Student public commitment in a school-based diabetes prevention project: impact on physical health and health behavior

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Mamie White¹  Sara Solomon²  Arthur E Hernandez³  Eileen G Ford⁴  Margaret Schneider⁵  Diane D Stadler⁶  Esther L Moe⁶  Lynn L DeBar⁷  Ann Jessup⁸  Kimberly L Drews⁹  Elizabeth M Venditti^1,10 

[1] Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 1100 Bates Street #2033, 77030, Houston, TX, USA;City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market Street, Floor 9, 19102, Philadelphia, PA, USA;College of Education, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5818, 78412, Corpus Christi, TX, USA;Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3535 Market Street, Suite 1572, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA;Department of Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California at Irvine, 258 Social Ecology I, 92697, Irvine, CA, USA;Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, CR110, 97239, Portland, OR, USA;Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, 3800 North Interstate Ave, 97227, Portland, OR, USA;School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460, 27599-7460, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;The George Washington University Biostatistics Center, 6110 Executive Blvd, Suite 750, 20852, Rockville, MD, USA;University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara St., 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;

关键词: Intervention School;    Body Mass Index Percentile;    Healthy Intervention;    Communication Campaign;    Youth Obesity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-711

 received in 2011-04-21, accepted in 2011-09-20,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAs concern about youth obesity continues to mount, there is increasing consideration of widespread policy changes to support improved nutritional and enhanced physical activity offerings in schools. A critical element in the success of such programs may be to involve students as spokespeople for the program. Making such a public commitment to healthy lifestyle program targets (improved nutrition and enhanced physical activity) may potentiate healthy behavior changes among such students and provide a model for their peers. This paper examines whether student's "public commitment"--voluntary participation as a peer communicator or in student-generated media opportunities--in a school-based intervention to prevent diabetes and reduce obesity predicted improved study outcomes including reduced obesity and improved health behaviors.MethodsSecondary analysis of data from a 3-year randomized controlled trial conducted in 42 middle schools examining the impact of a multi-component school-based program on body mass index (BMI) and student health behaviors. A total of 4603 students were assessed at the beginning of sixth grade and the end of eighth grade. Process evaluation data were collected throughout the course of the intervention. All analyses were adjusted for students' baseline values. For this paper, the students in the schools randomized to receive the intervention were further divided into two groups: those who participated in public commitment activities and those who did not. Students from comparable schools randomized to the assessment condition constituted the control group.ResultsWe found a lower percentage of obesity (greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for BMI) at the end of the study among the group participating in public commitment activities compared to the control group (21.5% vs. 26.6%, p = 0.02). The difference in obesity rates at the end of the study was even greater among the subgroup of students who were overweight or obese at baseline; 44.6% for the "public commitment" group, versus 53.2% for the control group (p = 0.01). There was no difference in obesity rates between the group not participating in public commitment activities and the control group (26.4% vs. 26.6%).ConclusionsParticipating in public commitment activities during the HEALTHY study may have potentiated the changes promoted by the behavioral, nutrition, and physical activity intervention components.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00458029

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© DeBar et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011