March - April | USC-PRC Notes
“Promoting Health through Physical Activity”
Change is on the horizon. I have accepted a new faculty position in the Exercise & Wellness Program in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. My relocation in July will signal the end of my 8-year tenure as Director of the USC PRC. When I started the job at USC in 2003, I could not have envisioned the professional and personal growth that I would experience. I have had the utmost fortune to meet and work with some of the brightest, friendliest, most caring, and most energetic people in the world. USC PRC faculty, staff, students, and community partners have significantly contributed to my success and definitely “made me look good” in the eyes of colleagues. There are countless others from whom I have learned valuable lessons and who have supported and encouraged me during times of both abundance and challenge. I will forever be thankful, and look forward to continuing to work alongside many of you as we strive to improve the health of our fellow citizens and communities through physical activity research and practice.
Steve Hooker, PhD, Director
IN THIS ISSUE – MARCH- APRIL 2011
NEWS YOU CAN USE: ‘Catch' catching on; March Madness- Bicycle Edition; ‘Million PALA Challenge’; National Walk to Work Day; National Start! Walking Day; World Physical Activity Day
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON: Senate Passes Resolution Encouraging Physical Activity; Congress: FY 2011 Budget Update;
RESEARCH NOTES: Physical activity in US adults; Youth physical activity resource use and activity measured by accelerometry; Association between social factors and physical activity
REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, RESOURCES: National Bike Summit; Street Smart Walk Score Resource; Portland’s biking investments to yield major savings
PROMOTING ACTIVE COMMUNITIES: Safety in numbers in Minneapolis; Mascot livens up Walking School Bus; South Carolina Complete Streets Resources
UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:126th AAHPERD National Convention & Exposition; 15th Annual Health & Fitness Summit; Australian National Tracks and Trails Conference; Symposium on Therapeutic Recreation and Adapted Physical Activity; 2011 International Conference on Aging in the Americas
USC PEVENTION RESEARCH CENTER UPDATES: Core project update
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
‘CATCH' CATCHING ON: With recent funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Communities Putting Prevention to Work Cooperative Agreement, Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) will be working with 300 middle schools throughout the state of Florida. In cooperation with the Florida Department of Health and Florida Department of Education, the goal of the project is to implement sustainable evidence-based, comprehensive, physical activity programs in the physical education programs of Florida middle schools.
[Source: http://www.catchinfo.org/archive031101.asp]
MARCH MADNESS- BICYCLE EDITION: Just in time for the NCAA basketball tournament, the League of American Bicyclists has analyzed the universities represented in the tournament based on bicycle-friendliness using their new Bicycle Friendly University Program. Schools making the Bicycle Friendly Four are the University of Washington, the University of Arizona, Louisville, and the University of Wisconsin.
[Source: http://www.bikeleague.org/]
'MILLION PALA CHALLENGE': Fuel Up to Play 60, launched by National Dairy Council and the National Football League, is working with the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition for the “Million PALA Challenge” (.pdf), which aims to have one million US adults and kids completing the requirements to earn a Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA). To earn a certificate, students must get their recommended daily physical activity (60 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week) for 6 weeks.
[Source: http://fueluptoplay60.com/]
National Walk to Work Day
April 1, 2011
http://walking.about.com/od/pedestrians/p/walktoworkday.htm
National Start! Walking Day
April 6, 2011
http://www.startwalkingnow.org/
World Physical Activity Day
April 6, 2011
http://www.acsm.org/
For a list of PA related observances and events, visit the PA links section of our website at http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/PAlinks/index.htm.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON:
SENATE PASSES RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) applauded the passage of a bipartisan resolution he introduced with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) affirming the importance of exercise and encouraging the development of incentives to promote physical activity to combat obesity, reduce chronic disease and lower health care costs. “Exercise is a key component of a healthy lifestyle and it prevents disease, death and saves the government and taxpayers money,” said Senator Casey. “I applaud the passage of this resolution and encourage everyone to make exercise a part of their lifestyle.”
[Source: http://www.ncppa.org/home/news/39/]
CONGRESS: FY 2001 BUDGET UPDATE: Debate over funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 continues, with new developments occurring on a daily basis. Recent continuing resolutions to fund the government on a short term basis have included budget cuts totaling $6 billion. Impacted programs have included funding for the Sustainable Communities Initiative, which helps develop diverse transportation choices and promotes walkable neighborhoods.
[Source: http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org]
RESEARCH NOTES:
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN US ADULTS: The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans was released in 2008, which recommends adults obtain at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity of physical activity, 75 minutes/week of vigorous-intensity, or a combination moderate and vigorous physical activity. A recent analysis of National Health Examination Survey accelerometer and self-report measures of physical activity report only 9.5% of men and 7.0% women met the current physical activity guidelines. Estimates of physical activity were much higher using self-report measures versus accelerometers.
Tucker, Welk and Beyler (2011). "Physical Activity in U.S. Adults: Compliance with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 40(4): 454-461.
YOUTH PHYSICAL ACITIVITY RESOURCE USE AND PHYSICAL ACITIVITY: To examine whether use of physical activity resources such as parks are associated with daily physical activity, 111 adolescents completed a travel diary while wearing accelerometers. The authors found using a physical activity resource was significantly associated with total minutes in moderate-vigorous physical activity, and African Americans and males had significantly greater moderate-vigorous physical activity.
