Obesity prevention in low socioeconomic status urban African-American adolescents: study design and preliminary findings of the HEALTH-KIDS Study

Abstract

Objectives: Obesity prevention among children and adolescents is a public health priority; however, limited school-based intervention trials targeting obesity have been conducted. This article provides an overview of the study design and baseline preliminary findings of our ongoing school-based intervention study. Design: Randomized intervention trial to test a school-based, environmental obesity prevention program in urban low socioeconomic status (SES) African-American adolescents. The intervention program was developed based on several behavioral theories and was guided by preliminary findings based on focus group discussion and baseline data. Setting: Four Chicago public schools in the US. Subjects: Over 450 5-7th graders and their families and schools were involved. Results: Our baseline data indicate a high prevalence of overweight (43% in boys and 41% in girls) and a number of problems in these children's physical activity and eating patterns. Only 26% reported spending X20 min engaged in vigorous-moderate exercise in X5 days over the past 7 days; 29% reported spending X5 h each day watching TV, playing video games, or using computer. They also consumed too many fried foods and soft drinks. On average, 55% consumed fried foods X2 times/day over the past 7 days; regarding soft drinks, 70% reported consuming X2 times/day. Conclusion: School-based obesity prevention programs are urgently needed in the target US urban, low SES, minority communities. These data can be used to inform intervention activities.

Obesity and related risk factors among low socio-economic status minority students in Chicago

“…Currently we are in the follow-up and evaluation phase of the study. More details about the study design are provided elsewhere 15 . Fig.…”

Finding Targets for Obesity Intervention in Urban Communities: School-Based Health Centers and the Interface with Affected Youth

“…[24][25][26] While the literature on intervention is limited and focuses on early adolescents, studies have consistently shown that school-based interventions are desperately needed and can be effective. [27][28][29][30][31] For example, Planet Health, an interdisciplinary school intervention for early adolescents in Massachusetts, reduced television viewing hours overall in boys and girls, increased fruit and vegetable consumption and smaller increment in energy intake in girls, and decreased obesity among girls. 32 Alternatively, a randomized trial of school-based environmental and policy changes among early adolescents was successful in increasing physical activity and reduced BMI among boys.…”

Prediction of BMI by impulsivity, eating behavior and activity level

“…It is consistent with a lot of obesity intervention measures. Neumaek-Sztainer et al [15] and Wang Y et al [16] increase physical exercise and teach the benefits of physical exercise to improve students' activity level, so as to achieve the goal of weight loss.…”

“…It includes 30 entries, which is divided into six factors: attention factor, exercising factor, self-control factor, cognitive complexity factor, stability factor and cognitive instability factor. According to the frequency of each entry, the record is graded from 1 to 4 ("hardly/never" = 1; "occasionally" = 2; "often" = 3; "almost always or always" = 4), in which the 11 entries (4,5,13,14,15,16,17,19,20,21,26) are reverse scoring. The higher the total score of questionnaire is, the higher the level of individual impulsivity is.…”