A randomized controlled trial to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and promote postpartum weight loss in overweight and obese women: Health In Pregnancy and Postpartum (HIPP).

Background: Interventions to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and promote postpartum weight loss have yielded modest results, particularly in overweight and obese women.

Objectives: To examine the impact of a theory-based lifestyle intervention on gestational weight gain, postpartum weight loss, and related maternal and child outcomes and to examine race differences in these outcomes.

Design: A randomized controlled trial (target N=400; 200 intervention, 200 standard care; 200 African American, 200 white).

Effect of Child Gender and Psychosocial Factors on Physical Activity From Fifth to Sixth Grade.

Background: Gender differences in physical activity (PA) trajectories during adolescence are well documented, yet little research has examined whether the determinants of these trajectories vary by child's gender. This study is one of few prospective examinations of gender differences in the influences of psychosocial and socioenvironmental factors on changes in objectively measured PA.

Methods: Students and parents from elementary and middle schools located in 2 school districts in South Carolina were enrolled in a prospective cohort study of changes in children's PA from elementary to middle school.

An Intervention to Increase Physical Activity in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial With 4-Year-Olds in Preschools.

Introduction: A majority of preschool-aged children spend a significant portion of every weekday in a preschool or child care setting, where they typically participate in limited physical activity. This study determined if an ecologic physical activity intervention in preschools increases children's moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA).

Design: RCT, with preschool as the unit of randomization and analysis.

Prevalence of Compliance with a New Physical Activity Guideline for Preschool-Age Children.

Background: Four expert panels from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued physical activity (PA) recommendations for young children that are quite similar. The aim of this study was to determine compliance with the new PA guideline (defined as ≥15 min/hr of total PA) in two independent samples of preschool children.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of children attending preschools in Columbia, South Carolina.

Enhancing interprofessional education: integrating public health and social work perspectives.

National stakeholders in health system improvement and patient safety including accreditation bodies have requested health professional educational programs to include multiple interprofessional experiences through didactic and experiential opportunities. Clinical and population health faculty at the University of South Carolina redesigned and expanded an introductory interprofessional course to include more than 500 students from public health, social work, medicine, pharmacy, and nursing. Students participated in 3 live class meetings and completed required online coursework to explore concepts related to social determinants of health and health disparities, health system improvement, patient safety, cultural competency, and ethics to address interprofessional education core competencies.

Preventing excessive weight gain during pregnancy and promoting postpartum weight loss: a pilot lifestyle intervention for overweight and obese African American women.

To test the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-based lifestyle intervention designed to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy and promote weight loss in the early postpartum period in overweight and obese African American women. Sixteen pregnant women (≤18 weeks gestation) were recruited from prenatal clinics in Columbia, South Carolina in 2011 and assigned to a lifestyle intervention program. The intervention, guided by formative research, consisted of an individual counseling session followed by eight group sessions alternated with telephone counseling contacts that continued through 36 weeks of gestation.

Assessing preschool children's physical activity: how many days of accelerometry measurement.

The purpose of this study was to determine the minimum number of days of accelerometry required to estimate accurately MVPA and total PA in 3- to 5-year-old children. The study examined these metrics for all days, weekdays, and in-school activities. Study participants were 204 children attending 22 preschools who wore accelerometers for at least 6 hr per day for up to 12 days during most waking hours.

Study of Health and Activity in Preschool Environments (SHAPES): study protocol for a randomized trial evaluating a multi-component physical activity intervention in preschool children.

Background: Physical inactivity is a recognized public health concern. Inadequate proportions of children in the U.S, including those of preschool age, are meeting physical activity recommendations.

Identification of device-associated infections utilizing administrative data.

Background: Health care-associated infections are a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in US hospitals. Recent changes have broadened the scope of health care-associated infections surveillance data to use in public reporting and of administrative data for determining Medicare reimbursement adjustments for hospital-acquired conditions.

Methods: Infection surveillance results for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), and ventilator-associated pneumonia were compared with infections identified by hospital administrative data.

The Faith, Activity, and Nutrition program: a randomized controlled trial in African-American churches.

Background: Faith-based interventions hold promise for promoting health in ethnic minority populations. To date, however, few of these interventions have used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, have targeted both physical activity and healthy eating, and have focused on structural changes in the church.

Purpose: To report the results of a group randomized CBPR intervention targeting physical activity and healthy eating in African-American churches.

A cluster analysis of physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns in middle school girls.

Purpose: To identify similar patterns of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior in sixth-grade girls using cluster analysis; to determine which clusters of girls were associated with greater daily minutes of objectively measured PA; and to examine whether girls in these clusters experienced change in PA from sixth to eighth grade.

Methods: An adventitious cohort of girls (n = 957) from the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls were measured at sixth and eighth grade. Activities were identified using the 3-day physical activity recall and a self-report survey and used to create clusters of sixth-grade girls who had similar PA/sedentary behaviors.

Physical activity in preschool children with the transition to outdoors.

