Six South Dakota counties with adult obesity rates surpassing 40% witnessed the establishment of community-based wellness coalitions through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity High Obesity Program. Rural, underserved communities were tasked by the community coalitions to enhance access to nutritious foods and safe, accessible venues for physical activity. Cooperative Extension staff, possessing established rapport with essential community figures, established coalitions and recruited members. To successfully oversee and implement the projects, leaders were determined within these collaborative groups. Community coalitions benefited from the continuous support and technical assistance of Cooperative Extension staff as they conducted a community needs assessment, disseminated the results, developed action plans rooted in the findings, implemented evidence-based interventions to improve nutrition and physical activity policies, systems, and environments, and finally, evaluated the impact of their efforts in the local community. The project methodology, which purposefully uses Cooperative Extension to build capacity, is the focus of this article, demonstrating its efficacy in improving nutrition and physical activity environments in unserved rural areas. acute hepatic encephalopathy The sustainability of this work, along with the valuable lessons gleaned, are also addressed.
Rural American communities, especially those in the South, see a substantial decrease in the use of walking and cycling for both leisure and commuting. A comprehensive community-level evaluation of walking and cycling habits and opinions is the purpose of this study, focusing on adults in Hardeman County, TN participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's High Obesity Program. A study involving 634 adults utilized telephone interviews and online surveys to explore walking and cycling habits, opinions, and perspectives on the built environment. The 2002 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior is where the questions originated. The study subjects were classified as walkers, cyclists, or a combination of both. Chi-square and logistic regression were integral components of the data analysis. Among the adults residing in this county, a notable 672 percent engaged in walking, while 162 percent participated in cycling. After the age of fifty, a trend emerged in which both types of active lifestyle tended to decrease. Younger ages, two-person households, positive perceived health, and the feeling that walking benefited them were all linked to the practice of walking. Age was the singular predictor of cycling activity. Walking or cycling in their neighborhoods was perceived by the majority of people as a safe activity. Roads and the areas next to them provided the most common terrain for walking. Social support, along with intrinsic motivators, may play a role in the prevalence of walking and bicycling in rural areas. Rural programs aiming to increase walking and cycling participation should incorporate social support systems, design routes that feel safe and encouraging, and enhance destinations that promote physical activity.
Community wellness coalitions are vital to the functioning of program infrastructure, proving effective in promoting policy, systems, and environmental changes, most notably when combined with the technical expertise of a community leader or Extension staff. Long-lasting behavioral modifications rely heavily on PSE strategies, yet their implementation frequently presents difficulties. The organization Extension, established and well-equipped, has the potential to help the community overcome these challenges. This article aimed to uncover and elaborate upon the experiences of Extension staff in their roles as community coaches.
A mixed-methods strategy was implemented to evaluate the influence of Extension staff working with Community Champions. The strategy included a quantitative Extension Coaching Confidence Scorecard and interviews with key extension informants.
A marked enhancement in the Extension Coaching Confidence score was observed between the pre- and post-intervention periods, escalating from 551 ± 353 to 817 ± 377.
The variables exhibited a statistically meaningful link, marked by a correlation of .03. Extension staff identified five facilitators and two barriers to wellness coalition development.
Analysis of the results from this study indicates the effectiveness of the community coaching model in relation to the core tenets of the Component Model of Infrastructure (CMI). Further development of CMI Extension staff through extensive training, coupled with essential technical support, is vital for building capacity, achieving results, and ensuring sustainability.
Individuals pursuing a career change into PSE occupations require focused training in CMI and evidence-backed technical assistance approaches. Practitioners must acknowledge the crucial function of community champions in the pursuit of PSE. Consistent use of the Extension Coaching Confidence Scorecard helps to identify and address the changing needs in training programs.
To facilitate transitions to PSE work, comprehensive training in CMI and evidence-based technical assistance approaches should be offered. For practitioners engaged in PSE work, the significance of community champions must be acknowledged. To understand evolving training needs, the Extension Coaching Confidence Scorecard must be completed periodically.
Farmers' markets frequently host incentive programs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, focusing on healthy foods, to encourage improved purchasing and consumption of fruits and vegetables. Varied program contexts, implementation strategies, and participant demographics contribute to a gap in knowledge concerning the most successful healthy food incentive program implementations, and insufficient research has examined the perspectives of farmers market vendors. The experiences of farmers market vendors participating in the Northwest Arkansas Double Your Dollars (NWA DYD) healthy food incentive program, which sought to increase access to healthy foods for low-income Hispanic/Latino and Marshallese community members, were a key focus of this study. The three largest participating markets of NWA DYD on the concluding Saturday of October 2021 served as the venue for collecting data from vendors who were readily available. In order to collect quantitative, categorical, and open-ended data, program staff conducted face-to-face surveys. Following the survey process, forty-one vendors submitted their responses. Vendors utilizing NWA DYD reported an expansion of their customer base, including significant participation from Hispanic/Latino and Marshallese shoppers, finding it beneficial and easy to use. Vendors encountered significant roadblocks to participation, specifically related to the administrative processes and reimbursement delays. Vendors did not cite NWA DYD as the reason for boosting production in the coming agricultural season. The implications of NWA DYD vendors' involvement in healthy food incentive programs extend beyond the immediate context. A significant step in promoting the consumption of fresh, healthy foods amongst low-income communities with high rates of chronic disease is to improve their access to farmers' markets through efficient healthy food incentive programs.
The background setting. Physical activity initiatives are crucial interventions for preventing chronic diseases, minimizing the risk of cardiovascular ailments, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, and enhancing brain health. Past initiatives emphasizing physical fitness lacked the necessary scope to meet the needs of the broader community, failing to integrate movement into the daily lives of their subjects. Physical activity, even in small increments, such as through active travel, can contribute substantially to a better quality of life and longer lifespan. Innovative in its application, this approach. Utah agencies, in pursuit of increasing active transportation, are working across different sectors to integrate physical activity into everyday life, a critical approach to addressing this substantial public health problem. Human-powered travel is a vital element in designing communities that encourage healthy behaviors and overall health, key to healthy communities. KB-0742 manufacturer The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) created meaningful relationships with its partners to drive active transportation. Summarized experiences and recommended strategies. Methods for public health, transportation, and planning agencies to work together more effectively, promoting physical activity for everyone, are detailed in this article. DHHS emphasizes the necessity of cooperative public health data sharing between state agencies, ensuring underrepresented communities are included in community feedback, and promoting joint projects that connect public health with transportation planning.
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and American Samoa, two small Pacific island nations, demonstrate unacceptably high noncommunicable disease (NCD) mortality rates, ranking among the world's highest. Practice management medical Church leaders in American Samoa, Chuuk, and Kosrae supported a nutrition intervention targeting obesity, focusing on healthy beverages like water and coconut water as a key component in church events. Water and coconut water consumption was monitored. At 105 church events, spread across three jurisdictions, a significant reduction in water bottles was noted. Initially, 1428 water bottles were present, decreasing to just 223 after each event. Correspondingly, coconuts decreased from 196 to 12, and cups of water saw a decline from 529 to 76. Healthy beverage promotion within Pacific churches appears a promising, accessible, and culturally suited nutritional strategy, given the constraint in readily available nutritious alternatives, for instance, fresh fruits and vegetables.