UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER NOTES
"Promoting Health Through Physical Activity"

Greetings from the faculty and staff in the USC Prevention Research Center. Last week we were in Hilton Head, South Carolina for the 7th Annual Physical Activity and Public Health Post-Graduate Courses. Over 50 fellows from the US and abroad met with leaders in the field to discuss innovative strategies for personal, social, environmental, and policy interventions for physical activity. We thank all faculty and fellows who traveled to the East Coast for the course during this difficult time in our country's history. We give many thanks to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their ongoing support, and I hope you can join us next year in Park City, Utah for our 8th annual course!

Barbara Ainsworth, Director
Dennis Shepard, Deputy Director
Delores Pluto, Newsletter Editor (dmpluto@sc.edu)
http://prevention.sph.sc.edu

IN THIS ISSUE: August/September 2001

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Physical Fitness of Cities, Surgeon General Walks to School

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON: Prevention Funding

RESEARCH NOTES: Physical Activity Counseling in Primary Care Settings, Environmental Factors Associated with Community Trail Use, Effective PE - Teacher Type And Lesson Location

REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, RESOURCES: New Community Design, CDC CVD Conference, Bright Futures in Practice, School Health Policies and Programs Study

PROMOTING ACTIVE COMMUNITIES: Golden Shoes, GA Safe Routes to School

UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS: Whistler 2001 Rescheduled, Healthy People 2010, El Tour Health, Safety and Education Conference, Adolescent and School Health, Physical Activity and Disability

USC PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER UPDATE: Research Updates, New Projects

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NEWS YOU CAN USE

"PHYSICAL FITNESS OF CITIES: Vision and Ethics in City Building" is an international exhibition being held in conjunction with the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Physical Fitness of Cities is a cultural program, which will highlight state-of-the-art practice in city building from cities throughout the world. This exhibition will feature built projects representing new standards of resourceful design, ethical practice and far-reaching vision to create, transform, and repair human settlements. The exhibit will be open from February 1, 2002 through March 30, 2002. For more information on the project, sponsorship, or making submissions, visit http://www.fitcities.org/english/about.htm.

SURGEON GENERAL WALKS TO SCHOOL: Dr. David Satcher will join the National Walk Our Children to School Day scheduled for October 2, 2001, by kicking off the event with remarks and interviews--and walking children to East Silver Spring Elementary, Silver Spring, Maryland. Last years events included over two million walkers from 47 states. This year's numbers are expected to far exceed the previous years' as students, parents, and leaders join together on their communities' streets to advocate for a more walkable America--one community at a time. The event is sponsored by the Partnership for a Walkable America in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation. For materials, ideas for successful events from veteran communities and links to more resources, go to http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON

PREVENTION FUNDING: Because of the recent tragic events in New York and DC, Congress has focused on providing funds for recovery efforts and defense; the regular appropriations process is on hold. It is unclear when the Labor/Health and Human Services/Education Appropriations bill is likely to be taken up by the House Appropriations committee. This bill covers CDC and NIH funding. Cuts to CDC's chronic disease prevention program and the Preventive Health Block Grant were being considered prior to the attacks, and seem even more likely now.

RESEARCH NOTES

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY COUNSELING IN PRIMARY CARE SETTINGS: A randomized controlled trial, based in 11 primary care facilities, compared the effects of physical activity counseling interventions on fitness and physical activity changes over a 2 year period. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive 1 of the following 3 interventions: 1) Advice -- advice from physicians plus written material provided by a health educator, 2) Assistance -- advice plus the addition of interactive mail and behavioral counseling from the physician, and 3) Counseling -- assistance plus additional telephone counseling and behavioral classes. All three methods worked equally well in significantly increasing physical activity among men and women. Among women only, the Assistance and Counseling interventions resulted in greater improvements in fitness (VO2max) at 2 years compared to the Advice group. See The Writing Group for the Activity Counseling Trial, "Effects of Physical Activity Counseling in Primary Care: The Activity Counseling Trial: A Randomized Controlled Trial." Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(6):677-687, 2001.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH COMMUNITY TRAIL USE: A cross-sectional community survey was conducted among residents living in proximity to a community bikeway (rail-trail) that assessed physical activity levels, bikeway use, environmental barriers, and community characteristics. While no differences existed in the perceived physical environment between users and non-users of the trail, trail use was associated with age, gender, distance to the bikeway, steep hills, and busy streets. These findings provide support for the consideration of environmental barriers when planning community trails to promote physically active lifestyles. See Troped, Saunders, et al. "Associations Between Self-Reported and Objective Physical Environmental Factors and Use of a Community Rail-Trail." Preventive Medicine, 32:191-200, 2001.

