Examining Home-Visiting Strategies to Prevent Obesity Among American Indians, Focusing on Early Childhood Outcomes and Water Insecurity

Reservation-based American Indian (AI) children suffer the highest rates of childhood obesity in the United States. This project will provide evidence to support the integration of childhood obesity prevention modules into government-funded home-visiting programs. It will also identify the role of water insecurity in sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake. The specific aims of the study are More

The Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warnings: A Randomized Trial of Adolescents’ Choices and Beliefs

California, New York, and the cities of San Francisco and Baltimore have introduced bills requiring health-related warning labels for sugar-sweetened beverages. This study measured the extent to which these warning labels influence adolescents’ beliefs and hypothetical choices. Over 2,000 adolescents ages 12-18 completed an online survey in which they chose a beverage in a hypothetical More

A Trial of the Efficacy and Cost of Water Delivery Systems in San Francisco Bay Area Middle Schools, 2013

This study aimed to examine the efficacy and cost of two water delivery systems—water dispensers with cups and water coolers with cups—in increasing students’ lunchtime intake of water in lower-income middle schools. Twelve middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area participated in a cluster randomized control trial in which they were assigned to one More

Evaluating Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Advertising prior to Implementation of the San Francisco Warning Label Ordinance

Starting in July 2016, San Francisco, Calif., will require prominent warning labels on most sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) advertisements (i.e., “WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay”). The purpose of this project is to collect baseline data on the presence and types of SSB print advertising visible in a sample More

Evaluating Healthy Fast-Food Kids’ Meal Defaults

This project will determine whether restaurants have implemented healthier kids’ meal default policies and whether healthy defaults successfully reduce calories and improve the overall nutritional quality of fast-food meals consumed by children. The team will conduct two studies to update research conducted in 2010 and 2013 and measure change over time. In the first study, More

Developing, Validating and Feasibility Testing a Cost-Effective Photo-Evidence Method to Assess Effectiveness of Access to Drinking Water in Schools

This study will develop and validate a photo-evidence method to measure effectiveness of water access in schools since the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires that potable water be available to children at no charge during mealtimes in areas where meals are served. The aims of this study are to: 1) develop and More

Weight Stigmatization Moderates the Effects of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage-Related PSAs Among U.S. Parents

Research suggests that media campaigns targeting weight-related behaviors may inadvertently increase stigmatization of obese and overweight individuals and could backlash such that stigmatized individuals are less likely to engage in healthy behaviors following exposure to the message. This study examines stigmatized and non-stigmatized parents’ emotional and cognitive responses to sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB)-reduction public service announcements More

The Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Health Warning Labels on Parents’ Choices

U.S. states have introduced bills requiring sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to display health warning labels. This study examined how warning labels influence parents and which labels are most effective. Over 2,000 demographically and educationally diverse parents of children ages 6 to 11 participated in an online survey. Parents were randomized to one of 6 conditions: 1) More