COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS AND PA AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation
santa Monica, Ca 904013208
Grant 1R01HL071244-01 from National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute IRG: ZRG1
Abstract: Because environmental factors can influence the likelihood that a person will engage in physical activity (PA), we propose to investigate the role of community characteristics in PA levels. The research will form an ancillary study to the NHLBI-funded multi-centered Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG), a group (school)-randomized controlled intervention trial to increase PA among a cohort of sixth grade girls over 2.5 years. The parent TAAG study will be collecting measures of physical activity using both self-report and CSA accelerometers, small monitors worn at the hip that record acceleration and deceleration of movement without the need for any reporting from the participants. Using a radius of 5 miles around each participating TAAG school and around the homes of each study participant, we plan to use geographic information systems (GIS) to gather information documenting proximity of recreational facilities, street design, population density, population mix (ethnic/age distribution), crime, availability of mass transit, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), geographic elevations and topography and types of land use. Using hierarchical linear modeling, with girls nested within neighborhoods, while controlling for individual level factors such as race and socioeconomic status, we plan to investigate the relationship of the environment to individual physical activity. In addition, by following girls over time, we plan to investigate whether the effect of the TAAG intervention will be modified by community characteristics. This study will be unique in its scope of exploring the role of community environments in physical activity across six very different urban, suburban, and rural areas San Diego, CA, Minneapolis, MN, Baltimore, MD, New Orleans, LA, Tucson, AZ and Columbia, SC
Keywords: adolescence (12-20), body physical activity, community, female, human ecology, longitudinal human study, socioenvironment education evaluation /planning, geographic site, health behavior, health education, human population composition, human population density, human population distribution, information system, socioeconomics behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, data collection, data collection methodology /evaluation, human data, statistics /biometry
Project start date: 2002-08-10
Project end date: 2006-07-31
1R01HL071244-01 (2002): $665975
Sponsored Links Excellgen http://Excellgen.com
Grants awarded to Deborah A Cohen
GIS, ALCOHOL MARKETING, AND ALCOHOL-RELATED OUTCOMES
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation Santa Monica, Ca 904013208
Grant 5R01AA013749-04 from National Institute On Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism IRG: ZRG1
Abstract: We propose to investigate the relationship between the neighborhood-level availability and promotion of alcohol and alcohol-related mortality, and to study the degree to which racial and socioeconomic differences in alcohol-related mortality may be accounted for by the neighborhood-level availability and promotion of these substances. Alcohol availability and promotion are modifiable neighborhood-level risk factors because they are regulated by local, state and federal agencies. We intend to focus on a stratified sample of 114 urban census tracts in California and 114 urban census tracts in Louisiana randomly sampled so that the median income is equally divided into high, medium and low SES tracts. In these census tracts we will conduct observations of the availability of alcohol products at neighborhood stores as well as the density of billboards promoting alcohol; we will collect very specific information about malt liquor, which is believed to be heavily promoted in low-income neighborhoods. In addition, we will conduct telephone interviews of residents in the selected census tracts to measure social capital, collective efficacy, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related morbidity. Our outcomes of interest will be self-reported alcohol use, alcohol related morbidity, and census tract rates of alcohol-related mortality. We will use geographic information systems (GIS) to map the spatial relationships between alcohol promotion, alcohol consumption and alcohol related mortality. Hierarchical linear models and structural equation modeling to distinguish between individual and structural risk factors will be used for the data analysis. Because alcohol marketing is already regulated, if certain marketing techniques are disproportionately associated with alcohol consumption and alcohol-related mortality, the findings can be used to inform public policy.
