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Background/Significance: Obesity rates have increased dramatically, especially among children and
disadvantaged populations. Obesity is a complex issue, creating a compelling need for prevention
efforts in communities to move from single isolated programs to comprehensive multisystem interventions.
To address these issues, we have established a chi...
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High school student researchers and teen leaders from the Health Science Technology Academy (HSTA), under the supervision of HSTA teachers, led a childhood obesity prevention (COP) program (iCook 4-H). The objective was to evaluate the feasibility and perceptions of having teen leaders implement a COP program for dyads of youth (9–10 years old) and...
Purpose and objectives:
Policy, systems, and environmental approaches are recommended for preventing childhood obesity. The objective of our study was to evaluate the Healthy Lifestyles Initiative, which aimed to strengthen community capacity for policy, systems, and environmental approaches to healthy eating and active living among children and f...
Childhood obesity is a public health problem associated with high risk of onset of non-communicable diseases in the adult years. Preschool is a crucial phase in the development and growth of physical, social, and mental well-being. Thus, a South African childhood obesity prevention program was developed to promote healthy eating behavior in young c...
Citations
... The coalition formalized in 2015 through the support of a grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program called the Obesity Prevention Initiative. This grant provided funds for staff at the Menominee Tribal Clinic to convene and coordinate the coalition, plus opportunity to engage with faculty and staff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for technical assistance and research partnerships related to coalition practices and evidence-based childhood obesity prevention ( Adams et al., 2016;Christens et al., 2016;Hilgendorf et al., 2016). The coalition is composed of representatives of various agencies and organizations, including the tribal clinic, the local Boys and Girls Club, tribal food distribution, university cooperative extension, the tribal college, and Menikanaehkem, a grassroots community organizing group. ...
Recent perspectives on Indigenous health have recognized language, culture, and values as central to well-being and recovery from historical trauma. Health coalitions, which identify community health concerns and mobilize members to implement strategies for change, have begun to shift their focus from programs to policy, systems, and environmental change but have been slower to recognize the possibilities of centering Indigenous ways of being in their work. This article details a case study of the Menominee Wellness Initiative, an Indigenous health coalition that has increasingly made language, culture, and collective values the focus of their health promotion work, and often due to the participation and influence of community organizers in the coalition. The study is presented as a collaborative writing effort between coalition members and academic partners. Qualitative data were gathered through observations of coalition meetings; in-depth, semistructured interviews with coalition members; and interactive data analysis discussions within the collaborative writing team. In the results, we describe how the shift in the coalition’s framework came to be and the influence this shift has had on the coalition, its activities, and its community impacts. These findings illustrate and extend understanding of several principles of Collaborating for Equity and Justice and supports literature and practice related to health promotion through the centering of Indigenous ways.
... The Obesity Prevention Initiative in Wisconsin is piloting a multi-setting community intervention study for childhood obesity as one of three components of the larger initiative described in this issue by Adams and colleagues. 1 As an initial step, a team of University of Wisconsin researchers, community members, and practitioners (the intervention team) are conducting a pilot study using comprehensive community prevention strategies in two Wisconsin counties, Marathon and Menominee. 2 Herein, we present two aspects of this pilot study. ...
... Through a process of local capacity building, along with academic support for community-based participatory research, outreach, and surveillance, the initiative will engage Wisconsin citizens in making policy, systems, and environmental changes at both the grass roots and institutional levels. 1 While this article focuses on the strategy menu, selection framework, and local implementation, the article by Christens and colleagues in this issue describes the engagement component in more detail. 3 The approach taken by the Obesity Prevention Initiative started with the acknowledgement that there is no "silver bullet" for reducing childhood obesity. ...
Importance:
Childhood obesity is a complex problem influenced by policies, systems, and environments across multiple settings. The prevention of childhood obesity requires changes across a range of community settings.
Objective:
To describe the development of an obesity prevention strategy menu that incorporates effective policy, systems, and environmental changes for reducing and preventing childhood obesity, and which offers the flexibility to consider local community needs and capacity.
Methods:
We describe the development of a strategy menu and some of the challenges of this process. We then elaborate on how communities will interact with the strategy menu and the development of a website to facilitate this interaction.
Results:
No single discipline has all of the expertise needed to identify strategies for childhood obesity prevention. Therefore, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners reviewed evidence and organized a menu that assists communities in choosing complementary strategies tailored for efficacy in specific community settings. The strategies will eventually be part of a web-based point of access that complements the foundational relationships built between communities, researchers, and practitioners.
Conclusions and relevance:
The strategy menu is comprised of a set of effective approaches that communities can use to develop tailored, context-specific health interventions. By developing a framework to engage communities in the selection and implementation of multi-setting obesity prevention strategies, we aim to create and sustain momentum toward a long-term reduction in obesity in Wisconsin children.
... The Obesity Prevention Initiative (Initiative) in Wisconsin is piloting a multisetting community intervention study for childhood obesity as 1 of 3 components of the larger initiative described in this issue by Adams and colleagues. 1 As an initial step, a team of University of Wisconsin researchers, community members, and practitioners (the intervention team) are conducting a pilot study using comprehensive community prevention strategies in 2 Wisconsin counties, Marathon and Menominee. 2 Herein, we present 2 aspects of this pilot study. ...
... Through a process of local capacity building, along with academic support for community-based participatory research, outreach, and surveillance, the Initiative will engage Wisconsin citizens in making policy, systems, and environmental changes at both the grassroots and institutional levels. 1 While this report focuses on the strategy menu, selection framework, and local implementation, the report by Christens and colleagues in this issue describes the engagement component in more detail. 3 The Initiative's approach started with the acknowledgement that there is no "silver bullet" for reducing childhood obesity. ...
