[PHNUTR-L] Community Involvement Important in Fight Against Childhood Obesity

[Kathrynne Holden]

   Community Involvement Important in Fight Against Childhood Obesity
Released: 3/3/2010 12:15 PM EST
Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/561949/?sc=dwhn

Newswise — Community support of school obesity prevention programs is 
critical to achieving a significant decrease in obesity among children, 
according to researchers at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for 
Advancement of Healthy Living, which is part of The University of Texas 
Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., professor of behavioral sciences at UTHealth’s 
School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus, examined obesity 
prevalence changes among children in Travis County after the 
implementation of a school-based obesity intervention program, the 
Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH). Hoelscher, director of the 
Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, compared the traditional 
school-based focus (CATCH BasicPlus) against the traditional 
school-based focus with greater community input (CATCH Community). The 
results were published in the February issue of the journal Obesity.

The study found an 8.3 percent decrease in obesity prevalence from 
spring 2007 to spring 2008 among children in the CATCH Community program 
compared to a 1.3 percent decrease in obesity prevalence among children 
in the CATCH BP program. The study was conducted in low-income minority 
schools in Travis County. Research has shown that low-income minority 
children are at greater risk of being overweight. Nationally, 16.9 
percent of U.S. children ages 2-19 year old are currently classified as 
obese, according to the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination 
Survey results.

“Data from the Travis County schools show that school-based obesity 
intervention programs, when implemented with complementary community 
involvement, can significantly prevent the onset of child obesity,” said 
Hoelscher. “The data we found is consistent with data found in other 
studies of school and community approaches to childhood obesity.”

All schools were provided with CATCH program training materials and 
support visits. The CATCH Community schools also received support for 
building school and community partnerships, as well as creating 
environments to increase physical activity and healthy eating promotion 
through CATCH school committees. Hoelscher said this study is unique 
because it focuses on low-income ethnically diverse populations and 
efforts to include the community.

“These results reinforce the need to focus increasingly on environmental 
and societal level changes, as well as individual approaches, to reduce 
childhood obesity,” said Hoelscher.

Similar results were found in Hoelscher’s El Paso SPAN (Schools Physical 
Activity and Nutrition) study, published in the October issue of 
Obesity. In El Paso, researchers found a decrease of 7 percent in the 
prevalence of obesity among 4th grade children observed over a 2.5-year 
period following an initiative spearheaded by the Paso del Norte Health 
Foundation, which included widespread implementation of the CATCH 
program, a television/radio advertisement campaign, a community-based 
nutrition education program and a walking promotion program.

About CATCH: UTHealth’s CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) is 
a Texas Education Agency-approved Coordinated School Health Program 
designed to promote physical activity and healthy food choices and 
prevent tobacco use in elementary school students. By teaching children 
that eating healthy and being physically active every day can be fun, 
the goal of the CATCH Program is to establish healthy habits in 
childhood that can promote behavior changes that carry into adulthood. 
For information, visit CATCH.

The Michael & Susan Dell Center for the Advancement of Healthy Living 
(Dell Healthy Living) was founded in 2006 with a grant from the Michael 
& Susan Dell Foundation. The Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement 
of Healthy Living was established to conduct research to better 
understand and influence behaviors and environmental conditions that 
affect healthy living, with a vision of “healthy children in a healthy 
world.” The Center is housed at UTHealth’s School of Public Health 
Austin Regional Campus.