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

Abstract #107955

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

Community-based interventions are recognized today as essential avenues to address obesity and its predicting factors, especially among 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, in which additional changes in the built environment will be made over the next years. The purpose of this study was to develop a Pre-Teen Health Assessment Tool (PHAT) as part of a new conceptual framework that will help understand the impact of community factors on childhood obesity rates. Existing theory-based survey instruments on nutrition and physical activity were revised. PHAT includes items that assess children's attitude, knowledge, and beliefs regarding obesity, dietary practices and exercise behaviors, fitness level, school food service participation, body image and weight control behaviors. Other items include perceptions of built and social environment so that answers can be correlated with objective urban planning measures such as mapping of subjects' residences and spatial association with built environment elements. The instrument was initially tested through qualitative methods (focus groups and interviews) to ensure cultural sensitivity and then revised and tested for validity with children attending two elementary schools in SVD (n~300). Results from the instrument development process will be presented along with a proposed model that integrates elements of built environment into childhood obesity prevention in a very dynamic community.

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