Identifying Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in a Low-income Community in South-western Kansas

Identifying Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in a Low-income Community in South-western Kansas PDF Author: Janavi Kumar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Obesity in adolescence is associated with a complex web of ecological, psychosocial, and physiological factors, and many of these factors relate to nutrition and physical activity behaviors. Before interventions are developed, researchers need to know what factors specifically influence an adolescent's food choices and physical activity within the community context. Cultural norms, school environment, and neighborhood attributes are examples of factors that may vary across different communities, and accounting for this variation can be quite challenging, unless community perspectives are acknowledged. The use of qualitative data from focus groups has shown to be an effective way of gathering community perspectives about the diversity of their views and experiences. The current study used focus groups to reveal facilitators and barriers to healthy eating behavior and physical activity engagement in 6th to 8th grade youth in a low-income community in South-Western Kansas. This methodology enabled community members (adolescents, parents, and teachers) to discuss and articulate their perceptions in relation to 6th to 8th grade youth's eating habits and physical activity, and assessed available resources, needs, and opportunities for developing effective and sustainable intervention approaches in the community. Using the socio-ecological model, individual influences (e.g., taste preferences), social influences (e.g., parent and peer influences), and larger contextual influences (e.g., school) on early adolescent health were assessed. This information will be used to develop interventions addressing factors at these different levels of influence that are needed to improve eating habits and physical activity of youth in the community.

Identifying Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in a Low-income Community in South-western Kansas

Identifying Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in a Low-income Community in South-western Kansas PDF Author: Janavi Kumar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Obesity in adolescence is associated with a complex web of ecological, psychosocial, and physiological factors, and many of these factors relate to nutrition and physical activity behaviors. Before interventions are developed, researchers need to know what factors specifically influence an adolescent's food choices and physical activity within the community context. Cultural norms, school environment, and neighborhood attributes are examples of factors that may vary across different communities, and accounting for this variation can be quite challenging, unless community perspectives are acknowledged. The use of qualitative data from focus groups has shown to be an effective way of gathering community perspectives about the diversity of their views and experiences. The current study used focus groups to reveal facilitators and barriers to healthy eating behavior and physical activity engagement in 6th to 8th grade youth in a low-income community in South-Western Kansas. This methodology enabled community members (adolescents, parents, and teachers) to discuss and articulate their perceptions in relation to 6th to 8th grade youth's eating habits and physical activity, and assessed available resources, needs, and opportunities for developing effective and sustainable intervention approaches in the community. Using the socio-ecological model, individual influences (e.g., taste preferences), social influences (e.g., parent and peer influences), and larger contextual influences (e.g., school) on early adolescent health were assessed. This information will be used to develop interventions addressing factors at these different levels of influence that are needed to improve eating habits and physical activity of youth in the community.

Healthy Food Access and Policy

Healthy Food Access and Policy PDF Author: Alexsis Stensland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Accessing healthy food can be a challenge for people living in both rural and urban environments. A broad range of factors influences one's food security, including the accessibility and affordability of food retailers, travel time to shopping, availability of healthy foods, and food prices. The connections between planning and food systems have begun to emerge and be examined but planners face many barriers when tackling food system issues that range from turf problems, a lack of knowledge that any problem exists, to a lack of funds. The study purposes were to 1) identify areas with low access to healthy food sources; 2) discover barriers and perceptions of healthy food accessibility among community members; and 3) explore current planning policies and practices for increasing healthy food accessibility. The study area of this case is Riley County, Kansas, which has lower food accessibility especially to health foods in low income areas located in urban neighborhoods, even though rural areas are further away from a healthy food store. The research has the potential to inform the local food system framework and provide guidance for local policy makers and stakeholder groups. Surveys were collected from 150 households in order to identify challenges and barriers respondents face when obtaining healthy food. Food prices and low income were the largest barriers survey respondents faced when obtaining healthy food. Interviews conducted among 6 individuals from planning offices, market, and community stakeholder groups and both urban and rural issues were discussed. Currently, there is understanding of the importance of healthy food but little action that follows. There are opportunities for planners and policy makers to get involved with planning for the local food system. Partnerships must be established to share resources and technical skills among stakeholders in order to plan for healthy community food systems.

Perceived Influences on Physical Activity and Diet in Rural, Low-income Adults

Perceived Influences on Physical Activity and Diet in Rural, Low-income Adults PDF Author: Betty L. Kaiser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description


Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight

Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309294762
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 133