Background: It is known that children are more physically active outdoors than indoors. However, few previous studies have observed the time course for physical activity as young children transition from indoor to outdoor activities.

Methods: Participants were 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in the Children's Activity and Movement in Preschool Study (CHAMPS).

Results of the Heart Healthy and Ethnically Relevant Lifestyle trial: a cardiovascular risk reduction intervention for African American women attending community health centers.

Objectives: We evaluated a theory-based lifestyle intervention targeting physical activity and dietary fat intake among African American women at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

Methods: The Heart Healthy and Ethnically Relevant Lifestyle trial (2005-2008) randomly assigned 266 low-income African American women aged 35 years and older who were patients of South Carolina community health care centers into comprehensive or standard care interventions. Comprehensive participants received standard care (stage-matched provider counseling and assisted goal setting) plus 12 months of telephone counseling and tailored newsletters.

Results of the "Active by Choice Today" (ACT) randomized trial for increasing physical activity in low-income and minority adolescents.

Objective: This study reports the results of the "Active by Choice Today" (ACT) trial for increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in low-income and minority adolescents.

Design: The ACT program was a randomized controlled school-based trial testing the efficacy of a motivational plus behavioral skills intervention on increasing MVPA in underserved adolescents. Twenty-four middle schools were matched on school size, percentage minorities, percentage free or reduce lunch, and urban or rural setting before randomization.

The faith, activity, and nutrition (FAN) program: design of a participatory research intervention to increase physical activity and improve dietary habits in African American churches.

Background: African Americans are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer morbidity and mortality. Physical activity and healthy dietary practices can reduce this risk. The church is a promising setting to address health disparities, and community-based participatory research is a preferred approach.

Heart Healthy and Ethnically Relevant (HHER) Lifestyle trial for improving diet and physical activity in underserved African American women.

Background: African American women are at increased risk for CVD morbidity and mortality relative to white women. Physical inactivity and poor dietary habits are modifiable health behaviors shown to reduce CVD risk. Community health centers have the potential to reach large numbers of African Americans to modify their risk for CVD, yet few lifestyle counseling interventions have been conducted in this setting.

Logistic regression with incomplete covariate data in complex survey sampling: application of reweighted estimating equations.

Weighted survey data with missing data for some covariates presents a substantial challenge for analysis. We addressed this problem by using a reweighting technique in a logistic regression model to estimate parameters. Each survey weight was adjusted by the inverse of the probability that the possibly missing covariate was observed.

Social and environmental factors associated with preschoolers' nonsedentary physical activity.

The twofold purposes of the investigation were (a) to describe with direct observation data the physical activity behaviors and the accompanying social and environmental events of those behaviors for children in preschools and (b) to determine which contextual conditions were predictors of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and nonsedentary physical activity (i.e., light activity + MVPA) for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children during their outdoor play.

Policies and characteristics of the preschool environment and physical activity of young children.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine policies and characteristics of preschools and the extent to which they influence the physical activity of 3- to 5-year-old children during the preschool day.

Methods: A total of 299 children from 20 preschools wore accelerometers for an average of 8.1 hours/day (SD: 1.

Directly observed physical activity levels in preschool children.

Background: Millions of young children attend preschools and other structured child development programs, but little is known about their physical activity levels while in those settings. The purpose of this study was to describe the physical activity levels and demographic and school-related correlates of physical activity in children attending preschools, using a direct observation measurement system.

Methods: The Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool Version was used to measure physical activity levels and related factors in four hundred ninety-three 3- to 5-year-old children in 24 preschools.

Correlates of physical activity among African American and white women.

Objective: To compare potential correlates of physical activity between African American and white women.

Methods: A random-digit-dialed telephone survey was conducted in central South Carolina. Bivariate and multivariate analyses focused on women aged 18+ (N = 1176).

The effect of question order on reporting physical activity and walking behavior.

Background: Question order might affect self-reported regular physical activity (PA) measured with items from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) PA module.

Methods: A telephone survey was conducted using 2 forms (N = 1004, N = 212) with varying PA question order. The standard form presented moderate-PA, vigorous-PA, and walking questions, in that order, whereas the alternate form presented walking questions, followed by moderate-PA, and then vigorous-PA questions.

Long-term effects of a physical activity intervention in high school girls.

Background: Physical activity (PA) decreases during childhood and adolescence, and PA levels are significantly lower in females than males, particularly during adolescence. Schools are attractive settings in which to implement interventions designed to promote PA in girls and young women, but few studies have tested the sustained effects of such interventions.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Perceived individual, social, and environmental factors for physical activity and walking.

Background: Few studies have explored associations of individual, social, and environmental factors with physical activity and walking behavior.

Methods: A random-digit-dial questionnaire, which included selected individual, social, and environmental variables, was administered to 2025 adults, age 18 y and older, in two adjacent counties in a southeastern state. Logistic regressions were conducted adjusting for age, race, sex, education, and employment.