Maslow and Colabianchi (2011). "Youth physical activity resource use and activity measured by accelerometry." American Journal of Health Behavior 35(2): 219-227.
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIAL FACTORS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: The role of the social environment has gained recognition for its potential role in shaping physical activity patterns. Using surveys and pedometer data obtained from 1112 low-come housing residents, the authors examined the role of social factors on physical activity. The findings suggest individuals with smaller social networks were significantly less active than those with larger social networks after controlling for various socioeconomic factors such as employment status, poverty level, and perceived safety.
Shelton, McNeill, Puleo, et al. (2011). "The Association Between Social Factors and Physical Activity Among Low-Income Adults Living in Public Housing." American Journal of Public Health.
For additional summaries of recent research on promoting physically active lifestyles, visit the Research Updates section of our website at http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/updates/index.htm.
REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, RESOURCES:
NATIONAL BIKE SUMMIT: More than 570 people attended the 2011 National Bike Summit held March 8-10 in Washington, DC. Attendees participated in more than 400 congressional meetings on Thursday, March 10, including those with two Cabinet Secretaries, the Transportation Commissioner from the biggest city in the nation, a representative of the First Lady, and the Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The summit culminated in a Congressional Bike Ride in honor of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
[Source: http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/category/national-bike-summit/ &
http://www.washingtonpost.com/]
STREET SMART WALK SCORE RESOURCE: Walk Score has developed a new tool for assessing community walkability, Street Smart Walk Score. Street Smart uses actual walking routes rather than crow-flies distances to calculate the score for a given address, then looks at the underlying road network to compute the number of intersections per square mile and average block length, and weights destinations based on research about what people actually walk to.
[Source: http://blog.walkscore.com/2011/01/preview-street-smart-walk-score/]
PORTLAND’S BIKING INVESTMENTS TO YIELD MAJOR SAVINGS: The city of Portland has invested heavily in biking over the last two decades, creating hundreds of miles of interconnecting bike paths that allow residents to commute to work, shop at local businesses and ride for pleasure. A recent analysis shows these investments will help its residents significantly lower their health care costs and save on fuel; up to $594 million in reduced health care spending and as much as $218 million in lower fuel costs. These estimates are based on the city’s planned investments of up to $605 million in biking improvements by 2040.
[Source: http://journals.humankinetics.com]
PROMOTING ACTIVE COMMUNITIES:
SAFETY IN NUMBERS IN MINNEAPOLIS: According to the latest Minneapolis Bicycle and Pedestrian Count Report (.pdf), as bicycle usage has increased by 174 percent in the city, the number of bicyclist-motorist crashes has decreased by twenty percent. New York City and Portland, Oregon have witnessed similar trends linking increased ridership to safer conditions.
[Source: http://www.completestreets.org/]
MASCOT LIVENS UP WALKING SCHOOL BUS: With the arrival of spring, the Walking School Bus program in Columbia, Missouri is returning with a new mascot— a giant, blue tennis shoe— designed to pique the interest of students not yet participating in the program. The Walking School Bus program provides a consistent, safe system in which children can walk to school as a group under the supervision of trained adults. The program, lead by the PedNet Coalition and the Columbia/Boone County Health Department, is considered one of the best in the country, and in fall 2010 more than 400 children from 11 elementary schools and 150 volunteers participated.
[Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/mar/16/walking-and-talking/ &
http://www.pednet.org/]
SOUTH CAROLINA COMPLETE STREETS RESOURCES: Eat Smart, Move More South Carolina, a state-wide obesity prevention coalition, has produced a Complete Streets Toolbook (.pdf) and a Complete Streets Advocacy Manual (.pdf) to help South Carolinians push for pedestrian-, bicycle-, and transit-friendly infrastructure in their towns. While written for use by local leaders in South Carolina, many of the techniques and ideas can easily be applied to other communities.
[Source: http://esmmsc.org/]
UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:
126TH AAHPERD NATIONAL CONVENTION & EXPOSITION
3/29/2011 - 4/02/2011
San Diego, CA
http://www.aahperd.org/whatwedo/convention/index.cfm
15TH ANNUAL HEALTH & FITNESS SUMMIT
4/13/2011 - 4/16/2011
Anaheim, CA
http://www.acsmsummit.org/
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TRACKS AND TRAILS CONFERENCE
4/13/2011 - 4/16/2011
Sydney Olympic Park, NSW
http://americantrails.org/Calendar.html
SYMPOSIUM ON THERAPEUTIC RECREATION AND ADAPTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
4/18/2011 - 4/20/2011
St. Louis, MO
http://muconf.missouri.edu/midwest_symposium/
THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGING IN THE AMERICAS
4/26/2011 - 4/30/2011
San Francisco, CA
http://www.agingconference.org/AiA11/index.cfm
For a more complete list of conferences and workshops, visit the PA links section of our website at http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/PAlinks/index.htm.
USC PRC UPDATES:
CORE PROJECT ACTIVITIES: The PRC and our partner Sumter County Active Lifestyles will be launching a community campaign in April and May to raise awareness of walking facilities in underserved areas of Sumter County, South Carolina. The awareness campaign will consist of walking track/community park ‘Open Houses,’ with live radio broadcasts during the events and a media campaign involving radio, newspaper, and billboards ads, a street banner, and local television news. Previously collected focus group data found many residents were unaware of these activity areas within their own community, despite recent improvements at many of these sites.
Writer: Robin Shook
This publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 5-U48-DP-000051 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.
The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
