Acculturation is Not Related to Physical Activity Stage of Change for Children in Hawai'i.

The relationship between acculturation and physical activity stages of change is unexplored. Stages of change conceptualize behavior change as a progression through a series of five stages indicating the readiness to change behavior. The level of acculturation can be assessed using the Ethnocultural Identity Behavioral Index (EIBI) which is based on three factors: Cultural Activities, Social Interaction and Language Opportunities. The purpose of this project was to explore the relationship between parental acculturation and physical activity stages of change in Hawai'i children. Participants (N = 85; 62% female; aged 5-8 years; 22% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders, 42% Asian, 25% White, and 11% Other) completed the EIBI and a physical activity stages of change measure. Acculturation factor means were: Cultural Activities = 4 (SD = 1.26), Social Interaction = 3 (SD = 1.04), and Language Opportunities = 4 (SD = 1.29). The physical activity stages of change distribution was Precontemplation = 11 (13%), Contemplation/Preparation = 15 (18%), and Action/Maintenance = 59 (69%). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for Cultural Activities F(3, 81) = 0.77, P = .47, Social Interaction F(3, 81) = 0.93, P = .40; and Language Opportunities F(3, 81) = 1.34, P = .27 showed no significant differences between physical activity stages of change. The results of our study do not show an association between acculturation and readiness to change for physical activity. The lack of differences may be due to participants being moderately acculturated, possibly lessening the differentiation of acculturation by physical activity stages of change.

Pacific Tracker 2 - expert system (PacTrac2-ES) behavioural assessment and intervention tool for the Pacific Kids DASH for Health (PacDASH) study.

The Pacific Tracker (PacTrac) is a computer program designed to analyse food intakes of individuals from the Pacific Region. PacTrac's original output included servings of daily intake of food groups according to the United States Food Guide Pyramid, nutrient intake recommendations, and a comparison to other national nutrition recommendations. PacTrac was made available for public use through the Hawaii Foods website (hawaiifoods.hawaii.edu). PacTrac2 is an updated and expanded version of PacTrac that uses the United States MyPyramid/MyPlate food groups in household units of daily intake, rather than servings. In addition, the PacTrac2 includes a physical activity analysis tool which quantifies minutes of physical activities and their intensities based on energy estimates from the compendium of physical activity and research on children. An Expert System (ES) - a computerised decision tree to guide behaviour change - was developed using information on self-efficacy and stage of readiness to change, and the fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity information from PacTrac2. The ES produces reports for the child, the parent/guardian, and the child's physician with child-specific strategies, targeted behavioural information, and feedback tailored to the child. PacTrac2-ES was designed for the Pacific Kids DASH for Health (PacDASH) intervention study, conducted in the Kaiser Permanente health care system in Hawaii. The intervention is based on the child's self-efficacy and stage of readiness to change intake of fruits and vegetables and physical activity, with a goal of maintaining body weight to prevent obesity. The intervention is complemented with stage-based mailers addressing the environment for physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake and newsletters that address related behaviours (sedentary activity and a DASH eating approach). This project is the first to expand the PacTrac to contain children's foods and physical activities from the Pacific Region and to use current US MyPyramid/MyPlate food and physical activity analysis and guidance systems, and to develop and implement an Expert System for fruits, vegetables and physical activity of 5-8-year-old children. The PacTrac2-ES was used in the PacDASH study and will be used for other programs to promote healthy eating and physical activity of children in the Pacific Region.

Are physical activity and nutrition indicators of the checklist of health promotion environments at worksites (CHEW) associated with employee obesity among hotel workers?

OBJECTIVE: Worksites provide opportunities to reach more than 60% of adults in the United States, including populations diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, age, occupation, income, and health status. Employers that provide worksite weight management interventions have the potential to reduce sick leave, health care costs, and workers compensation costs, and increase employee morale and worker efficiency. Hotels specifically, represent a broad cross-section of job categories, and most hotels are staffed and operated similarly around the world. However, from our literature review, there have been no investigations of the association between the hotel environment and employees' obesity. METHODS: For this study, we tested the relationship between environmental factors in hotels and employees' body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: Overall no substantial correlations were found on any environmental variable. However, hotel size affected some relationships. Higher BMI was related to greater number of stairs, stair facilitation, and the healthy eating facilitation variables (excluding nutrition signs or posters) in medium sized hotels. Lower BMI was found with greater stair facilitation in small hotels; and with greater number of physical activity (PA) signs, lunch room nutrition signs, and hotel nutrition signs in large hotels. Unionized status affected only two environmental variables. For unionized hotels, BMI was negatively correlated with PA signs and positively correlated with the healthy eating facilitation. CONCLUSIONS: No logical pattern of association was found between workplace environmental factors and hotel employee BMI levels. Further research should investigate the interaction of the size and structure of the workplace with the impact of environmental efforts to reduce overweight and obesity.