Keywords: alcoholic beverage consumption, alcoholism /alcohol abuse, geographic site, human mortality, information system, substance abuse epidemiology, age difference, community, gender difference, health behavior, human morbidity, low socioeconomic status, socioeconomics, substance abuse related behavior, behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human subject, interview
Project start date: 2003-09-15
Project end date: 2008-07-31
5R01AA013749-04 (2006): $542815
5R01AA013749-03 (2005): $666684
5R01AA013749-02 (2004): $659576
1R01AA013749-01A1 (2003): $640333
VALIDATION OF SOPARC AND USE IN DIVERSE POPULATIONS
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, Ca 90401-3208
Grant 3R01HL092569-02S1 from Office Of The Director, National Institutes Of Health
Abstract: This award is issued in response to Notice OD-09-060, Recovery Act Administrative Supplements Providing Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Educators. There have been many efforts to assess the intensity, frequency and duration of PA among males and females and people of all ages, but few efforts to objectively assess population level measures of PA. Determining population level PA by assessing at the individual level may neither the most appropriate nor cost- effective methods. Population level measures of PA will be important when assessing the effectiveness of community level interventions or in understanding how changes in the built environment might affect PA on a broad scale. We have already developed a tool to assess population level PA in parks with SOPARC (Systematic Observations of Play and Recreation in Communities) and tested its utility and reliability in Los Angeles. This tool allows the documentation of the number of park users, their age group, gender, race/ethnicity and activity levels. Our specific aims are 1) to validate SOPARC with respect to its ability to measure park use and population level energy expenditure. 2) To test the reliability and validity of self report of physical activity in public parks and 3) To assess SOPARC in different populations, geographic settings and seasons in order to determine its utility on a national basis, 4) To develop a SOPARC manual and software package for dissemination to other researchers and key stakeholders interested in physical activity promotion and measurement. This proposal will include validation of observations using videography, expanded use of SOPARC in 10 parks across the US (Los Angeles (West Coast). Philadelphia (East Coast), Chapel Hill, NC (South), Columbus, Ohio (Midwest) and Albuquerque, New Mexico (Southwest), assessing physical activity on an hourly basis, 14 hours per day during daylight over a 2 week period; following 48 individuals in each site (n=240) using GPS monitors and accelerometers to validate their self-report of use of parks, including frequency of park visits, duration of visit, and activity levels in local parks over a 3-week period; and the use of SOPARC in 6 neighborhood parks in the 4 areas not previously studied in each of three seasons, spring, summer and fall. The US has an extensive infrastructure of parks that serve an estimated 75% of the population. In Los Angeles, parks were cited as the place where most people engage in leisure exercise. Therefore, parks may be the ideal venue for increasing PA among Americans. If SOPARC and/or self-report of park use can be validated, and the tools useful in different geographies, SOPARC can be used for assessing future community level interventions to promote PA as well as for population level surveillance of Our study will rigorously test and validate the method, System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC), for measuring population level physical activity in neighborhood parks. The US has an extensive infrastructure of parks that serve an estimated 75% of the population and may be the ideal venue for increasing PA among Americans. SOPARC can potentially be used for assessing future community level interventions as well as for population level surveillance of PA
Keywords: Address; Affect; Age; Age Group Unspecified; Aged 65 and Over; American; Area; Behavior Conditioning Therapy; Behavior Modification; Behavior Therapy; Behavior Treatment; Behavior or Life Style Modifications; Behavioral Conditioning Therapy; Behavioral Modification; Behavioral Therapy; Behavioral Treatment; Bicycling; Cities; Classification; Climate; Communities; Computer Programs; Computer software; Conditioning Therapy; Data; Diet; Documentation; Effectiveness; Elderly; Elderly, over 65; Energy Expenditure; Energy Metabolism; Environment; Epidemiologic Research; Epidemiologic Studies; Epidemiological Studies; Epidemiology Research; Ethnic Origin; Ethnicity; Ethnicity aspects; Exercise; Exercise, Physical; Female; Frequencies (time pattern); Frequency; Future; Gender; General Population; General Public; Geography; Goals; Health; Heterogeneity, Population; Hour; Individual; Infrastructure; Intervention; Intervention Strategies; Investigators; Life Style Modification; Location; Los Angeles; Manuals; Measurement; Measures; Meteorological Climate; Methods; Monitor; Neighborhoods; New Mexico; Ohio; Patient Self-Report; Personal