Get Book Here

Book Description
Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine's Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention in June 2013 to examine income, race, and ethnicity, and how these factors intersect with childhood obesity and its prevention. Registered participants, along with viewers of a simultaneous webcast of the workshop, heard a series of presentations by researchers, policy makers, advocates, and other stakeholders focused on health disparities associated with income, race, ethnicity, and other characteristics and on how these factors intersect with obesity and its prevention. The workshop featured invited presentations and discussions concerning physical activity, healthy food access, food marketing and messaging, and the roles of employers, health care professionals, and schools. The IOM 2012 report Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention acknowledged that a variety of characteristics linked historically to social exclusion or discrimination, including race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, age, mental health, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, geographic location, and immigrant status, can thereby affect opportunities for physical activity, healthy eating, health care, work, and education. In many parts of the United States, certain racial and ethnic groups and low-income individuals and families live, learn, work, and play in places that lack health-promoting resources such as parks, recreational facilities, high-quality grocery stores, and walkable streets. These same neighborhoods may have characteristics such as heavy traffic or other unsafe conditions that discourage people from walking or being physically active outdoors. The combination of unhealthy social and environmental risk factors, including limited access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity, can contribute to increased levels of chronic stress among community members, which have been linked to increased levels of sedentary activity and increased calorie consumption. Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight focuses on the key obesity prevention goals and recommendations outlined in Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention through the lens of health equity. This report explores critical aspects of obesity prevention, while discussing potential future research, policy, and action that could lead to equity in opportunities to achieve a healthy weight.

The Local Food Environment and Its Association with Obesity Among Low-income Women Across the Urban-rural Continuum

The Local Food Environment and Its Association with Obesity Among Low-income Women Across the Urban-rural Continuum PDF Author: Paula Brigid Ford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
The prevalence of obesity within the U.S. has risen dramatically in the past thirty years. Recent changes in food and physical activity environments may contribute to increased obesity prevalence, suggesting that disparities in these environments may be linked to the increased risk of obesity observed in low-income, and racial/ethnic minority women. This dissertation characterizes the local food environment experienced by low-income women who participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Kansas, evaluates whether characteristics of the local food environment contribute to obesity risk, and examines how these relationships vary across the urban-rural continuum. Chapter One reviews the relevant literature examining the association between obesity and local food environments, and identifies three testable hypotheses that serve as the framework for later chapters. Chapter Two characterizes the local food environment and examines geographic, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in the availability of small grocery stores and supermarkets. Chapter Three examines the association between store availability and obesity risk at an individual level among participants in the WIC Program, while Chapter Four utilizes multi-level modeling to examine the relationships between tract deprivation, tract store availability and body mass index (BMI). Significant geographic disparities were observed in the availability of small grocery and supermarkets. Racial and ethnic disparities observed within tracts were not observed when examining store availability in a 1-mile radius around the residence of WIC mothers. The majority of women participating in the WIC program resided within a 1-mile radius of a small grocery store, and micropolitan and metropolitan WIC mothers had a multiplicity of food stores available within a 3-mile radius of residence. Food store availability was associated with increased obesity risk only in micropolitan areas. The availability of food stores did not mediate the association between tract deprivation and BMI, which varied across the urban-rural continuum. Overall, these results suggest that the relationship between local food environments and eating behaviors is complex, that limited store availability does not contribute to increased obesity risk in vulnerable populations, and that the association between local food environments and obesity risk varies across the urban-rural continuum.

Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences

Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences PDF Author: Michele Ver Ploeg
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437921345
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 directed the U.S. Dept. of Agr. to conduct a 1-year study to assess the extent of areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, identify characteristics and causes of such areas, consider how limited access affects local populations, and outline recommend. to address the problem. This report presents the findings of the study, which include results from two conferences of national and internat. authorities on food deserts and a set of research studies. It also includes reviews of existing literature, a national-level assessment of access to large grocery stores and supermarkets, analysis of the economic and public health effects of limited access, and a discussion of existing policy interventions. Illus.

Low-income Women's Barriers to Engaging in Physical Activity for Health Benefits

Low-income Women's Barriers to Engaging in Physical Activity for Health Benefits PDF Author: Roberta E. Hoebeke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description


Obesity, Physical Activity and Nutrition in Kansas

Obesity, Physical Activity and Nutrition in Kansas PDF Author: Kansas. Bureau of Health Promotion
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Obesity
Languages : en
Pages : 89

Get Book Here

Book Description
The 2013 Obesity, Physical Activity and Nutrition in Kansas report summarizes the current status of overweight/obesity, physical activity, and nutrition in Kansas, including the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults and youth; the prevalence of concurrent obesity among adults with chronic health conditions and the prevalence of selected chronic health conditions among obese adults; the prevalence of physical activity and nutrition behaviors among adults and youth; and data on selected policy and environment supports for physical activity and nutrition.

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Settings

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Settings PDF Author: Jean L. Wiecha
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119045681
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
The evidence base of the impact and effectiveness of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in the out-of-school setting is continuing to emerge. By sponsoring this special issue, the National AfterSchool Association provides a platform for the sharing of a range of research studies that can inform and shape current discussion of best policies and practices to support child and youth wellness. The body of work presented in this issue adds considerably to our knowledge of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in out-of-school programs, and highlights the substantial contribution towards childhood obesity prevention that we envision from our field. This is the 143rd volume of New Directions for Youth Development, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series dedicated to bringing together everyone concerned with helping young people, including scholars, practitioners, and people from different disciplines and professions.