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130 Findings from formative research for a community education campaign to address childhood obesity in NSW
Findings from formative research for a community education campaign to address childhood obesity in NSW. P. Lucas* &E. Develin NSW Health Department
A common theme emerging from the 2002 NSW Childhood Obesity Summit was the limited awareness within the community of the nature and full extent of childhood obesity and appropriate approaches to improving the physical activity behaviours of children to address this issue. In response, Prevention of Obesity in Children and Young People: NSW Government Action Plan 20032007, includes a commitment to a statewide community education campaign to raise community awareness and understanding of appropriate physical activity behaviours for children. In developing the campaign, qualitative research has been conducted with parents/carers of children aged 5-12 to explore attitudes, behaviours and beliefs regarding childhood obesity and physical activity and specific motivators to address these issues. Findings from the research reveal that parents perception of the required levels of physical activity are relatively vague, with few parents having any real knowledge of appropriate benchmarks for their children. Many parents perceived their children to be- more physically active at school than is often the case and relied heavily on schools to ensure that enough activity occurs. Arange of barriers were identified as preventing children being involved in organised and unorganised physical activity. This presentation will highlight parental perceptions of children's physical activity and sedentary behaviours and show how they helped shape the campaign messages and communication mechanisms. It will also outline the evidence base providing a rationale for the campaign, key campaign components, communication mechanisms and materials, reactions to the campaign messages, the process for implementing the campaign and opportunities for future campaign directions.
Engaging the local community in the development and initiation of the Creating Healthy Adolescent School Environments (CHASE) project
S. Williams* & K. Mummery 1Central Queensland University
Secondary schools provide ideal settings for influencing adolescent physical activity and nutrition behaviours and whilst many physical activity and nutrition interventions have been designed and implemented in schools, their effectiveness and sustainability is dependent upon their appropriateness of fit and thereby dependent upon knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the school environment. The CHASE Project is designed to investigate the inter-relationships of secondary school environments and adolescent physical activity and nutrition behaviours with the aim to build school capacity to implement effective and sustainable school-based interventions for the promotion of adolescent health in relation to physical activity and nutrition. A community-based participatoryaction approach was used to establish and encourage ongoing consultation and negotiation between the research team and school communities in order implement relevant and meaningful interventions in each secondary school. The presentation will highlight the process of engaging the community, the schools and their staff and students in the project. The process involved the comprehensive assessment of each school environment at both individual and setting's levels. This multi-phased assessment process included student focus groups, teacher Delphi surveys, self-report questionnaires and anthropometric measures to identify the perceived and actual needs of the school and its students in terms of health, physical activity and nutrition. Discussion will focus on the establishment of a collaborative model between members of the school community and the research team involved in the assessment of the school environment and initiation of the project.
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A common theme emerging from the 2002 NSW Childhood Obesity Summit was the limited awareness within the community of the nature and full extent of childhood obesity and appropriate approaches to improving the physical activity behaviours of children to address this issue. In response, Prevention of Obesity in Children and Young People: NSW Government Action Plan 20032007, includes a commitment to a statewide community education campaign to raise community awareness and understanding of appropriate physical activity behaviours for children. In developing the campaign, qualitative research has been conducted with parents/carers of children aged 5-12 to explore attitudes, behaviours and beliefs regarding childhood obesity and physical activity and specific motivators to address these issues. Findings from the research reveal that parents perception of the required levels of physical activity are relatively vague, with few parents having any real knowledge of appropriate benchmarks for their children. Many parents perceived their children to be- more physically active at school than is often the case and relied heavily on schools to ensure that enough activity occurs. Arange of barriers were identified as preventing children being involved in organised and unorganised physical activity. This presentation will highlight parental perceptions of children's physical activity and sedentary behaviours and show how they helped shape the campaign messages and communication mechanisms. It will also outline the evidence base providing a rationale for the campaign, key campaign components, communication mechanisms and materials, reactions to the campaign messages, the process for implementing the campaign and opportunities for future campaign directions.
Engaging the local community in the development and initiation of the Creating Healthy Adolescent School Environments (CHASE) project
S. Williams* & K. Mummery 1Central Queensland University
Secondary schools provide ideal settings for influencing adolescent physical activity and nutrition behaviours and whilst many physical activity and nutrition interventions have been designed and implemented in schools, their effectiveness and sustainability is dependent upon their appropriateness of fit and thereby dependent upon knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the school environment. The CHASE Project is designed to investigate the inter-relationships of secondary school environments and adolescent physical activity and nutrition behaviours with the aim to build school capacity to implement effective and sustainable school-based interventions for the promotion of adolescent health in relation to physical activity and nutrition. A community-based participatoryaction approach was used to establish and encourage ongoing consultation and negotiation between the research team and school communities in order implement relevant and meaningful interventions in each secondary school. The presentation will highlight the process of engaging the community, the schools and their staff and students in the project. The process involved the comprehensive assessment of each school environment at both individual and setting's levels. This multi-phased assessment process included student focus groups, teacher Delphi surveys, self-report questionnaires and anthropometric measures to identify the perceived and actual needs of the school and its students in terms of health, physical activity and nutrition. Discussion will focus on the establishment of a collaborative model between members of the school community and the research team involved in the assessment of the school environment and initiation of the project.
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