Formative research in a school-based obesity prevention program for Native American school children (Pathways)

Joel Gittelsohn, Marguerite Evans, Deborah Helitzer, Jean Anliker, Mary Story, Lauve Metcalfe, Sally Davis, Patty Iron Cloud

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes how formative research was developed and implemented to produce obesity prevention interventions among school children in six different Native American nations that are part of the Pathways study. The formative assessment work presented here was unique in several ways: (1) it represents the first time formative research methods have been applied across multiple Native American tribes; (2) it is holistic, including data collection from parents, children, teachers, administrators and community leaders; and (3) it was developed by a multi-disciplinary group, including substantial input from Native American collaborators. The paper describes the process of developing the different units of the protocol, how data collection was implemented and how analyses were structured around the identification of risk behaviors. An emphasis is placed on describing which units of the formative assessment protocol were most effective and which were less effective.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)251-265
Number of pages15
JournalHealth Education Research
Volume13
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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