The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66871

Shailushi Baxi, MPH and Leslie Mikkelsen, MPH, RD. Prevention Institute, 265 29th street, Oakland, CA 94611, 510-444-7738, shailushi@preventioninstitute.org

As a part of the Prevention Research Initiative (PRI), Prevention Institute partnered with Research!America to increase attention to the need for increased resources for prevention of health problems. The objective of the PRI is to increase the national investment in prevention through raising awareness of prevention practitioners and researchers at the local and state level and enlists media as a key partner in this effort.

Prevention Institute served as the liaison agency between the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments (Strategic Alliance), a statewide California coalition of individuals and organizations focused on nutrition and physical activity, and Research!America to advance the work of the PRI. Strategic Alliance has identified 5 arenas for organizational and legislative policy change to promote healthier eating and activity patterns: children’s environments, government, industry practices, healthcare systems, and media.

Components of the PRI efforts include: developing a public opinion poll, publicizing poll results in local media outlets, and organizing follow-up events, such as media-science roundtable and legislative breakfast, to advocate for increased attention to prevention. The poll results also provided an opportunity to the Strategic Alliance to advocate for specific policies on the issues of nutrition and physical activity promotion, especially related to children and school settings.

This session will describe the partnership between Research!America, Prevention Institute, and Strategic Alliance, the results of the public opinion polling, and the outcomes of advocacy efforts, generally on prevention and more specifically on physical activity and nutrition.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to:
• 1. Delineate the activities included in Prevention Research Initiative work in California;
• 2. Describe the results of the public opinion polling in California
• 3. Understand the application of public opinion poll results to State level policy development on nutrition and physical activity issues.

Keywords: Policy/Policy Development,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Handout (.pdf format, 258.1 kb)