1. Advancing School and Community Engagement Now for Disease Prevention (ASCEND).
- Author
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Treu, Judith A., Doughty, Kimberly, Reynolds, Jesse S., Njike, Valentine Y., and Katz, David L.
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COMMUNITY involvement , *PREVENTIVE medicine , *PREVENTION of childhood obesity , *HEALTH of school children , *NUTRITION for school children , *SCHOOL children , *PHYSICAL fitness , *ANTHROPOMETRY , *BRONCHODILATOR agents , *CLINICAL trials , *COMPARATIVE studies , *DIET , *EXERCISE , *HEALTH attitudes , *HEALTH behavior , *HEALTH promotion , *RESEARCH methodology , *MEDICAL cooperation , *RESEARCH , *SCHOOL health services , *SOCIOECONOMIC factors , *EVALUATION research , *EDUCATIONAL attainment , *BODY mass index , *CENTRAL nervous system stimulants - Abstract
Purpose: To compare two intensity levels (standard vs. enhanced) of a nutrition and physical activity intervention vs. a control (usual programs) on nutrition knowledge, body mass index, fitness, academic performance, behavior, and medication use among elementary school students.Design: Quasi-experimental with three arms.Setting: Elementary schools, students' homes, and a supermarket.Subjects: A total of 1487 third-grade students.Intervention: The standard intervention (SI) provided daily physical activity in classrooms and a program on making healthful foods, using food labels. The enhanced intervention (EI) provided these plus additional components for students and their families.Measures: Body mass index (zBMI), food label literacy, physical fitness, academic performance, behavior, and medication use for asthma or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Analysis: Multivariable generalized linear model and logistic regression to assess change in outcome measures.Results: Both the SI and EI groups gained less weight than the control (p < .001), but zBMI did not differ between groups (p = 1.00). There were no apparent effects on physical fitness or academic performance. Both intervention groups improved significantly but similarly in food label literacy (p = .36). Asthma medication use was reduced significantly in the SI group, and nonsignificantly (p = .10) in the EI group. Use of ADHD medication remained unchanged (p = .34).Conclusion: The standard intervention may improve food label literacy and reduce asthma medication use in elementary school children, but an enhanced version provides no further benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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