Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107590

Anca Codruta Rafiroiu, MD, PhD, College of Education and Human Services, Cleveland State University, 2451 Euclid Avenue, PE 226, Cleveland, OH 44115, 216-687-4873, a.rafiroiu@csuohio.edu, Mark Salling, PhD, Urban Planning, Cleveland State University, Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115, and Bobbi Reichtell, Slavic Village Development, 5620 Broadway Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44127.

New efforts nationwide have been aimed at altering the built environment in support of obesity prevention. Research on the connections between built environment and obesity has shown that the burden is greater on lower socioeconomic and minority/vulnerable populations. Slavic Village Development (SVD), a low socioeconomic community and the largest non-profit community development corporation in Cleveland, OH, has significantly redeveloped its built environment over the last decade. SVD is a current participant in the Active Living by Design effort supported through the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. The purpose of this project is to present a conceptual framework that will help understand the impact of built environment on obesity rates and dietary factors among the SVD pediatric population. To date, very few studies, if any, evaluated empirically this relationship at the individual level. The target population includes children attending two elementary schools in SVC (n~300). Height, weight and body mass index BMI were used to assess prevalence of overweight/obesity. PHAT (preteen health assessment tool), a culturally-relevant questionnaire, was used to assess students' dietary knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Objective measures of land-use mix, net residential density, and street connectivity were measured within 1-kilometer network distance of each student's residence. Geographical distances between students' residential homes and physical environmental pieces were measured by mapping subjects' residences and measuring their spatial association with elements of the built environment. Perspectives from both urban planning and public health will be discussed along with a proposed model that integrates elements of the built environment into childhood obesity prevention.

Learning Objectives: