161177 Assessing the physical fitness of Georgia's children

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Alice Roberts, BSPH , Macro International, Inc., Calverton, MD
Mary Ann Phillips, MPH , Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
The Philanthropic Collaborative for a Healthy Georgia is an informal group bringing Georgia's foundations together to respond to the health-related challenges facing the state. In 2003, about 33% of Georgia middle school youth and 26% of high school youth were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Because of these statistics, the Collaborative partnered with the State to launch an initiative focused on obesity among Georgia's children. Before programmatic goals could be set for Georgia, the Collaborative determined that a baseline assessment must be conducted. This resulted in the Georgia Youth Fitness Assessment (GYFA). The FITNESSGRAM was used to determine the proportion of 5th and 7th graders scoring in the Healthy Fitness Zone using gender-specific standards for BMI, cardiorespiratory endurance, and four aspects of muscular fitness. Also, 3DPAR, a 3-day physical activity recall questionnaire, was used to determine the proportion receiving the nationally-recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day. Differences by gender, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural status were examined. In addition, CDC's 2006 SHPPS was used to describe programs and policies in participating schools. Georgia State University and Macro International Inc. conducted the GYFA, which provides comprehensive, evidence-based information to Georgia's key decision makers and stakeholders that will impact the design and implementation of policies and programs needed to address obesity among Georgia's children. By combining the forces of private foundations, government, universities, and a nationally recognized private research organization, Georgia is a national model of utilizing public/private partnerships to address childhood obesity.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the methodology for determining levels of obesity and physical fitness of a representative sample of school-aged children. 2. Identify two instruments for collecting information about physical fitness physical activity habits of youth and two instruments for describing school food service and physical education policies and programs. 3. Know the fitness levels and physical activity habits of Georgia’s 5th and 7th grade students by gender, grade, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural status. 4. Describe the impact of public/private partnerships on addressing childhood obesity.

Keywords: Data Collection, Physical Activity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.