Online Program

323874
Empowering Latino Children and Parents in Chicago's Lower West Side to adopt healthy lifestyles for the prevention of childhood obesity: A Community/Academic Partnership measures their progress


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 4:30 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.

Amanda Nguyen, MA, PhD Candidate, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Edith Bosque Barnes, MS, Institute for Minority Health Research, Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition, Chicago, IL
Esther Sciammarella, MS, Institute for Minority Health Research, Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition, Chicago, IL
Fannie Fonseca-Becker, DrPH, Director, J&J Community Health Scholars Program, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Background: In Chicago Public Schools, 55% of Latino 6th graders are overweight or obese.   Por Su Salud: Estrellas de Salud (For Your Health: Health Stars) is a health education program designed to promote healthy lifestyles for obesity prevention among Latino children in Chicago’s Lower West Side.  A multi-agency partnership led by the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition, with technical support from Johns Hopkins University and funding from the J&J Community Healthcare Program, was formed to deliver the intervention while developing community-based monitoring and evaluation capacity. 

Methods: Children participate in twelve sessions including nutrition education, physical activity, and parent-child lessons.  A conceptual framework was developed to support program effectiveness.  Staff received training in data management and analysis. 

Results: Piloting showed that children enjoyed the program and parental engagement is critical.  Forty-four children age 8-12 were enrolled in the 1stimplementation phase.  At baseline, 52% of the children were overweight or obese, and 66% did not know dietary (63%) and exercise (45%) guidelines.  A third of children reported having an unhealthy drink (34%) or two or more unhealthy snacks (39%) the prior day.  Recruitment is ongoing; results from multiple rounds of the program will be reported.

Conclusions: This health promotion program for Latino children in Chicago is culturally appropriate and acceptable to the community.  Lessons from the pilot were used to make program adjustments to improve feasibility and impact; ongoing evaluation of this program can continue to improve its effectiveness.  The academic-community partnership supports community capacity to implement, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based programs.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the advantage of using a conceptual framework as a tool for program evaluation in community-based organizations. Describe two creative in-house capacity building strategies related to limited space and time within a school-based program. Identify key benefits and challenges of participating in community-academic partnerships.

Keyword(s): Obesity, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the doctoral student collaborator tasked with providing training and technical assistance to the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition Por Su Salud Program
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.