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

Abstract #112936

Josefine Wendel, MS, RD¹, Susan Richards², Susan Breen, MS, RN¹, and Virginia R. Chomitz, PhD³. (1) School Health, Cambridge Public Health Department, 119 Windsor Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617-665-3852, JWendel@challiance.org, (2) Agenda for Children, Department of Human Service Programs, 51 Inman Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, (3) Institute for Community Health, 119 Windsor St., Ground Level, Cambridge, MA 02139

Schools and out-of-school programs play an important part in shaping children's eating and activity behaviors. With many children spending a large part of their waking hours in group settings, providing healthy foods and the opportunity to be active should be a shared responsibility between schools, out-of-school programs and the family.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, approximately 40% of 4000 public school children in grades K-8 are overweight or at risk of overweight and about 70% have inadequate fitness test results.

Policy, education and intervention efforts are currently in process in the school setting, but efforts to address the out-of-school environment have been limited. To assess current nutrition and physical activity policies and practices in out-of-school programs, Massachusetts, we designed and administered a survey to 42 programs that are part of the Agenda for Children Out of School Time Initiative. These programs combined serve about 1500 children of predominantly lower-income families.

The goal of the survey was to identify areas of strength and aspects in need of development. The survey was distributed via email to all programs. Survey questions included quantitative and qualitative items. The following program aspects were assessed: Food & beverages: choices, resources, structure and policies; program activities offering physical activity and nutrition education; program policies regarding incorporating physical activity and nutrition education for individual children and groups.

This presentation will present key survey findings and the nutrition and physical activity self-assessment tool for out-of-school programs developed based on survey results.

Learning Objectives: