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

Abstract #111780

Mary-Margaret Driskell, MPH¹, Sharon Jessica Dyment, BA¹, Leanne Mauriello, PhD¹, and Janice M. Prochaska, PhD². (1) Pro-Change Behavior Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 755, West Kingston, RI 02892, 404-541-0854, mmdriskell@prochange.com, (2) Pro-Change Behavior Systems, PO Box 755, West Kingston, RI 02892

During childhood and adolescence, the rates of obesity increase while healthy behaviors related to obesity prevention decline. By high school, students are doing less physical activity and eating fewer fruits and vegetables than they did a year or two earlier. Middle school is a critical time to intervene to prevent obesity. Sufficient physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables, and limiting TV time are three important behaviors related to obesity prevention. This study investigated middle school students' stage of readiness to do these behaviors. A total of 1037 middle school students completed a paper/pencil survey (mean age=12.3 years, 65.6% Caucasian, 52.7% female, 13.1% overweight). Forty-three percent were in pre-Action stages (i.e., Precontemplation, Contemplation, or Preparation) for getting 60 minutes or more of physical activity at least 5 days of the week. Nearly 77% were pre-Action for eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. For limiting TV time to 2 hours or less each day, 58% were pre-Action. Demographic comparisons by stage revealed significant differences by race for limiting TV time and for physical activity, and by grade for fruit and vegetable consumption. Those differences, and the relationships among the three behaviors, will be discussed. These findings offer important insight for a stage-based online obesity prevention program that we are now developing for middle school students. Understanding the relationships of the behaviors, and the differences in students' readiness to engage in them, is essential for developing such interventions.

Developed in partnership with the Channing Bete Company.

Learning Objectives: Objectives

Participants will be able to
(
• Describe middle school students’ stage of change for three behaviors related to obesity prevention; (
• Discuss the association between certain demographic variables and stage of change for those behaviors; (
• Recognize the importance of matching obesity prevention interventions to readiness to change.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:


I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation

Research and Theory for Effective School Health Education

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA