UA Engages in Intervention Pilot Program for Childhood Obesity

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Faculty from The University of Alabama and community members from Alabama’s Black Belt region have been awarded $45,000 to support a childhood obesity prevention plan through Project UNITED’s Intervention Pilot Program.

The project will run through June 2015.

UA faculty members on the project are Dr. Linda Knol, associate professor in the department of human nutrition and hospitality management; Dr. Sheila Black, associate professor of psychology; and Dr. Harriet Myers, associate professor and clinical psychologist in UA’s College of Community Health Sciences.

Community members are Debra Clark, founder of the Health and Wellness Educational Center in Livingston; Darlene Robinson, a community health advocate in Eutaw; and Yawah Awolowa, founder of Mahalah Farm in Cuba, Alabama.

The project will focus on the home environment of children between 2 and 5 living in Greene and Sumter counties.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one-fourth of all children in these counties are obese. The study first will use questionnaires to better understand the many aspects of the home environment as it relates to eating behaviors.

With this information and previous intervention research as a guide, the research team will develop and implement a home-based, multi-generational program intended to teach eating mindfulness to children and their caretakers.

The funding has been awarded through Project UNITED (Using New Interventions Together to Eliminate Disparities), a program that was developed by UA faculty and staff in partnership with the Black Belt Community Foundation to promote community-based participatory research to reduce and eliminate health disparities in Alabama’s Black Belt, a region named for its dark, rich soil.

Project UNITED is supported by a planning grant from the Community Based Participatory Research program of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

UA’s department of human nutrition and hospitality management is part of the College of Human Environmental Sciences, and the department of psychology is part of the College of Arts and Sciences.