Applying the Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy has the potential to facilitate identification of effective childhood obesity intervention components. This article evaluates the feasibility of coding Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Consortium interventions and compares reliability between external taxonomy-familiar coders and internal intervention-familiar coders. After training, coder pairs independently coded prespecified portions of intervention materials. An adjudication process was used to explore coding discrepancies. Reliability between internal and external coders was moderate (prevalence and bias-adjusted kappa .38 to .55). Reliability for specific target behaviors varied with substantial agreement for physical activity (.63 to .76) and moderate for dietary intake (.44 to .63). Applying the taxonomy to these interventions was feasible, but agreement was modest. Coding discrepancies highlight the importance of refining coding to capture the complexities of childhood obesity interventions, which often engage multiple recipients (e.g., parents and/or children) and address multiple behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, screen time).
To evaluate the impact of a theatre production on smoking-related attitudes, norms, and intentions of children in grades 1–6 (aged 6–12 years).
DESIGN
Seventeen schools were randomly selected among 160 that were participating in the implementation of the theatre production 2 Smart 2 Smoke. Schools that participated in the theatre production after 3 December 1997 were assigned as control schools. Assignment of schools to a given date for the theatre production was a random process. Students in grades 1–6 were surveyed before and after the theatre production and associated activities. The data were examined for pretest–posttest differences and intervention-control differences. The school was the unit of analysis.
SETTING
Elementary schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
PARTICIPANTS
Students in grades 1–6 in 17 elementary schools.
INTERVENTION
Two plays2 Smart 2 Smoke for grades 1–3 (6–8 year olds) and grades 4–6 (9–12 year olds), respectively, with follow-up activities for the classroom and home. A national theatre company performed the plays at the schools.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Intention to smoke in the future, normative expectations about how many people smoke, functional meanings of smoking, expected outcomes of smoking.
RESULTS
10% more students reported that they would never smoke a cigarette after the theatre production. Students in grades 4–6 showed changes in the functional meanings and expected outcomes of smoking. Students in grades 1–3 showed changes in normative expectations.
CONCLUSIONS
Further research on the impact of live theatre productions as a smoking prevention strategy is recommended.
This cross-sectional analysis of the Minnesota Now Everybody Together for Amazing Healthful Kids (NET-Works) study evaluated whether SNAP participation was associated with specific parental feeding styles and child eating behaviors. Associations between parent-reported feeding styles and child eating behaviors and SNAP participation were examined using multiple linear regression analyses and responses from 534 parent/child dyads (49.1% female children, 91.7% female parents). SNAP participation was not associated with specific feeding styles or child eating behaviors when adjusting for food insecurity, timing in SNAP cycle, and other covariates in this large, ethnically and racially diverse sample of predominantly mothers and preschool-aged children. Other factors, such as food insecurity, not SNAP participation, may influence parental feeding and child eating behaviors, and screening by health care providers is recommended.
Social environment risk factors present in schools and communities have not been thoroughly investigated. This study cross-sectionally examined the social environments of schools and communities, and their influence on adolescent alcohol and drug use. Survey responses of eighth grade students (N = 2309), a random half of their parents (n = 943), community leaders (n = 118), school principals (n = 30), school counselors (n = 30) and chemical health providers (n = 14) were pooled to create indices of social environmental norms, role models, social support and opportunities for non-use of alcohol. Each index was examined for its association with prevalences from 30 schools of alcohol use onset, last-month alcohol use, heavy alcohol use and last-year marijuana use in univariate and stepwise regression analyses. Increases in the levels of norms, role models and opportunities for non-use predicted decreases in alcohol use prevalences. The explanatory power of the examined constructs in multivariate analyses was acceptably high (R2: 38-53%). These findings further support the notion that community-wide efforts need to be launched to affect changes in the normative, role model and opportunity structures of adolescents' social environments in order to curb adolescent alcohol and drug use.
