Field Placement: Physical Activity Promotion and Obesity Prevention
Location : UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences
Preceptor: Dr. Antronette Yancey & Dr. William McCarthy
Student Name: Constance Gewa
Year: 2002

The prevalence of obesity trends among adults in the United States has increased from 12.0% in 1990 to 19.8% in 2000, with the African-Americans and Hispanics bearing a disproportionately higher proportion of those reported to be overweight. Due to these trends, strategies and programs for weight maintenance and weight reduction have become a higher public health priority among these particular populations. My internship involved working with Drs. Yancey and Bill McCarthy, a team of two researchers based at the School of Public Health, UCLA. The two researchers have had a long experience working in nutrition, physical activity promotion and obesity prevention intervention and research area and the aim of my internship was to develop research, writing and interpretive skills pertaining to nutrition and physical activity data among the underserved communities of color in Los Angeles area. The internship involved working with both primary and secondary data. The study settings included worksites and schools with the subjects being worksites, worksite employees, and middle and high school children.

There were two worksite-based studies namely the "Worksite Check" and the "Lift Off!!" study. The "Worksite Check" is a survey evaluating organizational policy and practice changes resulting from nutrition and physical activity promotion at twenty worksites within Los Angeles area. Survey focus areas included nutrition, physical activity, screening and administrative support with assessment methods being key informant interviews and on-site observations. The "Lift Off!! study is a survey evaluating the effect of integrated staff meeting exercise breaks on the general well-being of Los Angeles County employees. The survey focus areas included stress, depression, concentration levels and physical activity levels both at home and at work. The study involved 443 participants. "Worksite check" involved the collection of primary data while the "Lift Off!!" study involved the use of secondary data.

The internship also involved working with data from two school-based studies. One study assessed study assessed the food consumption patterns and nutrition content of foods and beverages offered in 23 middle and high school cafeterias in Los Angeles Unified School District. The study's data sources were the daily breakfast and lunch menu items, which were collected from each school for a period of one month. The second school-based study assessed the effect of a community based nutrition and physical education curriculum on the physical fitness and healthful food consumption among 6th graders in two Los Angeles low-income middle schools. Two schools were randomized to a conventional physical education (control) and to a culturally tailored, community-based enhanced physical education curriculum (experimental). The primary outcome of interest was to reduce the proportion of students at risk of overweight while the secondary outcomes included reducing one-mile run/walk time and improving indices of cardiovascular fitness.

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