Satisfaction; Philadelphia; Physical activity; Play; Population; Population Heterogeneity; Population Surveillance; Public Health Surveillance; Race; Racial Group; Rajidae; Recreation; Research Infrastructure; Research Personnel; Researchers; Respondent; Sampling; Seasons; Self-Report; Site; Skates (Fish); Skating; Software; Stocks, Racial; System; System, LOINC Axis 4; Systematics; Testing; Time; Validation; Validity of Self Report; Visit; Weather; advanced age; age group; base; behavior intervention; behavioral intervention; climatic; computer program/software; cost; cost effective; diverse populations; elders; falls; geographic population; geriatric; heterogeneous population; improved; instrument; interest; interventional strategy; late life; later life; literacy; male; older adult; older person; response; senior citizen; skate; socioeconomic; socioeconomically; socioeconomics; tool; user-friendly; well-being
Project start date: 2009-06-01
Project end date: 2010-08-31
Budget start date: 1-JUN-2009
Budget end date: 31-AUG-2010
PFA/PA: PAR-07-259
3R01HL092569-02S1 (2009): $29907
5R01HL092569-03 (2010): $748415
5R01HL092569-02 (2009): $762072
AWAY FROM HOME AND OUT OF SCHOOL
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, Ca 90401-3208
Grant 5R01HL071244-08 from National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute
Abstract: The proposed study will build on information collected in our previous study, "Community Characteristics and Physical Activity among Adolescent Girls", which was an ancillary study to TAAG, Trial of Activity of Adolescent Girls. We will follow the same girls from the Minneapolis and San Diego TAAG sites and identify where they go when they are not in school or home by using portable global positioning system (GPS) units, unobtrusive devices worn on the wrist or hip that record the latitude and longitude of locations at user-specified time intervals. GPS will be combined with accelerometry and self-reports of food purchases and consumption so that we will be able to determine the context in which physical activity and eating occurs in neighborhoods. In the baseline study we found associations between neighborhood characteristics such as parks and playgrounds and physical activity, but could not determine if girls were active in these settings or whether increased levels of physical activity were due to community norms. Our specific aims are 1) To identify the specific environmental exposures to food sources and activity venues based upon actual travel patterns of older adolescent girls. 2) To study the trajectory of physical activity in older adolescent girls, how physical activity patterns change when girls and their peers become more autonomous, and to identify the environments in which girls are physically active and the characteristics of those environments, 3) To study the trajectory of BMI among adolescent girls as they grow into adulthood and determine if eating away from home is associated with neighborhood food environments, BMI, and with changes in BMI. We will obtain both dietary and physical activity data from 300 girls at two timepoints, half will be in 10th grade at the first measurement and the other half in 11th grade. The second measurement will be in the 11th and 12th grades in order to understand how diet and physical activity change as girls become more autonomous, obtain driving licenses and spend more time in cars alone or with peers. We will analyze the data using propensity scoring and longitudinal growth models to identify how local environments may play a role in physical activity, diet and BMI. The findings will be useful to inform future community and population level interventions to promote healthy eating, active living, and obesity control
Keywords: 0-11 years old; 12-20 years old; Active Biological Transport; Active Transport; Adolescence; Analysis, Data; Ancillary Study; Area; Automobile Driving; Behavior; Biologic Transport, Active; Biological Transport, Active; Calories; Characteristics; Child; Child Youth; Children (0-21); Communities; Consumption; Coxa; Data; Data Analyses; Devices; Diet; Drivings, Automobile; Eating; Environment; Environmental Exposure; Epidemic; Exposure to; Female Adolescents; Food; Food Intake; Future; Generalized Growth; Growth; Hip; Hip region structure; Home; Home environment; Human, Child; Individual; Intervention; Intervention Strategies; Investigators; Knowledge; Licensing; Life; Location; Measurement; Measures; Modeling; Neighborhoods; Obesity; Over weight; Overweight; Patient Self-Report; Pattern; Physical activity; Play; Policies; Policy Maker; Population; Position; Positioning Attribute; Recommendation; Research; Research Personnel; Researchers; Role; Schools; Self-Report; Site; Social support; Source; Specific qualifier value; Specified; System; System, LOINC Axis 4; Testing; Time; Tissue Growth; Transportation; Travel; Uphill Transport; Wrist; adiposity; adolescence (12-20); adolescent girl; base; calorie (nutrition); children; corpulence; corpulency; corpulentia; driving; food consumption; girls; interventional strategy; obese; obese people; obese person; obese population; ontogeny; peer; psychosocial; sedentary; social role; social support network; teenage; time interval; youngster