EFFECTIVE PE - TEACHER TYPE AND LESSON LOCATION: This paper addresses the effectiveness of a 2.5 year school-based PE and professional development program, and compares the effect of teacher type (PE specialists vs. classroom teachers) and lesson location (indoors vs. outdoors). The intervention resulted in a significant increase in the percent of lesson time spent being physically active, with most gains due to modified activity selections and instructional methods. Although classroom teachers showed the greatest improvements in class time spent physically active, PE specialists provided more opportunities for in-class physical activity and required less on-site consultation time. The intervention also resulted in improved PA time across lesson locations (outdoors due to increased walking time and indoors due to increased lesson time). The authors conclude that future efforts to implement standardized PE curriculum should address issues such as the previous education of teachers and local school characteristics such as lesson location. See McKenzie, et al. "Effects of the CATCH Physical Education Intervention: Teacher Type and Lesson Location." American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 21(2):101-109, 2001.

For additional summaries of recent research on promoting physical activity in communities, go to http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.

REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, RESOURCES

NEW COMMUNITY DESIGN: The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices recently published "New Community Design to the Rescue: Fulfilling Another American Dream." This report explains how states and communities can encourage New Community Design (mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable development that is distinctly different from sprawl) by eliminating institutional barriers in the marketplace. Offering distinct alternatives to the developmental "sprawl" that has dominated real estate growth over the last 50 years, New Community Design offers vibrant neighborhoods of housing, parks, and schools within walking distance to shops, civic services, jobs, and transit. The report is available in its entirety at http://www.nga.org.

CDC CVD CONFERENCE: Almost 400 public health professionals from across the US participated in the First National CDC Prevention Conference on Heart Disease and Stroke on August 22-24, 2001, in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was co-sponsored by the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and featured sessions in support of the theme, "Building and Expanding State-Based Comprehensive Cardiovascular Health Programs." Many presenters emphasized the need to focus on policy and environmental interventions to promote physical activity and good nutrition. Abstracts from all sessions were published in a special issue of Preventive Medicine, August 2001, Vol. 33, No. 2.

"BRIGHT FUTURES IN PRACTICE: Physical Activity" is a new guide published by the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH). The guide provides information for health professionals to screen and assess the physical activity levels of infants, children, and adolescents and to provide guidance on physical activity to families. The document can be ordered or downloaded from http://www.brightfutures.org/physicalactivity/resources.html. On this same web site, NCEMCH also has added a knowledge path called Physical Activity and Children. The knowledge path contains links to resources including a bibliography of journal articles, books, and other publications.

SCHOOL HEALTH POLICIES AND PROGRAMS STUDY (SHPPS): Results from the 2000 SHPPS are published in the September issue of the Journal of School Health (volume 71, issue 7). SHPPS 2000 looked at elementary, middle/junior, and high school policies at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. Fact sheets are available on the web at www.cdc.gov/shpps. To obtain copies of ASCII, SAS, or SPSS datasets from the study, contact Healthy Youth, P.O. Box 8817, Silver Spring, MD 20907; Telephone: (888) 231-6405, Fax: (888) 282-7681 or e-mail HealthyYouth@cdc.gov.

PROMOTING ACTIVE COMMUNITIES

GOLDEN SHOES: In May, Cambridge Walks hid 100 Golden Shoes where people walk throughout the city of Cambridge. The specially marked shoes were turned in for a free pair of walking shoes and a chance to win a Walking Shopping Spree of Cambridge. The event served as a catalyst for the city, citizens, employers, and health care providers to talk about and encourage walking toward better health. For more information on the event, contact the Cambridge Public Health Department, 617-665-3834.

GA SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL: The Georgia State Transportation Board resolved to support a "Safe Routes to Schools" pilot program in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties. In a resolution presented to the North Georgia Bicycle Dealers Association and Citizens for Livable DeKalb, the Board pledged to direct more financial and staff resources towards programs to increase the use of non-motorized modes of transportation for students to and from schools and to make those routes safer. For more information, contact Fred Boykin, North Georgia Bicycle Dealers Association, at 404-636-4444 or Allison Adams, Citizens for a Livable DeKalb, at 404-727-5269.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

WHISTLER 2001 RESCHEDULED: The "Communicating Physical Activity Messages" conference that was to be held Sept. 26-29 has been postponed because of travel difficulties. The conference has been rescheduled for Dec. 9-11, 2001. Updates will be posted soon on the conference website, http://www.participation.com.

HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: The 2001 Annual Consortium Meeting, Creating Change with Healthy People 2010, will be held on October 19, 2001, in Atlanta, GA. During the morning plenary session, participants will hear how Consortium members are creating change in States, businesses, communities, government agencies, and international organizations. With more than 30 breakout sessions, the Consortium meeting will cover a wide variety of Healthy People topics and offer many opportunities for learning, networking, and sharing. Regular registration ends October 5, 2001, and is limited to 500 people. To register on line, view the agenda, or for more information, go to http://www.healthypeople.gov.

EL TOUR HEALTH, SAFETY AND EDUCATION CONFERENCE will be held during El Tour de Tucson Week, Saturday, November 10-17, 2001, in downtown Tucson, AZ. Highlights of the conference include a two-day workshop on Walkable Communities sponsored by Pima Association of Governments and the 2nd Professional Development Seminar Series by the Association of Pedestrian & Bicycle Professionals. For details on all events and workshops, a calendar, and registration forms, go to the Perimeter Bicycling Association of America's website, http://www.pbaa.com/APBP/ElTourConference.htm.

ADOLESCENT AND SCHOOL HEALTH: "Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities: Integrating Health and Education" will be held February 10-13, 2002, in Washington, DC. The conference brings together a diverse group of dedicated professionals working to promote working collectively, across all disciplines and cultures, to create a comprehensive and coordinated approach for developing effective programs to reach our youth, especially disproportionately affected youth, and to avoid serious health problems including HIV infection, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet. For more information on the conference, go to http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/conference/index.htm.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND DISABILITY: Expanding Opportunities for Healthy and
Active Lifestyles conference will be held November 12 - 13, 2001. Presented by The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD), the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's Center for Health and Fitness, and the National Center on Accessibility, this two-day conference will provide therapists, teachers, coaches and athletes with information and practical demonstrations of how to develop and support physical activity programs for persons with disabilities. Go to http://www.ncpad.org/home.htm for more information.

USC PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER UPDATE

RESEARCH UPDATES: The USC Prevention Research Center recently added a "Research Updates" section to our website, providing summaries of recent peer-reviewed journal articles. The target audience is professionals and researchers involved in promoting public health through physical activity. Summaries focus on topics such as effective physical activity interventions, psychosocial determinants of physical activity behavior, and environmental/community factors related to physical activity. Updates will be added to the site on a regular basis to provide up-to-date information on current advances in the area of promoting physically active lifestyles and supportive environments for physical activity. The Research Updates can be accessed through the USC Prevention Research Center's website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.

NEW PROJECTS: The USC PRC has been awarded four Special Interest Project (SIP) cooperative agreements by CDC. SIPs are only available to CDC-funded Prevention Research Centers. The new SIP projects and principal investigators are:

1) Creation of a Prevention Research Center Network for Healthy Aging (Network Center), Dr. Sara Wilcox
2) Improving Follow-up Rates Among Women with Abnormal Pap Tests in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, Dr. Ann Coker
3) Policy Influences on Physical Activity and Nutritional Behaviors, Dr. Fran Wheeler
4) Integrating Physical Activity and Weight Control Behaviors in Surveillance, Dr. Barbara Ainsworth

Information about the aims and activities of each project will be available in October on the USC PRC website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.

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Writers: Delores Pluto, Lillian Smith, Ralph Welsh, Regina Fields

This and past issues of the "University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center Notes" are available at our website at http://prevention.sph.sc.edu. If you have an item you'd like to submit, please send it to Delores Pluto at dmpluto@sc.edu. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, e-mail the Prevention Research Center at USCPRC@gwm.sc.edu. When subscribing, please include your name, e-mail address, title, and organizational affiliation. There is no subscription cost.

For continuing discussions about physical activity and public health, join the "Physical Activity and Public Health On-Line Network." Visit our website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu, for instructions on joining.

The USC Prevention Research Center is a member of the CDC Prevention Research Center's National Network, consisting of 24 Centers in the U.S. For more information about the PRC National Network, visit their website at http://www.cdc.gov/prc/.
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Prevention Research Center
Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina
730 Devine Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208
803-777-4253
Website: http://prevention.sph.sc.edu, E-mail: uscprc@gwm.sc.edu

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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