Salud America! Pilot Awardees
Dr. Meizi He, University of Texas at San Antonio
“Building a Healthy Temple—A Faith-Based Community Partcipatory Research Project for Preventing Childhood Obesity Among Latino Families”
This project aims to qualitatively explore the Latino faith-based communities’ perceptions and willingness to address the childhood obesity epidemic through community based participatory research (CBPR) processes. Research methods include in-depth interviews with purposeful samples of Latino church leaders and eight to 10 focus groups with church-attending Latino children and their parents in a low-income, mainly Latino area of San Antonio, Texas. Pertinent research findings will be disseminated to policy-makers, community groups and health professionals through town hall meetings, community forums, conference presentations and publications.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Harris Huberman, The State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center
“Primeros Pasos Parenting Newsletters: A Low-Intensity Approach to Prevent Obesity in Latino Children”
This project will assess the effectiveness of Primeros Pasos/Building Blocks (PP/BB), an existing intervention in New York funded by the National Institutes of Health that targets low-income parents of Latino infants and toddlers and includes both relational parenting and a monthly mailed newsletter containing specific dietary messages. In randomized controlled trials, the PP/BB program showed significant reductions in overweight family members of participants; this proposal would extend the program, following the same cohorts through age 3, examining which types of prevention messages best account for the positive effects of the program. The purpose is to determine the most effective mix of relational and dietary messages, which in turn will inform the development of the most cost-effective public health initiatives. Findings from this study will be disseminated via public health, health care, child development and existing parenting newsletter networks, and the PP/BB newsletter series, and instructions will be made available in CD format to programs interested in replicating it.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Rebecca London, Stanford University School of Education
“Linking After-School Program Participation With Latino Youths’ Obesity and Physical Fitness Outcomes”
This project will study the effects of participating in a variety of after-school programs—including those focused on physical activity, academics and other areas—on Latino students’ obesity and physical fitness outcomes in Redwood, Calif., a community with a high concentration of low-income Latino families. The study’s hypothesis is that participation in high-quality after-school programming is linked to lower obesity, higher levels of physical fitness, reduced TV watching and the acquisition of youth development assets associated with participation. The study will analyze and link data from the Youth Data Archive (YDA), an integrated data system comprising administrative data from public and nonprofit community agencies, to a survey of middle-school students in the same community. In close collaboration with community partners and the California School Boards Association, resources will be disseminated to stakeholders to turn the research findings into actionable steps to create policies that will improve fitness and reduce obesity among Latino youth.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Nelda Mier, Texas A&M Health Science Center
“Assessing the Built Environment in Colonias to Influence Policy Promoting Physical Activity in Mexican-American Children and Families”
To produce environmental policy recommendations promoting physical activity in economically-disadvantaged, understudied Mexican-American children and families, this project aims to engage stakeholders in environmental policy changes to promote physical activity among children and families living in low-income colonias in Hidalgo County, Texas. It will assess the colonias’ built environment for physical activity support and investigate colonia children’s perceptions about environmental barriers and physical activity motivators through focus groups. Based on the data, the study will conduct a built environment audit of six colonias in Hidalgo County. Results will be disseminated to local and state policy-makers, colonia residents and other stakeholders.
PowerPoint about Project