Project start date: 2002-08-10
Project end date: 2011-05-31
Budget start date: 1-JUN-2010
Budget end date: 31-MAY-2011
5R01HL071244-08 (2010): $736744
5R01HL071244-07 (2009): $718389
2R01HL071244-05A1 (2007): $706304
Sponsored Links Excellgen http://Excellgen.com
ALCOHOL OUTLETS, BROKEN WINDOWS, GONORRHEA AND HIV RISK
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation Santa Monica, Ca 904013208
Grant 5R21HD042980-02 from National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development IRG: ZHD1
Abstract: The 1992 Civil Unrest in Los Angeles resulted in the burning of more than 600 buildings and the closure of 221 alcohol outlets. These events serve as a natural experiment to test the influence of community institutions, [both alcohol outlets and community-based organizations-(CBOs)] on HIV risk in a longitudinal, ecological study. We propose to use longitudinal data of gonorrhea and HIV rates and neighborhood conditions to determine 1) if gonorrhea rates dropped in local neighborhoods where alcohol outlets were closed, 2) if there is an association between changes in neighborhood deterioration (or reconstruction) and changes in rates of gonorrhea, and 3) if there is an association between changes in alcohol outlets, neighborhood deterioration and changes in AIDS case rates at the census tract level. In addition, we propose to conduct a qualitative study of the efforts both prior to and since 1992 of CBOs to prevent the relicensure of alcohol outlets to assist in the interpretation of our quantitative study. Data on gonorrhea and HIV will be obtained from the LA County Department of Health Services. Addresses of destroyed buildings will be obtained from the Arson Section of the LA Fire Department. We have already obtained addresses of alcohol licenses that were surrendered in 1992, as well as existing alcohol licenses on an annual basis. All data will be geocoded to the level of the census tract and will be merged with data from the 1990 and 2000 US Census. Spatio-temporal modeling will be employed to determine whether changes in the community institutions (alcohol outlets) and neighborhood rehabilitation (or deterioration) are associated with GC and HIV rates, after controlling for a number of variables, including age, gender, race, socioeconomic status and preexisting rates of GC and HIV. The findings will inform future HIV prevention interventions and provide guidance to CBOs as to whether control of alcohol outlets and neighborhood development may enhance the prevention of HIV transmission.
Keywords: HIV infection, alcoholic beverage, community, disease /disorder prevention /control, food resource, gonorrhea, human ecology, legal /correctional, social change, high risk behavior /lifestyle, longitudinal human study, self help, social organization, social problem, substance abuse related behavior, urban poverty area, audiotape, behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human data, human subject, interview
Project start date: 2002-07-01
Project end date: 2005-06-30
5R21HD042980-02 (2003): $337891
1R21HD042980-01 (2002): $334517
PARKS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN DIVERSE COMMUNITIES
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, Ca 90401-3208
Grant 5R01HL083869-04 from National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute
Abstract: Engaging in physical activity is one of the most important health habits known to contribute to a variety of positive health outcomes, including longevity, increased quality of life and levels of daily functioning, and reduced rates of diabetes and obesity. This study capitalizes on an already existing community participatory infrastructure (Park Advisory Boards), and a collaborative relationship between RAND, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and a community-based organization, the Multi-cultural Area Health Education Center (MAHEC). We will conduct a randomized controlled intervention trial in which 25 parks will be randomized to a CBPR condition involving their boards and local communities in research park assessments, data analysis and interpretation to inform use of discretionary funds for programming and facilities, while 25 other parks will be randomized to a control condition and will not be involved in the research assessments, but will have findings on park utilization given to administrators to act on. Our overall study goals are to examine how public parks influence physical activity, and to determine whether population level physical activity can be enhanced through involving communities in scientific and systematic park assessments to guide modification of park programs and facilities. Our specific aims include 1. to describe how different age, gender, and racial/ethnic groups use local parks and identify park characteristics and programs that promote moderate-vigorous physical activity. 2. To compare the efficacy of involving park advisory boards and other community members in the research process (CBPR) in affecting park programming and thereby promoting increased population level physical activity, versus merely providing assessment data to park directors (top down approach). Our methods will include a pre-post design with assessments at baseline, and 1 year, the use of direct observation with SOPARC (Systematic Observation of Parks and recreation in Communities), intercept surveys of park users and randomly selected household surveys. Not only will this study further our understanding of the role of parks in physical activity and health, but it will also be the first randomized trial of the CBPR process to see whether it is more effective in successfully implementing programs that better serve community needs than traditional top-down approaches
