Survey results from the Healthy Kids in Healthy Places Community Action Forum

I. Introduction

Photo: Four children line up with their lunch trays at an elementary school cafeteria.

Of the 32 respondents, 14 classified themselves as Public Health Professionals, six are Volunteers, four work in Community-Based Organizations, while four are Health Care Providers.
Of those, 41 percent have worked in their field for more than nine years, and over half have worked in their field between one and nine years. Most of the participants attend the Community Action Forum voluntarily, though the content did relate to their professional job.
Attendees were most likely to have heard about The Forum by mail or personal invitation, followed by email or website, while the least amount of attendees heard about The Forum by word-of-mouth.

II. Personal action plan

As a result of the Forum, 88 percent of attendees acted to promote healthy weight in children and adolescents. The largest amount of attendees, 38 percent , expected a lack of funding to be the biggest obstacle when promoting healthy weight in children and adolescents, followed closely, 28 percent , by lack of support by "key partners." One respondent indicated that a lack of time, personal motivation, and competing duties were expected to be the biggest obstacles.
In reality, the actual biggest obstacle reported by respondents was lack of adequate funding, 34 percent , followed by lack of support by "key partners," 22 percent . 12 percent did not encounter a predominant obstacle when promoting healthy weight for children and adolescents. Three respondents indicated that time was the largest obstacle, as well as keeping "key partners" involved and interested.
28 percent of respondents expected the easiest thing would be knowing where to find needed information, followed closely by 22 percent who thought there would not be an easy aspect of promoting healthy weight for children and adolescents. On the average, 14 percent , respectively, expected to have support from "key partners," to have "expert" guidance, and to know enough about childhood obesity to be able to promote healthy weight for children and adolescents. One respondent indicated he/she has "easy access" through working within the school district.
38 percent of respondents indicated that the one thing that would have made it easier to promote healthy weight in children and adolescents would have been receiving adequate funding, followed by 19 percent who said having the support from "key partners" would have made it easier, followed by 12 percent who said having "expert" guidance from professionals in the field would have made it easier. One respondent said that having stricter policies within the schools in regards to healthy school environments would have made this process easier, and 9 percent said nothing would have made this process easier.

a. Challenges

Challenges for respondents include themes such as denial by parents and health care providers that (their) children are overweight. Another common challenge was funding, specifically the unlikelihood of obtaining funding after going through the involved process of applying for a grant, as well as the challenge of finding sources of funding. Another challenge within the schools is the shift in values from spending time being physically active to focusing on improving academic standards and "NCLB requirements."

b. Successes

Respondents found success when they worked diligently on maintaining relationships from supportive partners as a way to network and obtain input; when using pilot projects, careful evaluation, and accepting flexibility with plans; changing the nutrition environment in schools by giving positive messages about nutrition instead of negative messages about unhealthy foods. Specific success stories include:
Increased community outreach efforts, including a pilot program partnering with the YWCA and Latino families with at-risk youth, which serves 45 kids a year, and more than 100 family members. Future plans include expansion to Native American youth and families in 2008.
In schools, introducing healthy options paired with nutrition education; physical activity has also been supported. A "Training Champion" has been recruited and trained from individual school "to improve the healthy school environment and oversee wellness plan implementation" in respective schools.
Educating families about making healthy food fun, such as calling snacks fun names like "bugs on a log", "worms in the soup", and "pigs in a blanket" and to decrease total screen time.
One participant wrote the plan for a community partnership between Minnesota Department of Health and the Statewide Comprehensive Health Promotion Plan Advisory Committee to increase funding for local public health agencies to implement tested health promotion and disease prevention programs and strategies at the community level, with evaluation from Minnesota Department of Health.

IV. Continuing needs

When asked what topics they would like to learn more about in regards to topics in childhood obesity, the majority of respondents, 44 percent, said marketing of foods and beverages, 41 percent said food pricing & economics, 31 percent, respectively, said nutrition & physical activity policies, and federal child nutrition and food assistance programs, and 25 percent said agriculture policies.
Since the Forum,22 percent of respondents have continued communication with others from The Forum. Minnesota Department of Health has been an invaluable resource, providing an inservice and providing resources for the "High 5 Flyers" program. One speaker from The Forum has received requests about research-tested curricula and programs, and his/her organization has provided training sessions to interested school districts as a result of The Forum. Two participants now carpool to work, who met at The Forum.

a. Next steps

Most respondents indicated that they are going to continue with what ever plan they have made to promote healthy weight in children and adolescents, which may mean applying for additional grants and seeking out funding sources, implementing pilot programs and assessing the needs of target audiences, and training school staff so schools can implement healthy eating programs. Continuing collaborating with key partners in the community is also a goal of respondents.
One specific workshop will train 60 school teachers and foodservice staff on tested curricula and programs to promote healthy eating in elementary schools, and provide training materials and student materials at no cost.
Other respondents noted they plan to hold more conferences and youth summits to create an action plan for 2008.

b. Needs

The main need identified by respondents is funding. They need to know about sources of grants, as well as the skills of grant writing.
Another need addressed is the need for written educational materials in other languages (Spanish, Somali), but for low literacy patients, and not simply translated from English.
Respondents would also like the information on how to access other programs that have proven to be successful in schools to promote a healthy nutrition environment.
More educational opportunities for fellow co-workers of respondents would also be valued, so their co-workers could be more involved as well.
The need for the knowledge about evaluation was also mentioned.

c. Additional comments

One respondent said, "There have been many opportunities to attend forums on childhood obesity, AFHK, PAN and others. It might be good to combine some into one and have more topics, more high-powered speakers and more hands-on sessions."
Another respondent indicated that s/he thought information from The Forum would be on Allina's website, and it is not. They would value that information.
One respondent said, "I really enjoyed the forum and found it extremely helpful - probably the best professional development experience in the last 12 months."
Another respondent was surprised that Minnesota Department of Health had so many "hats" that they (professionals) have access to and can use.