Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Nancy Jewell, MPA¹, Nancy Silvers-Rogers¹, and Calvin Roberson, MHA, MPH². (1) Indiana Minority Health Coalition, 3737 N Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46205, 317-926-4011, njewell@imhc.org, (2) Research & Training Department, Indiana Minority Health Coalition, 3737 North Meridian Street, 3rd Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46208

Obesity prevalence is increasing across the U.S. among all race/ethnic, age, and gender groups. The Teen Fitness Champions (TFC) Program is an age and culturally specific outreach initiative designed to increase physical activity and raise awareness about obesity among minority youth ages 14 – 19 in Marion County. The Indiana Minority Health Coalition brings its expertise in reaching and informing minority communities to the FitCity Campaign, which has over 70 local partners including school corporations that have committed their resources to reduce the prevalence of obesity. The TFC program uses both awareness and a tangible program component to engage and encourage teens to take responsibility for their health. The objectives of the program are to:

· Increase awareness among parents, youth, educators and the community about the prevalence of youth obesity · Identify and address access barriers to service facilities for participating youth · Develop systems to gauge program participation and commitment · Gather data to help track the progress and success of the program · Replicate the program in other counties

There were 264 TFC administered a pre/post test questionnaire and a pre/post physical assessment measuring strength, flexibility, and endurance. TFC were expected to lead and coordinate an activity geared towards improving health/nutritional practices at their school. Throughout the program TFC were provided incentives to encourage their participation. Preliminary pretest results illustrate that nearly one-quarter of participants do not eat breakfast and about two-thirds of participants only eat one to two servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn strategies on building effective school-community collaborations in addressing obesity.
• Participants will learn multiple methods of evaluating program success.
• Participants will be provided lessons learned in implementing school-community collaborations.

Keywords: Minority Health, Obesity

Related Web page: www.imhc.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered