267077 Project AHEAD: Preliminary Evaluation of a Behavior Change Intervention for School-Aged Youth

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Travis Patton, MA , Chivers-Grant Institute for Family and Community Studies, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
Obie Clayton Jr., PhD , School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Obesity among children and adolescents has been identified as a major health problem in the United States. Rates of obesity among youth has increased noticeably over the past two or three decades. As has been noted, many obesity-related health conditions once thought applicable only to adults are now being seen in children. Such negative health conditions include high blood pressure, early symptoms of hardening of the arteries, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, among others. As noted by research, obesity is the consequence of a chronic net positive energy balance. This “positive energy balance” results from the interplay of individual behaviors, community structure, built environment, and the possible exposure to certain chemicals that disrupt the optimal energy balance. For the last three years, the National Minority Health Project has been implementing such a program in five cities. This program, titled Project A.H.E.A.D. (Approaches to Healthy Exercise, Activity, and Diet), is based, in part, on the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute program We Can! The aim of the project is to increase participants' knowledge about what they eat, encourage diet modification, and to promote physical activity. This presentation will focus on a preliminary evaluation of the program and discuss the extent to which programs such as Project A.H.E.A.D. can be a part of a multifaceted approach to reducing obesity among youth.

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

Learning Objectives:
Describe behavior change intervention Evaluate intervention effectiveness Discuss implications for intervention improvement

Keywords: Community-Based Health Promotion, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator for the National Minority Male Health Project that supports the intervention that serves as the basis for the presentation
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.