Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Vivien M. Morris, MS, RD, MPH, LDN¹, John Cook, PhD², Koren P. Melfi, MPH (candidate)³, Nicole Neault, MPH⁴, T. Scott Troppy, MPH⁵, Tara Agrawal, MPH (candidate)⁶, Amy Richmond, MPH³, and Kelly D. Horton, MS⁷. (1) Department of Pediatrics/Nutrition and Fitness for Life Program, Boston Medical Center, 850 Harrison Avenue, Yawkey ACC Bldg., Rm 4S-21, Boston, MA 02118, 617 414-6878, vivien.morris@bmc.org, (2) Growth and Development Program, Boston Medical Center, 725 Masssachusetts Ave., Mezzanine SW, Boston, MA 02118, (3) Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118, (4) Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, 6200 Eubank Blvd NE, #923, Albuquerque, NM 87111, (5) ISIS, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 305 South Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02130, (6) Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, 150 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111, (7) Simmons College, 8-10 Charnwood Road, Apt. 3, Somerville, MA 02144

High rates of overweight and obesity in Boston, with 45% of adults and 32.2% of high school students being overweight or obese, prompted efforts to better understand local food environments. The Boston Community Nutrition Assessment Project (CNAP) is a collaborative effort involving the Boston University Medical Center Department of Pediatrics' Nutrition and Fitness for Life (NFL) program and the Boston Public Health Commission's Boston STEPS Project. NFL is a multidisciplinary clinical and community-based program for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. Boston STEPS targets low income communities with disproportionately high prevalence of poor health outcomes. The principal goal of CNAP is to help residents of STEPS communities make healthy eating a routine part of community life. To accomplish this goal, CNAP inventoried all food and nutrition resources in four STEPS neighborhoods comprising approximately one quarter of the population of Boston. The process of data collection required building relationships with a variety of community, civic, and educational institutions. Data identifying location, type and characteristics of each identified resource were entered into Geographic Information System (GIS) software. The GIS software was then used to create accurate neighborhood maps illustrating spatial locations of food and nutrition resources relative to other spatial attributes within project neighborhoods. The GIS nutrition data inventory is now generating additional community-based efforts. Interventions based on spatial representations of relationships between schools and food stores are being developed to support healthier food choices by students. Local efforts to create food policy councils are also drawing on this important database.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Describe how GIS mapping and exploratory spatial analysis can be used as tools for understanding spatial relationships involving neighborhood food resources.
• Articulate a feasible methodology for community food resource mapping.
• Describe how GIS mapping and exploratory spatial analysis can be used to facilitate the sharing of food resource information with community stakeholders working to improve the food environment

Keywords: Geographic Information Systems, Community Health Assessment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation