Deborah H. John

Oregon State University | OSU · School of Biological and Population Health Sciences

Background. People in rural (vs. urban) places have worse health outcomes. We examined the role of healthy food availability and consumption in this health disparity. Method. We surveyed rural (n=313) and urban (n=458) Oregon residents online, and analyzed data from rural (n=1 235) and urban (n=13 912) respondents in the U.S. nationally representat...

Objective To perform a cross-cultural adaptation, content validity and feasibility of The School Physical Activity and Nutrition Environment Tool (SPAN-ET) for the Spanish context. It is a valuable tool for making comprehensive assessments of school environments in three environmental categories: policy, situation/social, and physical. Method We f...

The school nutrition context is comprised of supportive environmental features, programs, policies, and social relationships that shape students’ healthy dietary choices and patterns. When engaging students as change agents, advocates, and partners in making healthy nutrition choices easier, environmental assessment tools developed for adults may b...

Extension professionals need to apply sound frameworks to program planning and evaluation in order to demonstrate strong population health impact and value. Pragmatic application of the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance) framework addresses the "who, what, when, where, how, and why" of a program's implementation. T...

BACKGROUND Classroom‐based physical activity (CBPA) breaks are a common strategy to increase elementary school children's physical activity (PA) levels. There is limited research examining how teacher‐level factors impact teacher implementation of CBPA breaks. In this study, we assessed the relationship of teacher‐level factors with teacher use of...

Background: The importance of school settings for obesity prevention efforts may be most critical in low-income rural areas where healthy eating and physical activity (PA) resources are scarce. This study examined the association of rural elementary school environmental characteristics with children’s PA behaviors at school. Methods: Analyses were...

A Health in All Policies approach engages cross-sector stakeholders to collaboratively improve systems that drive population health. We, the members of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP)’s Health in All Policies Action Team, propose that adopting a Health in All Policies approach within the national Cooperative Extension Syst...

Background: Classroom-based physical activity (CBPA) breaks are a cost-effective strategy to promote physical activity (PA) at school. Despite teachers' critical roles in sustained implementation of CBPA breaks, few studies examined the association of teacher-level factors with student PA levels, and none focused on rural schools. Methods: We mo...

Among rural families, rates of both child obesity and household food insecurity (FI) are higher compared to non-rural families. These disparities result from a complex interplay of social and environmental conditions that influence behavior. The Transtheoretical Model suggests individual readiness to change underlies success in modifying obesity-pr...

The Balanced Energy Physical Activity Toolkit, or the BEPA-Toolkit, supports physical activity (PA) programming via Extension in elementary schools. In a pilot study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the BEPA-Toolkit as used by teachers through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education partnerships. We surveyed teachers (n = 57) regardin...

Background: Family homes are a key setting for developing lifelong eating and physical activity habits, yet little is known about how family home nutrition and physical activity (FNPA) environments influence food insecurity (FI) and childhood obesity, particularly in rural settings. Aims: This study examined associations among FNPA, FI, and body...

Background: Individual risk factors for obesity are well-known, but environmental characteristics that influence individual risk, especially in rural communities, are not confirmed. Rural communities face unique challenges to implementing environmental strategies, such as walkability, aimed at supporting weight healthy lifestyles. Cooperative Exte...

BACKGROUND Practical tools are needed that reliably measure the complex physical activity (PA) and nutrition environments of elementary schools that influence children's health and learning behaviors for obesity prevention. The School Physical Activity and Nutrition-Environment Tool (SPAN-ET) was developed and beta tested in 6 rural Oregon elementa...

Obesity and food insecurity rates are higher among rural compared to non-rural populations. Little is known, however, about how family-home environments influence childhood obesity-related behaviors, particularly in rural settings. This study examined associations between the family-home nutrition (FN) environment, food insecurity, and dietary inta...

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between physical activity (PA, min/school-day) at school and body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) among rural elementary-aged children. Methods: Height (cm), weight (kg), and PA were measured for 1767 children (5-12 years) enrolled in six rural Oregon elementary schools in fall, 2013. PA at school was measured o...

The growing numbers of older adults in the United States will have a significant impact on community resources, which will affect the ability of residents to live and thrive in their local community regardless of age. For this study, we applied explanatory sequential mixed methods and community-based participatory research (CBPR) to discover how at...

Objectives: Associations between family nutrition and physical activity (FNPA) and elementary students' learning behaviors were examined. Methods: Parents (N = 85) of elementary-age students completed a survey about FNPA factors. Children's learning behavior scores, reported as Characteristics of Successful Learning (CSL), were transcribed from sch...

Introduction: The causes of overweight and obesity are multifactorial and include rural residency. For children, the critical importance of the school setting for obesity prevention is well accepted. However, most of the recommended environmental and policy strategies are not applicable to rural school settings. Our purpose was to evaluate physical...

INTRODUCTION. Many risk factors have been associated with being obese, including U.S. rural residency; yet, recommended environmental strategies to prevent obesity are more applicable to non-rural settings. Rural residents report different lived experiences of local food and activity resources, which may relate with obesity risk. Reed and colleague...

We applied the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to develop the Family Stage of Change (FSOC) screening tool. Our goal was to provide practitioners an instrument that measures families’ readiness to change obesity preventing behaviors, in order to optimize family-focused obesity-prevention intervention strategies. We evaluated instrument validity by com...

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality and as such, it is critical that physical activity guidelines for health consider equitable access to physical activity opportunities for all, including those aged 65 years and older. The purpose of this study was to examine the intersections of attributes of older people (e...

The Better Balance, Better Bones, Better Bodies (B-Better . ©) program was developed to disseminate simple home-based strategies to prevent falls and improve functional health of older adults using a train-the-trainer model. Delivered by Family & Community Education Study Group program volunteers, the lesson stresses the importance of a physically...

Elementary schools are key sites for delivering nutrition and physical activity education and promoting healthy behaviors. Most school-based programs model outcomes at the level of the individual and evaluate impacts at the level of changes in students' abilities and behaviors. A public health approach to promoting healthy habits focuses efforts on...

The purpose of this session is to explore the most recent research funded by USDA NIFA in the AFRI Competitive Grants Program Childhood Obesity Prevention. Identifying the latest research and interventions from a variety of perspectives is important to gain a better understanding of the link between nutrition, physical activity and childhood obesit...

Elementary schools are key sites for delivering nutrition and physical activity education and promoting healthy behaviors. Most school-based programs model outcomes at the level of the individual and evaluate impacts at the level of changes in students' abilities and behaviors. A public health approach to promoting healthy habits focuses efforts on...

People across the U.S. and Oregon are aging, which may burden the current individual, family, and community resources. Accessibility, availability, and affordability of place-based resources affects the ability of residents, as they grow older, to continue to live and thrive in their local community. engAGE in Community is a community-campus partne...

The nature of relationships among objectified body consciousness (OBC), a model of physical self-conceptions, and self-reported The nature of relationships among objectified body consciousness (OBC), a model of physical self-conceptions, and self-reported physical activity were examined in a cross-sectional study with U.S. undergraduate women (n = ...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73). Microfiche. s

Typescript (photocopy). Thesis (M.S.)--University of West Florida, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-39).