Master's Papers and Projects

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Browsing Master's Papers and Projects by Department "Community Health Education"

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    Development of a comprehensive plan for the City of Indianapolis, Indiana
    Ausbrooks, Dwight L. (Virginia Tech, 1993-08-13)
    The membership and participation within Indianapolis Challenge (I-Challenge) has increased significantly over the past year through diversification of both members and organizations. We have developed into a well balanced countywide-represented coalition. This local action plan for the Indianapolis Challenge represented a culmination of efforts and support of the group by major institutions within Marion County. Groups offering support include the following: the Mayor's Office, the State Prosecutor's Office, the Community Service council, the united Way of Central Indiana, Marion County Justice Agency, the Greater Indianapolis Council on Alcoholism and Fairbanks Hospital. Through their research, the Funding Committee, in conjunction with the Planning and Development Committee, were able to make known the needs of the community. One major finding is that there is a moderate effort of coordination taking place in Marion County. Many of the major institutions have acquiesced in the I-Challenge mission by necessity; I-Challenge reviews grants to ensure consistency with the local comprehensive plan for the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Justice substance abuse funds. The data from Marion County is insufficient and agencies have trouble addressing the needs of the community. This is particularly true of those agencies depending on public monies and whose primary mission is to serve the poor. I-Challenge is developing a county-wide strategic plan which will determine the actions necessary to meet the needs of the city.
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    The fit family program
    Williams, Barbara Helen (Virginia Tech, 1991)
    The purpose of this study was to explore how families might respond to a home-centered, health-related family fitness program designed to improve lifestyle eating and exercise behaviors. Based on social learning principles and family systems theory, this two-month program involved six families (parents and children aged 9 to 18) recruited from 4-H Community Clubs in the Salem-Roanoke and New River Valley areas. The Salem-Roanoke area participants received the treatment, and the New River Valley participants served as the comparison group. Both groups were tested regarding fitness levels (flexibility, strength, endurance, height/weight), cardiovascular measures (blood pressure, resting heart rate, total blood cholesterol), and knowledge of diet/nutrition at the beginning and end of the two-month program. Participants were also required to maintain a weeks’ daily diet/activity logs in conjunction with each testing session. In addition to the above measures, the treatment group received training in the use of diet and activity classification systems, asked to keep daily diet/activity logs using these systems, and work toward diet/activity goals. This group received educational materials by mail, weekly phone calls, and incentives for goals met during the second month. Both groups received feedback on scores and measures during the testing sessions as well as incentives for completing the final testing and logs. Results indicate that the treatment group increased their activity levels by an average of 34% (measured by point system) and decreased their intake of high-fat foods by 44% on average (measured by numbers of high-fat foods eaten). Fit Family participants made improvements on average for all 10 of the other dependent measures including fitness/nutrition knowledge, health-related fitness, and cardiovascular measures. Furthermore, the improvements made by this group were on average greater than the comparison group's for every measure with the exception of activity points. Finally, changes occurred similarly for parents and children within families in 75% of the possible cases.
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