Keywords: Address; Administrator; Affect; Age; Analysis, Data; Area; Area Health Education Centers; Assessment, Process; Cancers; Cardiovascular Diseases; Characteristics; Cities; Communities; Community Participation; Data; Data Analyses; Decision Making; Depression; Diabetes Mellitus; Drops; Energy Expenditure; Energy Metabolism; Ensure; Ethnic group; Funding; Gender; Goals; Habits; Health; Household; Incidence; Infrastructure; Intercept; Intervention Trial; Length of Life; Longevity; Los Angeles; Malignant Neoplasms; Malignant Tumor; Mental Depression; Methodology, Research; Methods; Minority; Modification; Obesity; Outcome; Physical activity; Population; Process; Process Assessment (Health Care); Programs (PT); Programs [Publication Type]; QOL; Quality of life; Randomized; Recreation; Research; Research Activity; Research Design; Research Infrastructure; Research Methodology; Research Methods; Role; Running; Services; Staging; Study Type; Survey Instrument; Surveys; Testing; adiposity; base; cancer prevention; cardiovascular disorder; community based participatory research; comparative efficacy; corpulence; corpulency; corpulentia; daily functioning; decline in function; design; designing; diabetes; functional decline; health disparities; health disparity; life span; lifespan; malignancy; member; neoplasm/cancer; obese; obese people; obese person; obese population; outreach; programs; racial and ethnic; racial/ethnic; randomisation; randomization; randomized trial; randomly assigned; social role; study design; tool; uptake; volunteer
Project start date: 2007-06-01
Project end date: 2012-03-31
Budget start date: 1-APR-2010
Budget end date: 31-MAR-2011
PFA/PA: PAR-05-026
5R01HL083869-04 (2010): $743958
5R01HL083869-03 (2009): $768127
1R01HL083869-01A1 (2007): $801865
COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS AND PA AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS
Deborah A Cohen, Sr. Natural Scientist
Rand Corporation Santa Monica, Ca 904013208
Grant 5R01HL071244-04 from National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute IRG: ZRG1
Abstract: Because environmental factors can influence the likelihood that a person will engage in physical activity (PA), we propose to investigate the role of community characteristics in PA levels. The research will form an ancillary study to the NHLBI-funded multi-centered Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG), a group (school)-randomized controlled intervention trial to increase PA among a cohort of sixth grade girls over 2.5 years. The parent TAAG study will be collecting measures of physical activity using both self-report and CSA accelerometers, small monitors worn at the hip that record acceleration and deceleration of movement without the need for any reporting from the participants. Using a radius of 5 miles around each participating TAAG school and around the homes of each study participant, we plan to use geographic information systems (GIS) to gather information documenting proximity of recreational facilities, street design, population density, population mix (ethnic/age distribution), crime, availability of mass transit, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), geographic elevations and topography and types of land use. Using hierarchical linear modeling, with girls nested within neighborhoods, while controlling for individual level factors such as race and socioeconomic status, we plan to investigate the relationship of the environment to individual physical activity. In addition, by following girls over time, we plan to investigate whether the effect of the TAAG intervention will be modified by community characteristics. This study will be unique in its scope of exploring the role of community environments in physical activity across six very different urban, suburban, and rural areas San Diego, CA, Minneapolis, MN, Baltimore, MD, New Orleans, LA, Tucson, AZ and Columbia, SC.
Keywords: adolescence (12-20), body physical activity, community, female, human ecology, longitudinal human study, socioenvironment, education evaluation /planning, geographic difference, health behavior, health education, human population composition, human population density, human population distribution, information system, socioeconomics, behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, data collection, data collection methodology /evaluation, human data, statistics /biometry
Project start date: 2002-08-10
Project end date: 2007-07-31
5R01HL071244-04 (2005): $672890
5R01HL071244-03 (2004): $673721
5R01HL071244-02 (2003): $849308