Overview

The Healthy Communities Study (HCS) is a five-year, multicenter study that examines the influence of programs and policies in communities across the United States on children's eating, physical activity, and weight status.

The CPARG investigative team provides scientific leadership, participates in management of the project, contributes to development of the detailed study protocol, participates in quality assurance and training, and contributes to data analysis and preparation of scientific reports.

Phase I. During Phase I of the project CPARG contributed to development of the detailed study protocol, particularly in the areas of measurement of physical activity; community, family and personal factors influencing physical activity; community and child sampling strategies; socioeconomic and cultural influences on diet and physical activity; school and community policies, and physical environmental factors.

Phase II and III. In the second and third Phases of the project, corresponding to study years 2-5, CPARG continues to provide scientific leadership, particularly in the areas noted above. In addition, the team contributes to quality assurance by reviewing study operations, fidelity to planned study procedures, and preliminary data on an ongoing basis. Further, the team contributes to data analysis and preparation of scientific reports on an ongoing basis.

Project Details

Timeline: 2010-2015
Funding Source: NIH (subcontract with Battelle Memorial Institute)
Principal Investigator: Russell R. Pate
Co-Investigators: Ed Frongillo, Robert McKeown, Saundra Glover, Dawn Wilson, Sonya Jones, Natalie Colabianchi, Melinda Forthofer

Publications

Sweeney AM, Wilson DK. Pate RR, Van Horn ML, McIver K, Dowda M. The role of parental support for youth physical activity transportation and community-level poverty in the healthy communities study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2021 March 25. [pdf]

Saunders RP, Dowda M, McIver K, Pate RR, Healthy Communities Study Research Group. Regional comparisons of walking or bicycling for fun or exercise and for active transport in a nationally distributed sample of community‐based youth. Pediatric obesity. 2018 Jun 14.[pdf]

Kaczynski AT, Besenyi GM, Child S, Morgan Hughey S, Colabianchi N, McIver KL, Dowda M, Pate RR. Relationship of objective street quality attributes with youth physical activity: findings from the Healthy Communities Study. Pediatric obesity. 2018 Jun 14.[pdf]

Pate RR, Frongillo EA, McIver KL, Colabianchi N, Wilson DK, Collie‐Akers VL, Schultz JA, Reis J, Madsen K, Woodward‐Lopez G, Berrigan D. Associations between community programmes and policies and children's physical activity: the Healthy Communities Study. Pediatric obesity. 2018 Jun 13.[pdf]

Strauss WJ, Nagaraja J, Landgraf AJ, Arteaga SS, Fawcett SB, Ritchie LD, John LV, Gregoriou M, Frongillo EA, Loria CM, Weber SA. The longitudinal relationship between community programmes and policies to prevent childhood obesity and BMI in children: the Healthy Communities Study. Pediatric obesity. 2018 Feb 28.[pdf]

Frongillo EA, Fawcett SB, Ritchie LD, Arteaga SS, Loria CM, Pate RR, John LV, Strauss WJ, Gregoriou M, Collie-Akers VL, Schultz JA. Community policies and programs to prevent obesity and child adiposity. American journal of preventive medicine. 2017 Nov 1;53(5):576-83.[pdf]

Pate RR, McIver KL, Colabianchi N, Troiano RP, Reis JP, Carroll DD, Fulton JE. Physical activity measures in the Healthy Communities Study. American journal of preventive medicine. 2015 Oct 1;49(4):653-9.[pdf]

John LV, Gregoriou M, Pate RR, Fawcett SB, Crawford PB, Strauss WJ, Frongillo EA, Ritchie LD, Loria CM, Kelley M, Fishbein HA. Operational implementation of the Healthy Communities Study: how communities shape children’s health. American journal of preventive medicine. 2015 Oct 1;49(4):631-5.[pdf]

Arteaga SS, Loria CM, Crawford PB, Fawcett SB, Fishbein HA, Gregoriou M, John LV, Kelley M, Pate RR, Ritchie LD, Strauss WJ. The Healthy Communities Study: its rationale, aims, and approach. American journal of preventive medicine. 2015 Oct 1;49(4):615-23.[pdf]

Pate RR. Overview of the Protocol Manuscripts for the Healthy Communities Study. American journal of preventive medicine. 2015 Oct 1;49(4):614.[pdf]