FINAL_HCS_SSA_ATTACH 11_KI BROCHURE_Jan 2013

SSA ATTACHMENT 11

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES STUDY

Healthy Communities Study

Brochure for Key Informants

FRONT COVER

Headline:

The Healthy Communities Study

Your opportunity to help improve the health of America’s children

BACK COVER

Headline:

Why Your Participation Is Essential

YOU are a critical link to your community and the activities happening at the grassroots level to keep children healthy.

By sharing your experience with community programs and policies that improve nutrition and increase physical activity, you can help us understand how best to address the growing public health problem of childhood obesity.

The knowledge and experience you share could help children in your community and across the country improve their health for many years to come.

INSIDE

Headline:

A Landmark Study That Could Improve The Health of America’s Children

Body Copy:

About 17% of all children are obese, and the percentages are even higher among some minority groups.

Communities are responding with programs and policies designed to improve nutrition and increase physical activity among children and youth.

Some of these activities appear to be making a difference.

However, we don’t yet know “what works” —the types and combinations of community programs and policies that make a difference – and this information would be of great value to community leaders and families.

The Healthy Communities Study is the first national study designed to explore ”what works” at the community level.

This first-of-its kind study could improve the health of our country’s children.

How The Study Will Work

We’ve selected a representative sample of 264 communities with over 21,000 children (in Kindergarten through eighth grade) across the country to participate in this study. Communities and individual families within communities will participate. The study team will collect data from different sources including interviews with community leaders.

You were selected for an interview. We would like to ask you questons about your community’s programs and policies related to diet and physical activity.

The study team will also gather information in other ways:

1) observations of community and school environments;

2) interviews with parents about their children’s nutritional and physical activity habits; and

3) measures of the children’s past and current height and weight.

By collecting and analyzing past and current data, we will be able to track the relationship between community programs and policies, children’s diet and physical activity, and children’s height and weight within and across communities over time.

Your Participation Is Essential

You know better than anyone else what is happening in your organization (and community) to tackle the problem of obesity and the challenges and successes you’re having. This is why your participation is so important.

Your input is critical to gathering an accurate picture of what types of community programs and policies can make a difference in children’s eating habits and physical activity levels.

Once completed, the study’s findings can inform the decisions made by local leaders and policy makers, including those in YOUR local area.

How You Were Selected For This Study

You have been selected because of your role and responsibilities in your community.

What You Will Receive For Participating

If you agree to take part in the study, you’ll receive a small gift as a “thank you” for your time.

What Happens Next

If you agree to participate, someone from our study team will call to arrange an interview with you at your convenience about your organization’s involvement in preventing obesity in children. The interview will be conducted either in-person at your place of business when possible, or over the phone.

The discussion will focus on ways local programs and policies – including those you are involved with – are related to nutrition and physical activity in children. The interview should take between one hour and one hour and thirty minutes .

Please welcome the call from our study team when they contact you!

We look forward to speaking with you and learning more about your organization’s activities.

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Meet The Study Team For The Healthy Communities Study

The Healthy Communities Study is funded by several National Institutes of Health (NIH) institutes. These include the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Health and Human Development, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are collaborators in this study.

Battelle Memorial Institute, the world’s largest independent scientific organization, is carrying out the study under contract to the NIH. Battelle has formed the following research team to focus on different aspects of the study:

University of California at Berkeley researchers will be responsible for the nutrition aspects of the study. University of South Carolina researchers will be responsible for the physical activity and sedentary behavior aspects of the study. University of Kansas team members will assess the programs and policies of the communities under study. Battelle researchers will conduct the interviews with community leaders and with the families, and coordinate methods, instruments, training, data analysis, and dissemination of results.

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