Journal Article Community ownership and program continuation following a health demonstration project Get access Neil Bracht, Neil Bracht 1School of Social Work and School of Public Health, University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55454 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar John R. Finnegan, Jr, John R. Finnegan, Jr 2Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55454 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Christopher Rissel, Christopher Rissel 2Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55454 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Rita Weisbrod, Rita Weisbrod 3Department of Sociology, Augsburg CollegeMinneapolis, MN 55455 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Julie Gleason, Julie Gleason 4Detroit Health DepartmentDetroit, MI 48202, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Julia Corbett, Julia Corbett 2Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55454 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Sara Veblen-Mortenson Sara Veblen-Mortenson 2Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55454 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Health Education Research, Volume 9, Issue 2, June 1994, Pages 243–255, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/9.2.243 Published: 01 June 1994 Article history Received: 15 October 1992 Accepted: 20 September 1993 Published: 01 June 1994
Abstract This article describes two major peer leadership components of the first phase of Project Northland, a prevention trial using multilevel community-wide strategies to prevent alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among youth. The intervention programs target Class of 1998 students, and began when they were in sixth grade. Described are (1) two peer leadership interventions implemented when the cohort was in seventh and eighth grades, (2) the students involved with the peer leadership activities, and (3) the association between involvement in peer leadership activities and tendency toward alcohol use following involvement, at the end of seventh and eighth grades. Students were elected by their classmates to lead the seventh grade alcohol use prevention curriculum. In addition, students had the opportunity to volunteer as peer leaders to plan alcohol-free activities during their seventh- and eighth-grade years. At baseline both types of peer leaders generally were lower on measures of problem behaviors. However, following involvement in the seventh grade curriculum, tendency to use alcohol was higher among the elected peer leaders (n = 142) compared with other students in the intervention schools. These findings suggest important issues for future research on the early use of alcohol among social leaders, particularly those involved in prevention programs.
Objective: Project Northland is an ongoing prevention trial with the objective of reducing underage drinking and related problems. Phase I focused on early adolescence and this study describes the multiple interventions, highlighting its parent components. Methods: A cohort design was used with sixth graders from 24 school districts (N = 2,35 1: 97% of the eligible population: 51.3% boys), randomly assigned to intervention or reference condition. Phase I ended in eighth grade (N = 1,901: 81% retention rate). Both demand and supply reduction guided the interventions. This study examined Project Northland's impact using MMPI-A scales assessing clinical problems related to adolescents' alcohol and other drug use (Alcohol/Drug Problems Proneness scale; Alcohol/Drug Problems Acknowledgement scale), as well as MMPI-A scales related to school functioning (Adolescent-School Problems Content scale: Adolescent-Low Aspirations Content scale) and family functioning (Adolescent-Family Problems Content scale). Results: Results showed significant reductions on the MMPI-A Proneness scale for those exposed to the interventions. The greatest program effects were among baseline nonusers of alcohol. Conclusions: Results suggest that the impact of Project Northland is not only on specifically targeted alcohol and drug use behaviors and their predictive factors, but also on intra-individual and familial factors generally considered precursors of more extensive problem behaviors and more resistant to change. Furthermore, the engaging home-based sixth-grade intervention, the Slick Tracy Home Team Program, is a promising population-based prevention approach that may generalize to other serious problems within a young person's family.
Project Northland is a randomized community trial initially implemented in 24 school districts and communities in northeastern Minnesota, with goals of delaying onset and reducing adolescent alcohol use using community-wide, multiyear, multiple interventions. The study targets the Class of 1998 from the 6th to 12th grades (1991-1998). The early adolescent phase of Project Northland has been completed, and reductions in the prevalence of alcohol use at the end of 8th grade were achieved. Phase II of Project Northland, targeting 11th- and 12th-grade students, uses five major strategies: (1) direct action community organizing methods to encourage citizens to reduce underage access to alcohol, (2) youth development involving high school students in youth action teams, (3) print media to support community organizing and youth action initiatives and communicate healthy norms about underage drinking (e.g., providing alcohol to minors is unacceptable), (4) parent education and involvement, and (5) a classroom-based curriculum for 11th-grade students. This article describes the background, design, implementation, and process measures of the intervention strategies for Phase II of Project Northland.