Childhood obesity is a complex problem influenced by policies, systems, and environments, and its prevention requires changes across a range of community settings.To address this, we developed an obesity prevention strategy menu and an ongoing study to pilot its use and provide technical support for its implementation.
The strategy menu is comprised of a set of effective approaches communities can use to develop tailored, context-specific health interventions based on local community needs and capacity.
It was developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners who reviewed evidence and organized it to incorporate effective policy, systems, and environmental changes for reducing and preventing childhood obesity. Eventually, it will be part of a web-based point of access that complements the foundational relationships built between communities, researchers, and practitioners.
By developing a framework to engage communities in the selection and implementation of multisetting obesity prevention strategies, we aim to create and sustain momentum toward a long-term reduction in obesity in Wisconsin children.
BACKGROUND
We examined written language in Wisconsin school wellness policies (SWPs) for federal mandate compliance, quality related to obesity prevention, and school characteristics associated with variations in quality. This is the first near census of Wisconsin SWPs and examines whether adhering to federal mandates results in strong policies aimed at preventing pediatric obesity.
METHODS
Policies were coded using the WellSAT 2.0. Policy quality was computed as comprehensiveness and strength based on 6 subscales and 2 overall scores. Variations in policy quality were examined by district size, free/reduced lunch percentage, and year of last revision.
RESULTS
We received SWPs from 91% of districts. Six of the 8 federal mandates were addressed by the majority of districts, although less than one fourth addressed all. Most comprehensiveness scores were weak to moderate, and strength scores were weak. All school characteristics were significantly related to overall policy quality; effect sizes were small.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results confirm the necessity of statewide focus on SWP improvement and suggest that while districts may be meeting federal mandates related to pediatric obesity, few policies include health promotion practices beyond those required. Policies remain fragmented and lack focus on obesity prevention practices; we identify modifiable areas for improvement.
Introduction: The Wisconsin Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative (Initiative), established in 2007, seeks to address and prevent obesity in the early care and education system through nutrition and physical activity environmental and policy changes. The collaborative includes professionals from 3 state of Wisconsin Departments, the University of Wisconsin-Extension, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and public health and early care and education organizations. This paper explores the efforts of the Initiative to advance our understanding of collective impact in practice and its value to health promotion efforts.
Methods: Evaluators conducted a mixed methods case study to evaluate the application of col-lective impact principles by the Initiative. This included a survey of Initiative partners, review of archival documents, and qualitative interviews with Initiative leaders.
Results: Initiative partners noted progress in establishing the conditions for collective impact. Archival bers of children for prolonged periods of documents and interviews describe both formal and informal practices that helped set a common agenda, align and coordinate partner activities, and promote communication among Initiative lead-ers. Results also detail the important current and potential roles of “backbone” staff from healthTIDE to support the Initiative. Additionally, results suggest particularly challenging aspects of the Initiative’s impact model related to shared measurement and broader stakeholder communication. While the Initiative is still setting in place the conditions for collective impact, it has achieved significant policy, systems, and environment changes since its formation. Inclusion of nutrition and physical activity crite-ria in the state’s quality rating improvement system for child care centers is one of its outcomes.
Conclusions: This case study offers several important insights about the application of collective impact in health promotion efforts, particularly in relation to the transition from previous collab-orative activities, the value of establishing a clear common agenda among partners, the roles of backbone staff, and time and partner relationships in collective impact.
Introduction: The Wisconsin Obesity Prevention Initiative has piloted a novel approach for community
action for obesity prevention that incorporates both coalition and community organizing
efforts in 2 counties. This article describes lessons learned to date from this experience.
Methods: A description of the progress made in these communities and the support provided by
Initiative staff and other partners are drawn from process evaluation of the pilot from November
2014 through December 2015, as well as the reflections of community partners.
Results: In Marathon County, building towards coalition action required thoughtful re-engagement
and restructuring of an existing obesity-focused coalition. Community organizing surfaced
local concerns related to the root causes of obesity, including poverty and transit. In Menominee
County, coalition and community organizing efforts both have drawn attention to cultural assets
for health promotion, such as traditional food practices, as well as the links between cultural loss
and obesity.
Conclusions: Building coalition action and community organizing varies across community
contexts and requires addressing various steps and challenges. Both approaches require critical
local examination of existing community action and stakeholders, attention to relationship
building, and support from outside partners. In coalition action, backbone staff provide important
infrastructure, including member recruitment and facilitating group processes towards collaboration.
Community organizing involves broad resident engagement to identify shared interests and
concerns and build new leadership. A community-driven systems change model offers potential
to increase community action for obesity prevention.
At the population level, turning the tide on obesity requires not only health education and pro- motion programs, but also systemic changes in our society. However, few of these changes can be implemented by single agencies or organizations acting in isolation. Broader community- driven efforts are needed to advance and maintain systematic changes across multiple settings.
We introduce 2 promising approaches for local action to achieve changes: coalition action and community organizing. Understanding differences between the two approaches makes it clear that while each has distinct advantages, there are also possibilities for synergies between them.
We also clarify how community-driven efforts can be catalyzed and supported, and describe our efforts as part of the Wisconsin Obesity Prevention Initiative to identify and implement best prac- tices for building and sustaining the necessary local community capacity to carry out systematic changes. We are working with communities to launch initiatives in which residents are engaged through grassroots organizing, and local agencies, businesses, and other institutions are engaged in pursuit of collective impact on obesity prevention. This will allow us not only to com- pare the effectiveness of the 2 types of initiatives for driving local changes, but also to explore the potential for the two to work together in pursuit of systemic changes for preventing obesity.
