Communities Partnering With Researchers: An Evaluation of Coalition Function in a Community-Engaged Research Approach.

Background: Community coalitions are frequently used as partners for community-engaged research. However, limited research shows how these partnerships affect the coalitions.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of researcher-coalition collaboration on coalition function in the pilot year of a 4-year intervention program targeting childhood obesity in rural, low-income communities.

Ripple Effects of the Communities Preventing Childhood Obesity Project.

This research examines the practice of community coaching within coalitions in the Communities Preventing Childhood Obesity project. A quasi-experimental design was used in seven Midwestern states. Each state selected two rural, low-income communities with functioning health coalitions.

A quasi-experimental study to mobilize rural low-income communities to assess and improve the ecological environment to prevent childhood obesity.

Background: The Ecological Model of Childhood Overweight focuses on characteristics that could affect a child's weight status in relation to the multiple environments surrounding that child. A community coaching approach allows community groups to identify their own strengths, priorities and identity. Little to no research currently exists related to community-based efforts inclusive of community coaching in creating environmental change to prevent childhood obesity particularly in rural communities.

An Ecological Approach to Exploring Rural Food Access and Active Living for Families With Preschoolers.

Objective: To identify factors using the Ecological Model of Childhood Overweight related to accessing nutritious foods and physical activity opportunities from the perspectives of rural parents of preschoolers.

Methods: A mixed-methods study using a quantitative survey (Active Where?) and qualitative interviews. Analyzed interview themes provided context to the survey results.

Evaluation of Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies and Practices in Child Care Centers within Rural Communities.

Background: Although some researchers have examined nutrition and physical activity policies within urban child care centers, little is known about the potentially unique needs of rural communities.

Methods: Child care centers serving preschool children located within low-income rural communities (n = 29) from seven states (Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) were assessed to determine current nutrition and physical activity (PA) practices and policies. As part of a large-scale childhood obesity prevention project, the Community Healthy Living Index's previously validated Early Childhood Program Assessment Tool was used to collect data.

The role of community in facilitating service utilization.

Guided by an integrated theory of parent participation, this study examines the role community characteristics play in influencing a parent's decision to use voluntary child abuse prevention programs. Multiple regression techniques were used to determine if different community characteristics, such as neighborhood distress and the community's ratio of caregivers to those in need of care, predict service utilization levels in a widely available home visiting program. Our findings suggest that certain community characteristics are significant predictors of the extent to which families utilize voluntary family supports over and above the proportion of variance explained by personal characteristics and program experiences.

Understanding maternal intentions to engage in home visiting programs.

Little is known as to why some parents choose to engage in voluntary home visitation services while others refuse or avoid services. To address this knowledge gap, this study tests several hypotheses about the factors that influence maternal intentions to engage in home visitation services and the link between these intentions and the receipt of a home visit. The sample consists of an ethnically diverse group of mothers identified as at-risk for parenting difficulties (N = 343).