262400 Preventing childhood obesity by promoting healthy lifestyles among children and their caregivers in the Osborn community in Detroit: A community-academic partnership

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Grace P. Lee, MHS , Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Grenae Dudley, PhD , The Youth Connection, Inc., Detroit, MI
Jeff Griffith, BA , The Youth Connection, Detroit, MI
Joi Mitchell, BA , The Youth Connection, Detroit, MI
Fannie Fonseca-Becker, DrPH , J&J Community HealthCare Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Background: Childhood obesity is of particular concern among areas of high poverty, high minority population, and limited food access, such as the Osborn community in Detroit, MI, where most residents live closer to a fast food restaurant than a supermarket. The Youth Connection (TYC), a grassroots organization, recently launched a program to promote healthy lifestyle and prevent obesity among children 6-12 years old and their caregivers. TYC and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH), with funding support from the Johnson & Johnson Community Healthcare Program, formed a community-academic partnership to evaluate this initiative. Methods: Over an 8 month pilot phase and using a participatory approach, the TYC staff increased their skills to design and implement their program's monitoring and evaluation based on a conceptual framework. A data management system was also created using the CDC's Epi Info software. During the following 20 month implementation phase, staff will analyze and present the program's outcomes . Results: The I2D2 program (increase fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity; decrease screen time and sugary drinks) enrolled 49 children and 27 caregivers during the pilot, and expects to 350 children and their caregivers in the implementation phase. Preliminary results show improved nutrition and physical activity knowledge among both groups. TYC staff has gained valuable program monitoring and evaluation skills. Conclusion: Partnerships between community-based organizations and academic institutions provide a unique opportunity to increase the sustainable in-house capacity for program evaluation and a better understanding of key components of childhood obesity prevention within Osborn.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
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

Learning Objectives:
1. Assess conceptual frameworks in community-based program evaluation efforts. 2. Describe the benefits and challenges of a community-academic partnership. 3. Obtain publicly available software for data management and analysis.

Keywords: Child Health, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health student collaborator tasked with providing training and technical assistance to the Youth Connection staff.
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.