Intergenerational Research on Obesity Prevention: From Correlates to Intervention

描述(申请人提供)：Bernard F.Fuemmeler，博士，M.P.H.，杜克大学医学中心助理教授。他寻求对职业发展的支持，以成为行为癌症预防和人口科学领域的完全独立的研究员。受过临床儿科心理学和一般公共卫生/流行病学的培训，他的近期目标是获得1)儿童肥胖症流行病学和预防、2)纵向数据分析、3)定量调查发展的定性方法以及4)行为癌症预防干预发展方面的额外培训。他的长期目标是提出代际健康促进理论和模型，特别是与体重增加预防相关的理论和模型，并研究基于这些概念的干预措施对长期行为变化的影响。这些短期和长期目标将通过教学、定向阅读和具有这些领域专业知识的委员会的指导来实现。提出了三个相互关联的研究阶段，以解决目前在基于家庭的体重增加预防方面的文献空白。第一阶段将利用全国青少年健康纵向调查(Add Health)的数据，调查一般父母和家庭因素对青少年进入青春期时身体质量指数(BMI)变化的关系。第二阶段涉及定性方法，以制定一项定量调查，以检查亲子沟通和育儿做法对健康饮食做法和体力活动的关系。第三阶段旨在开发和测试原型干预的可接受性，使用量身定制的沟通方法来改善父母及其青春期前儿童的家庭和家庭体重管理行为。这些研究的结果将为代际模型和干预策略的发展提供信息，这些模型和干预策略不仅适用于预防体重增加，而且可能适用于癌症预防和控制的其他领域(例如，对皮肤癌预防、烟草预防或儿童癌症幸存者的治疗依从性的代际影响)。计划中的科学培训和专家指导将使候选人能够填补行为癌症预防和控制领域的这一空白，并成为独立的调查员。这项研究建议与NCI在能量平衡方面的战略目标(例如，关于能量和癌症的跨学科研究)和NIH的肥胖工作组保持一致。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bernard F. Fuemmeler, Ph.D., M.P.H. is Assistant Professor at Duke University Medical Center. He seeks support for career development to become a fully independent investigator in behavioral cancer prevention and the population sciences. Trained in clinical pediatric psychology and general public health/epidemiology, he has the immediate goals of acquiring additional training in 1) childhood obesity epidemiology and prevention, 2) longitudinal data analysis, 3) qualitative methods for quantitative survey development, and 4) behavioral cancer preventive intervention development. His long-term goal is to advance intergenerational theories and models of health promotion, specifically related to weight gain prevention, and to study the impact that interventions based on these concepts have on long-term behavioral change. These short and long-term goals will be accomplished through didactics, directed readings, and mentorship from a committee with expertise in these areas. Three phases of inter-related research relevant to addressing current gaps in the literature on family-based weight gain prevention are proposed. Phase 1 will investigate the relation that general parental and family factors have on change in Body Mass Index (BMI) as adolescents transition into young adulthood using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Phase 2 involves qualitative methods to develop a quantitative survey to examine the relation that parent-child communication and parenting practices have on healthy dietary practices and physical activity. Phase 3 aims to develop and test acceptability of a prototype intervention using tailored communication approaches for improving family and home weight management behaviors for parents and their preadolescent children. The results from these studies will inform the development of intergenerational models and intervention strategies that not only apply to weight gain prevention, but could also be useful in other areas of cancer prevention and control (e.g., intergenerational effects on skin-cancer prevention, tobacco prevention, or treatment compliance among childhood cancer survivors). The planned scientific training and expert mentorship will position the candidate to fill this niche in behavioral cancer prevention and control and to become and independent investigator. This research proposal is aligned with NCI's strategic goals in energy balance (e.g., Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer) and the NIH's Obesity Task Force.