INFOGRAPHIC: America’s Fat Future

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2 weeks ago
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Check out this cool infographic on obesity:

Medical Coding Career Guide

Can a Game of Tag Combat Bullying? Recess Coaches Help Show Kids How ‘Playworks’

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2 weeks ago
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Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series that will highlight the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s work in Latino communities across the country.

SaludToday Guest Blogger: Nancy Barrand

While many schools are trying to find the best ways to combat bullying, one program has shown promising success. Playworks is a national nonprofit that provides coaches to lead healthy recess and other playtime in diverse schools in 23 cities.

During a recent evaluation of the program, researchers found that investing in school recess and organized play can prevent bullying, improve how students act during recess and how ready they are for class, and provide more time for teaching and learning.

“Our research shows that Playworks makes a difference. Teachers in Playworks schools reported less bullying and exclusionary behavior during recess relative to control school teachers,” said Dr. Susanne James-Burdumy, associate director of research at Mathematica. “Playworks also facilitated students’ transitions back to classroom learning.”

In addition, researchers concluded that Playworks improves the school climate through:

  • Better Recess Behavior and Readiness for Class: Teachers at Playworks schools tended to report better student behavior at recess and readiness for class than teachers at control schools, and they were more likely to report that their students enjoyed adult-organized recess activities.
  • More Time for Teaching and Learning: Teachers in Playworks schools reported having fewer difficulties and spending significantly less time transitioning to learning activities after recess than teachers in control schools. Playworks students were also more likely than control students to report better behavior and attention in class after sports, games and play.
  • Safer Schools: Teachers in Playworks schools perceived that students felt safer and more included at recess, compared to teachers in control schools.
  • Satisfied Teachers: Nearly 100 percent of teachers in Playworks schools reported that they wanted the program in their school again the following year.

This new research, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, contributes to a growing body of evidence that a safe, healthy recess environment can contribute to better behavior and learning in schools.

“For our education system to succeed, our schools need to be able to create the conditions for learning,” said Jill Vialet, CEO and founder of Playworks. “The good news is that we’ve developed a model that can be replicated almost anywhere and produces positive and measurable results.”

EVENT: Intervention Mapping May 14-18 in Austin, Texas

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2 weeks ago
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Intervention Mapping offers a step-by-step process using the best information from behavioral and social sciences to make theory practical and create effective interventions.

You’re invited to attend an Intervention Mapping workshop May 14-18, 2012, at the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus in Austin, Texas.

The workshop will present Intervention Mapping steps (below) and tasks, as well as examples from actual projects:
1. Assessment of needs and capacity
2. Specification of program outcomes and change objectives
3. Selection of theory-based methods and practical applications
4. Designing the intervention program
5. Planning for program adoption and implementation
6. Planning for program evaluation.

Group work will enable participants to apply Intervention Mapping to their intervention projects, and all participants receive a copy of Planning Health Promotion: An Intervention Mapping Approach (2011).

Register here.

Camp Offers Fun, Support for Kids of Adults with Cancer

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3 weeks ago
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With literally more than a million cancer cases a year in the U.S., the special emotional needs of children of adult cancer patients are sometimes overlooked.

That’s why Camp Kesem, a national nonprofit program, created a college-student-run summer camp for kids with a parent who has or has had cancer.

The one-week camps give kids ages 6-13 a chance to have a fun-filled week and “just be kids” and get extra attention and support, according the group’s website.

Since 2001, Camp Kesem has grown from a single camp to 37 active chapters in 22 states.

Camp Kesem Berkeley (Calif.), for example, supports children in the Greater Bay Area and Tri-Valley area by putting on a completely free week-long overnight summer camp for children and teens (ages 6-16) who have a parent that either has or had cancer or has passed away from cancer. The group buses from Berkeley to the Santa Cruz mountains for activities such as kayaking, drama programs, arts and crafts, cooking and science, archery, rock-climbing, and more.

Check out this video about the camp. Applications and more information are currently available at the Camp Kesem Berkeley website or the national organization’s website.

Using Research to Move Policy in Highly Obese South Texas

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3 weeks ago
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Salud America! Pilot Researcher Dr. Nelda Mier documented safety problems and a lack of sidewalks and parks in South Texas. But now her research is poised to impact policy changes that could remedy these built-environment issues.

Salud America! pilot researcher Dr. Nelda Mier documented a lack of sidewalks, street lights and parks along the poverty-stricken Texas-Mexico border—an environment that she found contributes to obesity and sedentary behavior among Latino children.

But this story doesn’t end with just research results.

To change the local environment to make it easier to engage in physical activity, Dr. Mier—armed with lessons from Salud America! on how to promote research-based policy change—brought her project research results to community leader and policy advocate Anne Williams Cass.

The research helped guide advocacy efforts of local organizations dedicated to affordable housing, including Cass’ Proyecto Azteca, which plans to communicate with Texas legislators about the need for sidewalks, street lights and garbage collection along the Mexico-Texas border.

