Salud America! Pilot Awardees
Dr. Monika Stodolska, University of Illinois
“Crime, Physical Activity and Outdoor Recreation Among Latino Adolescents”
This project will examine the impact of several crime-related variables, as well as the moderating effects of gender and acculturation, on physical activity among Latino youth in the Chicago area. The study will include a questionnaire of 400 middle- and high-school students, as well as individual interviews with 24 students. The questionnaire will measure fear of crime, level of crime victimization, and perceived level of disorder, physical activity participation, crime involvement, acculturation, and individual characteristics of the students. Study results will be disseminated to local policy-makers and will inform their efforts in addressing the obesity problem among Latino youth.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Myriam E. Torres, University of South Carolina Research Foundation
“Juntas Podemos [Together We Can]: Empowering Latinas To Shape Policy To Prevent Childhood Obesity”
Juntas Podemos aims to bring together public health researchers, community leaders and Latino families to study and develop effective policy recommendations regarding physical activity in Latino children from a growing immigrant settlement in West Columbia, S.C. Researchers will utilize Photovoice to collect data from Latina mothers and community stakeholders, document and analyze the issues and develop recommendations regarding physical activity among children. Researchers also will interview key stakeholders and focus groups from the community and local schools to document their perspectives. The resulting policy recommendations will be disseminated to policy-makers at many different levels.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Miriam Y. Vega, Latino Commission on AIDS, New York
“La Familia en la Cocina”
La Familia en la Cocina (the family in the kitchen) is a two-year Latino childhood obesity study that seeks to assess the role of mother-child communication patterns with regard to children’s nutrition, food consumption behavior and preferences, and physical activity. This project will target recent Latina immigrants to the Bronx, N.Y., by recruiting 50 mother-child dyads and comparing dyads with a child who is obese/overweight to dyads with a child that has a healthy weight body-mass index. The study will utilize dyad semistructured interviews, life histories and participant observations to collect data. The Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA) plans to utilize extensive national networks, as well as its Web site, to disseminate information about the study and to serve as key advocacy outlets for health policy on a local, state and national level.
PowerPoint about Project
Dr. Angela R. Wiley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
“Abriendo Caminos—Clearing the Path”
Abriendo Caminos aims to identify effective strategies to encourage healthy behaviors that promote reduction in childhood obesity among rural Latino immigrant families. This project entails a six-week curriculum and activity-based program encouraging whole-family involvement in the preparation of healthy foods, family storytelling during shared mealtimes and shared physical activity through folk dancing. Pretest-posttest differences and a three-month follow-up will determine the effectiveness in increasing fruit and vegetable and physical activity for the whole family. Results from this work will inform community-wide efforts and will be disseminated statewide through the University of Illinois’ Office of Extension and Hispanic Outreach.
PowerPoint about Project
