American Cancer Society guideline for diet and physical activity for cancer prevention.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) publishes the Diet and Physical Activity Guideline to serve as a foundation for its communication, policy, and community strategies and, ultimately, to affect dietary and physical activity patterns among Americans. This guideline is developed by a national panel of experts in cancer research, prevention, epidemiology, public health, and policy, and reflects the most current scientific evidence related to dietary and activity patterns and cancer risk. The ACS guideline focuses on recommendations for individual choices regarding diet and physical activity patterns, but those choices occur within a community context that either facilitates or creates barriers to healthy behaviors.

Increasing Community Readiness for Childhood Obesity Prevention: A Case Study of Four Communities in Georgia.

The community readiness model (CRM) was used to assess changes in community readiness across four counties in Georgia that were targeted as part of a 3-year Childhood Obesity Prevention Program. Key respondent interviews were conducted with community stakeholders in 2012 (n = 20) and 2017 (n = 18) using a semistructured questionnaire assessing six dimensions of community readiness (i.e.

Systems Thinking and Simulation Modeling to Inform Childhood Obesity Policy and Practice.

Objectives: In 2007, 31.7% of Georgia adolescents in grades 9-12 were overweight or obese. Understanding the impact of policies and interventions on obesity prevalence among young people can help determine statewide public health and policy strategies.

Get healthy together: a program to improve counseling for childhood obesity in community-based WIC clinics.

Counseling parents of overweight children is a sensitive issue that has been reported to be difficult for many health professionals. The Get Healthy Together (GHT) project involved an 18-month intervention that provided skills training and new tools to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program staff and a staff wellness program to improve the physical self-concept and functioning of WIC employees. All WIC staff from the 48 WIC clinics in New Mexico participated in this study.

Innovative tools help counselors discuss childhood obesity with parents.

Background: Childhood overweight and obesity pose potential health risks for many children under the age of 5 years. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritionists are in a unique position to help reduce this problem because of their frequent counseling contacts with clients during certification visits. Therefore, four new tools to facilitate nutritional counseling of parents of overweight children during certifications were developed and systematically evaluated.

Míranos! Look at us, we are healthy! An environmental approach to early childhood obesity prevention.

Background: Obesity prevention research is sparse in young children at risk for obesity. This study tested the effectiveness of a culturally tailored, multicomponent prevention intervention to promote healthy weight gain and gross motor development in low-income preschool age children.

Methods: Study participants were predominantly Mexican-American children (n = 423; mean age = 4.

Ten Years of TAKE 10!(®): Integrating physical activity with academic concepts in elementary school classrooms.

Objective: Current literature supports the link between physical activity (PA) or fitness and a child's ability to achieve academically; however, little structured activity time is incorporated into elementary school classrooms. This paper explores the impact of a classroom-based PA program, TAKE 10!, and health-academic integration through existing state and federal policy and programming.

Methods: Evidence from journal articles, published abstracts, and reports were examined to summarize the impact of TAKE 10! on student health and other outcomes.

Motivational interviewing skills are positively associated with nutritionist self-efficacy.

Objective: To examine the relationships between physical and social self-concepts, motivational interviewing (MI), and nutrition assessment skills with dimensions of counseling self-efficacy.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics.

Increasing physical activity in preschool: a pilot study to evaluate animal trackers.

Objective: This report describes a pilot study to evaluate Animal Trackers (AT), a preschool program designed to (1) increase structured physical activity (PA) during the preschool day; (2) increase practice of gross motor skills; (3) provide teachers with an easy-to-use PA program regardless of teacher experience; and (4) implement a teacher walking intervention.

Design: Pilot observational study in volunteer preschools.

Setting: Nine preschools in New Mexico.

Training health care professionals to manage overweight adolescents: experience in rural Georgia communities.

Context: The obesity epidemic threatens the present and future health of adolescents in the United States. Yet, health care providers lack specific training for pediatric obesity assessment and management.

Purpose: This study examined the adherence of rural Georgia primary care practitioners to an overweight adolescent management protocol.

Improving providers' assessment and management of childhood overweight: results of an intervention.

Objective: Pediatric primary care providers' adherence to recommendations for the assessment and management of childhood overweight is low. There are scarce data addressing how to improve provider practices. This study evaluated the effect of provider training and office-based tool dissemination on pediatric providers' assessment and management of childhood overweight.

Design and implementation of training to improve management of pediatric overweight.

Introduction: Clinicians report a low proficiency in treating overweight children and using behavioral management strategies. This paper documents the design and implementation of a training program to improve clinicians' skills in the assessment and behavioral management of pediatric overweight.

Methods: Two one-hour CME trainings were designed using published guidelines, research findings, and expert committee recommendations.