225660 Building capacity to measure effectiveness of a healthy lifestyles promotion program among middle school students on the Navajo Reservation: An Indian Health Service-academic partnership

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Katie L. Nugent, MA, LCPC , Mental Health Department, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Tom Schroeder, Physical Therapist , Physical Therapy Department, Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM
Fannie Fonseca-Becker, DrPH , Director, J&J Community HealthCare Scholars Program, and Associate Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Joseph Strunce, PT, DSc , Physical Therapy Department, Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM
Steven Spoonemore, PT , Physical Therapy Department, Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM
Background: Childhood obesity is a major health problem on the Navajo reservation, as 42% of school-aged children are “at-risk of overweight” or “overweight”. With funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, the Northern Navajo Medical Center initiated the Tse Bit' Ai (TBA) wellness program for junior high school students, focusing on promoting healthy lifestyle practices including physical activity and good nutrition.

Methods: Using a participatory approach, members of the IHS Physical Therapy department and academic partners collaborated to design and implement program monitoring and evaluation procedures based on a conceptual framework of program objectives, interventions, and targeted outcomes. Drawing on this framework, the IHS partners created assessment tools to evaluate program effectiveness and built a data management system using Epi Info software.

Results: The TBA wellness program has enrolled over 75 students since its inception. Preliminary results show improved nutrition and physical activity knowledge. The TBA wellness program staff has gained valuable skills in the process of monitoring and evaluation.

Conclusions: Partnerships between Indian Health Service departments and academic institutions foster the in-house capacity for program evaluation, including increasing the ability of departments to make evidence based decisions regarding their program strategies.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how an Indian Health Service-academic partnership can improve a department’s in-house capacity for program evaluation. 2. Describe the steps necessary to increase in-house capacity for monitoring and evaluation of a wellness program for children.

Keywords: Community Health Programs, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a graduate public health student who has successfully completed several courses in biostatistics. I have also taken part in the Johnson & Johnson Scholars Program training on assisting community organizations to build capacity for monitoring and evaluation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.

Back to: 4234.0: Promoting Healthy Children Through School, Parent, and Community Involvement