现四个具体目标：目标1：加强社区利益相关者对巴西县政策相关儿童肥胖研究的支持。 目标2：测量在两个学年的过程中，一年级和二年级学生的立场偏向工作站增加热量消耗和减少体脂百分比（阻抗法）和体重指数的程度。 目标3：调查站/坐工作站是否能提高学生的课堂表现，特别是行为参与和学业成绩。 目的4：确定促进或抑制在教室环境中实施和使用立/坐课桌的因素。 该研究旨在检查健康和学术成果，以便向学校提供全面的信息，这些信息有可能影响学校，地区，州和国家层面的政策。与国家排雷中心的使命相关的是，这种干预措施有可能通过公立学校系统接触到绝大多数儿童，提高他们保持健康和成功接受教育的能力，增加他们过上充实和有意义生活的机会。 公共卫生相关性：儿童肥胖是一个明显的和日益严重的公共卫生危机。在学校环境之外，影响儿童健康行为是极其困难的，无论在这些努力中投入多少资源。预防儿童肥胖的拟议干预措施包括一个简单的环境变化，通过在教室中增加站/坐工作站，使教室偏向站立（而不是坐）。对站/坐工作站干预的有效性和可扩展性的评估将通过增加有关环境变化战略的证据基础来提高科学知识，以预防儿童肥胖，并可能影响学校和州及国家教育机构的新政策制定。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): According to the state demographer for Texas (Eschbach & Fonseca, 2009), childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and overweight/obesity rates for Texas fourth graders are twice the national average for fourth grade students. In addition, obesity rates for Latino and African American children in Texas are among the highest in the nation. This is problematic because 70 percent of overweight and obese youth become overweight and obese adults, which significantly increases the risk other chronic diseases. In Brazos County, Texas, a group of local stakeholders have identified and prioritized childhood obesity as a key community issue. These stakeholders have been loosely networked, and the current project will strengthen that network to build on resources and capacities to engage in policy-relevant research. Most school-based childhood obesity interventions target some aspect of energy balance-either reducing the calories consumed or increasing physical activity. The gap in those programs has been affecting physical activity during the entire school day. Dynamic classrooms-using stand-biased workstations for students-are a relatively low-cost, low-effort method of passively increasing children's physical activity during instructional time, as standing burns up to 30 percent more calories than sitting in children at this age. The stand/sit desks allow students to stand or sit at their discretion, without being disruptive or conspicuous among their classmates. The dynamic classroom study seeks to achieve four specific aims: AIM 1: To strengthen support of community stakeholders for policy-relevant childhood obesity research in Brazos County. AIM 2: To measure the degree to which stand-biased workstations increase calorie expenditure and reduce body fat percentage (impedance method) and body mass index in first and second grade students over the course of two academic years. AIM 3: To investigate whether stand/sit workstations improve students' classroom performance, specifically behavioral engagement and academic achievement. AIM 4: To identify factors that promote or inhibit the implementation and use of the stand/sit desks in classroom settings. The study seeks to examine health and academic outcomes in order to present comprehensive information to schools that has the potential to impact policy at the school, district, state, and national levels. Relevant to NICHD's mission, this intervention has the potential to reach the vast majority of children through the public school system, enhancing their ability to stay healthy and be successful in their education and increasing their chances of a full and productive life. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Childhood obesity is a clear and growing public health crisis. Outside of the school setting, affecting child health behaviors is extremely difficult, regardless of the resources invested in those efforts. The proposed intervention to prevent childhood obesity consists of a simple environmental change to bias the classroom toward standing (rather than sitting) by adding stand/sit workstations to classroom. Evaluation of the effectiveness and scalability of the stand/sit workstation intervention will improve scientific knowledge by increasing the evidence base regarding environmental change strategies to prevent childhood obesity and may impact new policy development for schools and state and national education agencies.