Dr. Mier’s research also prompted changes in the design of an affordable-housing neighborhood, where Proyecto Azteca is working with planners to add trails for hiking and biking, a recreation center and outdoor exercise areas.

“These are things that we more than likely would have neglected in our planning had it not been for the research Dr. Mier shared with us,” Cass said.

This is just one example of how the 20 Salud America! pilot investigators are using their research to stimulate policy changes to reverse Latino childhood obesity. Other Salud America! researchers are using their research to change policies in communities across the country.

Read more about Dr. Mier’s and the other grantees’ achievements in policy change here.

Salud America!, which is dedicated to preventing Latino childhood obesity, is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and is headquartered at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.

New Research Targets Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Health

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3 weeks ago
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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has published “The Science of Research on Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Health,” a supplement to the American Journal of Public Health, to highlight the need for and state of empirical research on racial/ethnic discrimination and its association with the health and health care received by minorities.

The issue opens with an article that reviews current measures, research approaches, data resources, and results of research on race/ethnicity-based health care discrimination, and goes on to focus on measurement, implicit bias, perception of discrimination and institutional racism, while also suggesting areas for future research.

The issue can serve as a valuable resource for researchers in this topic area and will help position researchers, policymakers, and professionals at all levels of health care to address the effects of discrimination in the evolving health care environment.

Access free full texts of the issue’s article here.

WEBINAR: Linking Policies to Improve Public Safety with Preventing Child Obesity

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3 weeks ago
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Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will host a free webinar on successful strategies to address both public safety and childhood obesity at 1 p.m. CST on April 26, 2012.

Making the Connection: Linking Policies to Improve Public Safety with Preventing Childhood Obesity

A growing body of research demonstrates that when families feel safe in their communities, they are more likely to engage in physical activity that improves their overall health. By implementing policies that address both the adequacy of a neighborhood’s built environment and implications and perceptions of neighborhood crime, policymakers can address significant safety concerns, promote active, livable communities and reduce childhood obesity.

The webinar will feature:

  • Councilmember Ed Gonzalez, City of Houston, Texas
  • Deb Hubsmith, Director, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
  • Matthew Rufo, Program Manager, Prevention Research Center, Tulane University

The webinar coincides with the release of Making the Connection: Linking Policies to Improve Public Safety with Preventing Childhood Obesity, a report to provide policymakers seeking to address public safety in their communities with policy options that can also contribute significantly to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic.

Register here for the webinar.

VIDEO: Giving Kids Healthy Snacks, Drinks in School

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3 weeks ago
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About 80% of American voters favor national standards that would limit calories, fat and sodium in snack and à la carte foods sold in U.S. schools and encourage the consumption of fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy items, according to a new poll.

The poll was commissioned by the Kids’ Safe & Healthful Foods Project, a joint project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Check out this brief video that explains the impact these foods and beverages can have on kids’ health and how policymakers are trying to make sure schools provide kids with healthy foods and drinks.

Study: Liver Cancer in Latinos Linked to Diabetes, Obesity

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4 weeks ago
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Liver cancer rates among South Texas Latinos are higher than in other U.S. Latinos, as are their rates of obesity and diabetes—and the relationships between these ailments are being mapped by researchers at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.

In a study published April 18, 2012, in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers looked at overall liver cancer rates among U.S. Latinos and compared this to a Texas sample and a South Texas subset from 1995-2006.

Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez

They also compared prevalence among Latinos of lifestyle-associated factors that contribute to liver cancer: heavy alcohol use, smoking, obesity and diabetes.

They found that from 1995 to 2006, annual age-adjusted liver cancer incidence increased among all populations – but was highest in South Texas Latinos over the entire period. The increase among South Texas Latinos was also significantly greater than all Texas Latinos, who in turn had significantly higher levels of liver cancer than the U.S. national sample.

While obesity and diabetes increased among all three groups, obesity rates were higher in Texas Latinos and highest in South Texas Latinos. Neither heavy alcohol consumption nor cigarette smoking increased.

“Regarding risk factors, we found remarkably similar and significantly increasing rates of obesity and diabetes in our study groups, with higher obesity prevalence in Texas and particularly South Texas Latinos,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, the study’s lead author and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the Health Science Center.

The study warrants further exploration if there is a relationship between diabetes, obesity and liver cancer so that researchers can look at the problem from the standpoint of prevention, said Ramirez, who also is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the Health Science Center’s School of Medicine and associate director of health disparities at the Health Science Center’s Cancer Therapy & Research Center.

“Both obesity and diabetes are preventable and/or treatable,” she said, “so reducing obesity and diabetes may be an important for lowering Latinos’ risk for liver cancer, too.”

Clinical Trials and You

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4 weeks ago
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Photo from the NIH

A new National Institutes of Health website, NIH Clinical Research Trials and You, is designed to help people learn about clinical trials and how they can participate.

The resource, offered in English and Spanish, answers basic questions such as What are clinical trials and why do people participate? and What do I need to know if I am thinking about participating?

In addition, the website offers volunteer stories, researcher stories and educational resources.

You can also get help finding a clinical trial.

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