Project Plans FY09

Tween POWER - Preventing Obesity through Wise Expenditures of Resources

Project Leader: Jean Anliker

Project Year: 2009

Brief Description

Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades for children aged 6-19.  Many factors at the individual, family and environmental levels contribute to this trend, including the prevalence of low-cost, high-calorie foods and beverages readily available in stores and fast food restaurants. At the same time, marketers for these products are spending billions of dollars to appeal to young audiences, who are just beginning to make their own decisions in the marketplace. 

Unfortunately, obesity education and prevention programs that target adolescents have traditionally shown only limited success. Extension professionals at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are therefore working with Nutrition and Public Health faculty on an innovative approach to promote healthy eating and physical activity using the context of power. Adolescents identify sources of power in their lives and through discussions come to recognize that good health is the source of all power. When they exert their power (e.g. by spending time or money), they can make choices that bring power back to them in the form of strength or nutrition; the choices are theirs. Each of the session includes hands-on learning experiences, music and physical activity, simple recipes and foods to taste, and group discussions for discovery and fun.

Tween POWER has included:

1. Interviews and focus groups with western Massachusetts adolescents to learn about lifestyle habits and what would make a fun and effective after-school program
2. Developing and pilot testing the SPIN (Strength and Power In Nutrition) dialogue-based curriculum (including an original theme song, written, performed, and recorded by adolescents). SPIN is grounded in health behavior theories and is the first curriculum  based on a commercial marketing model designed for adolescents.
3. Testing the program to see if SPIN makes a difference in adolescents' diets, physical activities, and consumer decisions.

Tween Power is now in the final phase which entails analyzing outcome data, preparing manuscripts for publication, developing a SPIN website, and disseminating the program.

Activities

• Research on the impacts this program has on adolescent behavior
• Professional presentation
• Provide leadership and administrative oversight for the Tween POWER Project; collect, analyze, and publish impact data
• SPIN website

Inputs: Time and Effort

This project is a part of the Nutrition Education Program