Implementing a Produce Prescription Program in Partnership With a Community Coalition.

Healthy eating reduces risk for chronic disease, but can be out of reach for many Americans experiencing food insecurity. Produce Prescription Programs (PPPs) have emerged as an intervention to address barriers related to fruit and vegetable consumption. Using a social prescribing model, PPPs connect patients with referrals to community resources to reduce barriers to healthy eating.

Socioeconomic and racial disparities of sidewalk quality in a traditional rust belt city.

Neighborhood walkability is key to promoting health, accessibility, and pedestrian safety. The Accessible, Connected Communities Encouraging Safe Sidewalks (ACCESS) project was developed to assess sidewalks throughout an urban community in Pontiac, Michigan. Data were collected from 2016 to 2018 along eighty miles of sidewalk for tripping hazards, cracking, vegetation, obstructions, overhead coverage, street lighting, buffers, and crosswalks.

The role of food gateways at increasing access to alternative retail food outlets.

Alternative retail food outlets (ARFOs), places where customers purchase foods outside of traditional supermarkets, grocery stores, or food service establishments, may play a role in improving food access in communities that are food deserts. This study was conducted to understand the way ARFOs function to support food systems and access to fruits and vegetables in low-resource communities. This qualitative study conducted 16 interviews with managers, volunteers, and customers in two produce market ARFOs in a primarily minority urban community.

Quantitative Evaluation of Content and Age Concordance Across Developmental Milestone Checklists.

Objective: Clinicians and caregivers rely on milestone checklists as tools for tracking a child's development. In addition, medical students and residents use milestone checklists to learn about normal child development. However, there are multiple published milestone checklists that vary qualitatively in structure and content, hindering their effective use in developmental surveillance and medical education.

Qualitative Focus Groups: Perceived Influences on Decision Making About Diet and Physical Activity Among Hispanic/Latino Participants.

Disparities in minority health are strongly associated with reduced access to culturally familiar food and physical activity opportunities. This qualitative study explores a Midwest, urban Hispanic/Latino community, the members' experiences with their multidimensional environment and its influence on their nutrition and physical activity choices. Using the principles of community-based participatory research in collaboration with a trusted, local Hispanic/Latino community agency, we conducted five bilingual focus groups with a total of 46 self-selected participants (44 women and 2 men).

Development and Evaluation of an Educational Initiative to Improve Hospital Personnel Preparedness to Care for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a multimodal educational curriculum on increasing hospital personnel's awareness of successful strategies and comfort in caring for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: We developed a 3-part training for front-line staff (i.e.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

Kendra is a 4-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who presents for follow-up of feeding problems to her pediatric clinician. She is an only child in a family where both parents are scientists. Feeding concerns date to infancy, when she was diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) associated with persistent bottle refusal and the acceptance of few pureed foods.

Cutaneous Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review.

Dermatologic comorbid symptoms and conditions in persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are compelling for several reasons, including problems with tactile sensory dysfunction in this population, a large number of syndromes with dermatologic findings and high rates of autism, nutritional and hormonal problems in ASD and their dermatologic manifestations, and the potential for overrepresentation of dermatologic symptoms that are neurobehavioral in nature. The current article reviews the available literature on the prevalence of comorbid dermatologic symptoms and conditions in children with ASD and identifies strategies for diagnosing and managing cutaneous disease in this population.

The Michigan Healthy School Action Tools process generates improvements in school nutrition policies and practices, and student dietary intake.

The Michigan Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT) is an online self-assessment and action planning process for schools seeking to improve their health policies and practices. The School Nutrition Advances Kids study, a 2-year quasi-experimental intervention with low-income middle schools, evaluated whether completing the HSAT with a facilitator assistance and small grant funding resulted in (1) improvements in school nutrition practices and policies and (2) improvements in student dietary intake. A total of 65 low-income Michigan middle schools participated in the study.

Little association between wellness policies and school-reported nutrition practices.

Background: The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 mandated written school wellness policies. Little evidence exists to evaluate the impact of such policies. This study assessed the quality (comprehensiveness of topics addressed and strength of wording) of wellness policies and the agreement between written district-level policies and school-reported nutrition policies and practices in 48 low-income Michigan school districts participating in the School Nutrition Advances Kids study.

Facilitators to promoting health in schools: is school health climate the key?

Background: Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools.

Methods: Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools.

Effects of changes in lunch-time competitive foods, nutrition practices, and nutrition policies on low-income middle-school children's diets.

Background: The School Nutrition Advances Kids project tested the effectiveness of school-initiated and state-recommended school nutrition practice and policy changes on student dietary intake in low-income middle schools.

Methods: Schools recruited by an application for grant funding were randomly assigned to (1) complete an assessment of nutrition education, policies, and environments using the Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT) and implement an action plan, (2) complete the HSAT, implement an action plan, and convene a student nutrition action team, (3) complete the HSAT and implement an action plan and a Michigan State Board of Education nutrition policy in their cafeteria à la carte, or (4) a control group. All intervention schools were provided with funding and assistance to make self-selected nutrition practice, policy, or education changes.