Obesity Prevention in African American Schoolchildren

描述（由申请人提供）： 肥胖是美国第二大可预防的疾病和死亡原因。社会经济地位低的人和少数民族受到的影响不成比例。预防儿童和青少年肥胖是公共卫生的优先事项。学校已被确定为预防肥胖的关键场所;然而，大多数健康教育干预措施对体重的影响有限。我们提出了一个随机干预试验（试点研究），以测试的可行性和有效性，以学校为基础的，环境肥胖预防计划在城市低SES非洲裔美国学生。学校、学生及其家庭和当地社区将参与促进健康饮食和体育活动（HEPA），以预防儿童肥胖。六所芝加哥公立学校将被随机分配为干预（4所学校）和对照（2所学校）。焦点小组研究将评估推广高效空气过滤器的需要和障碍，并指导干预措施。干预组将接受学校环境丰富（SEE）计划，以改善学校的物理和社会环境，针对食品服务，课间休息，体育（PE）和学校气氛，以及社区支持和环境改造（CSEM）计划，涉及当地的角落和连锁杂货店，以促进学生及其家庭的健康饮食。家庭参与将包括五年级和六年级的学生，他们将被跟踪两年，以测试如何改变家庭环境。为了评估干预的有效性，将从学校（例如，餐饮服务、课间休息和体育）、学生（例如，体重、饮食和体育活动）、家长（例如，家庭食品购买习惯）和社区（例如，当地商店中可供选择的零食）收集多层次数据。此外，还将收集过程评价数据，以评估目标受众对各种干预措施组成部分的可行性和接受程度（参与程度和满意程度）。主要结果变量是学生体重状况的变化;次要结果包括学生饮食行为和体育活动的变化以及目标环境因素的变化。此外，还将确定干预措施的成本效益。如果干预措施证明有效，将开展全面研究。这项研究的结果将为低收入家庭和少数民族学生预防肥胖提供见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity is the second leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. Low socioeconomic status (SES) and minorities are disproportionately affected. Obesity prevention among children and adolescents is a public health priority. Schools have been identified as key settings for obesity prevention; however, most health education interventions have had only a moderate effect on body weight. We propose a randomized intervention trial (pilot study) to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a school-based, environmental obesity prevention program in urban Iow-SES African American students. Schools, students and their families, and local communities will be involved to promote healthy eating and physical activity (HEPA) for prevention of childhood obesity. Six Chicago public schools will be randomly assigned as intervention (4 schools) and controls (2 schools). Focus group studies will assess needs and barriers for promotion of HEPA and guide the intervention. The intervention group will receive a School Environment Enrichment (SEE) program to modify the school physical and social environment, targeting food service, recess, physical education (PE) and school climate, and a Community Support & Environment Modification (CSEM) program, involving local corner and chain grocery stores to promote healthy eating among students and their families. Family involvement will be included for 5th and 6th graders, who will be followed for two years, to test ways to modify family environment. To assess the intervention effectiveness, multilevel data will be collected from schools (eg, food service, recess and PE), students (eg, body weight, eating and physical activity), parents (eg, family food purchasing practices) and communities (eg, available choices of snack foods in local stores). In addition, process evaluation data will be collected to assess the feasibility and acceptance (participation and satisfaction) of various intervention components by the target audience. The primary outcome variable is change in students' body weight status; secondary outcomes include changes in students' eating behavior and physical activity and changes in target environmental factors. In addition, cost-effectiveness of the intervention will be determined. If the intervention proves effective, a full-scale study will be developed. Findings from this study will provide insights into the prevention of obesity among Iow-SES and minority students.