Challenge! in Middle Schools
About Us
Challenge! in Middle Schools is an obesity prevention and health promotion program targeting urban African American adolescent girls in Baltimore City middle schools. The primary goal of the study is to evaluate the impact of a multi-level intervention on adolescent girls' body composition, diet and physical activity. The study consists of both an environmental intervention as well as a small group intervention.
The environmental intervention is implemented through the formation of a Healthy & Activity Committee (HAC) consisting of students, parents, teachers and community leaders. The HAC is responsible for organizing and implementing changes to create a healthier school environment. The small group intervention, based on the original Challenge! program, is implemented during the lunch period and after school to a subset of middle-school girls. These meetings are held at the school as well as the local Y of Central Maryland facilities. Middle-school girls learn about healthy diet and exercise behaviors and how to set behavior change goals.
Currently, the project has completed both the small group and school-based interventions and is in the final data collection phase.
Measures
Child Measures
Child Measures:
- Body composition
- Diet
- Physical activity
- Blood pressure
- Cardiorespiratory fitness
- Self-reported questionnaire of stages of puberty
- Perceived body size
- Psychosocial Variables (Self-efficacy, depression, eating attitudes, coping strategies, peer relationships)
- Internal and external school perceived environment
Caregiver Measures
Caregiver Measures:
- Demographic information
- Eating attitudes
- Depression screening
- Feeding questionnaire
- Food insecurity questionnaire
School Enrivonment
School Environment:
- School Resource Environmental Checklist (SchREC)
- St. Louis Audit Tool
- School Observation Environmental Checklist (SchOEC)
Principal Investigator
Maureen Black, Ph.D
Principal Investigator
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
mblack@som.umaryland.edu
Team Members
Co-Investigators
Jean Anliker, PhD
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Carlo DiClemente, PhD
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Joel Gittelsohn, PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Erin Hager, PhD
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
ehager@peds.umaryland.edu
Laurence Magder, PhD
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
lmagder@peds.umaryland
Soren Snitker, MD, PhD
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
ssnitker@peds.umaryland.edu
Margarita Treuth, PhD
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Project Coordinators & Research Staff
Samantha Wilkes
Project Coordinator
Raquel Arbaiza, MS
Data Manager
rarbaiza@peds.umaryland.edu
Stefani Nicole Baca
Intervention Coordinator
sbaca@peds.umaryland.edu
Yan Wang, MD, PhD
Data Analyst
ywang@peds.umaryland.edu
Data Collectors
Shannon Fitzmaurice
Jessica Joyner