A mixed-method evaluation of the New York State Eat Well Play Hard Community Projects: Building local capacity for sustainable childhood obesity prevention.

This study used a mixed-method, comparative case study approach to assess the level of capacity built for childhood obesity prevention among seven New York State Eat Well Play Hard-Community Projects (EWPH-CP). Data were collected through a self-reported survey in 2007, semi-structured interviews in 2009, and EWPH-CP program documentation throughout the 2006-2010 funding cycle. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were used along with an integrative framework for assessing local capacity building to characterize the capacity built by the study coalitions.

Implementing a WIC-Based Intervention to Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding: Challenges, Facilitators, and Adaptive Strategies.

Objective: Understand factors that contributed to the implementation of a successful multicomponent intervention to promote exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) within Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics.

Design: Qualitative study of staff implementers' experiences using implementation status reports, facilitated group discussion immediately after implementation, and WIC administrative data.

Setting: WIC staff from 12 clinics participated in an EBF Learning Community composed of 8 intervention trainings and ongoing support from trainers and peers.

Outcome Evaluation of the You Can Do It Initiative to Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Women Enrolled in the New York State WIC Program by Race/Ethnicity.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of You Can Do It at improving exclusive breastfeeding (BF) among New York State women enrolled in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Design: Quasi-experimental study, September, 2013 through February, 2016.

Setting: Multicomponent intervention paired with a yearlong learning community in 12 clinics.

Trends in Breastfeeding Among Infants Enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children - New York, 2002-2015.

Breastfeeding is widely accepted as the optimal method of infant feeding (1,2). New York Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has prioritized the promotion of breastfeeding. To assess breastfeeding trends among New York WIC infants, indicators for measuring breastfeeding practices reported by the New York Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PedNSS) during 2002-2015 were examined.

Use of a mixed-method approach to evaluate the implementation of retention promotion strategies in the New York State WIC program.

This research assessed the implementation of strategies piloted at 10 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinics aimed at increasing retention in the program, by enhancing participants' shopping experiences. Under WIC Retention Promotion Study: Keep, Reconnect, Thrive (WIC RPS), clinics were recruited and assigned to implement one or a combination of strategies: a standardized Shopping Orientation (SO) curriculum, a Guided Shopping Tour (GST), and a Pictorial Foods Card (PFC) from November 2012 through August 2013. This paper presents results from the process evaluation of the retention strategies, using a mixed-methods comparative case study design employing WIC administrative data, interviews, and focus groups.

Relation between annual trends in food pantry use and long-term unemployment in New York State, 2002-2012.

We examined the correlation between trends in meals provided through food pantries and long-term unemployment from 2002 through 2012. The New York State Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program provided about 192 million meals through food pantries in 2012-double the number before the Great Recession. Annual food pantry use was strongly correlated with long-term unemployment and remained on an upward trend from 2006 through 2012, even after the Great Recession had ended.

Neighborhood disparities in prevalence of childhood obesity among low-income children before and after implementation of New York City child care regulations.

Introduction: New York City Article 47 regulations, implemented in 2007, require licensed child care centers to improve the nutrition, physical activity, and television-viewing behaviors of enrolled children. To supplement an evaluation of the Article 47 regulations, we conducted an exploratory ecologic study to examine changes in childhood obesity prevalence among low-income preschool children enrolled in the Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in New York City neighborhoods with or without a district public health office. We conducted the study 3 years before (from 2004 through 2006) and after (from 2008 through 2010) the implementation of the regulations in 2007.

Association of prenatal participation in a public health nutrition program with healthy infant weight gain.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that early enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is associated with a reduced risk of rapid infant weight gain (RIWG).

Methods: We used a longitudinal cohort of mother-infant pairs (n = 157,590) enrolled in WIC in New York State from 2008 to 2009 and estimated the odds of RIWG, defined as a 12-month change in weight-for-age z score of more than .67, comparing infants of mothers enrolled during the first, second, or third trimester of pregnancy with those who delayed enrollment until the postpartum period.

Evidence of the adoption and implementation of a statewide childhood obesity prevention initiative in the New York State WIC Program: the NY Fit WIC process evaluation.

Process evaluations are critical in determining whether outcome evaluations are warranted. This study assessed the extent to which a childhood obesity prevention initiative, NY Fit WIC, was adopted and implemented by the New York State Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Process data came from qualitative telephone interviews of 101 WIC local agency directors, following NY Fit WIC trainings.

Feasibility of increasing childhood outdoor play and decreasing television viewing through a family-based intervention in WIC, New York State, 2007-2008.

Introduction: Active Families is a program developed to increase outdoor play and decrease television viewing among preschool-aged children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Our objective was to assess its feasibility and efficacy.

Methods: We implemented Active Families in a large WIC clinic in New York State for 1 year.

Trends in prevalence of obesity and overweight among children enrolled in the New York State WIC program, 2002-2007.

Objectives: We examined recent overweight and obesity trends in a multiethnic population of low-income preschool children.

Methods: We defined overweight as sex-specific body mass index (BMI)-forage > or = 85th and < 95th percentile and obesity as sex-specific BMI-for-age > or = 95th percentile, and calculated them using demographic data and randomly selected height and weight measurements that were recorded while 2- to < 5-year-old children were enrolled in the New York State (NYS) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during 2002-2007.

Results: Obesity prevalence peaked at 16.

An innovative approach to enhancing the surveillance capacity of state-based diabetes prevention and control programs: the Diabetes Indicators and Data Sources Internet Tool (DIDIT).

The Diabetes Indicators and Data Sources Internet Tool (DIDIT) is an interactive Web-based resource with information on 38 diabetes indicators (e.g., diabetes-associated complications, care, lifestyle) and 12 associated data sources frequently used by state diabetes prevention and control programs.

Diabetes prevalence among Puerto Rican adults in New York City, NY, 2000.

This study assessed the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and associated characteristics among Puerto Rican adults in New York City, NY, with a random-digit-dialed telephone survey with a dual-frame sampling design. Overall, 11.3% (95% confidence interval = 8.