2012 Annual Conference

Swan, Dan

Our Children's House at Baylor, Dallas, TX

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that a multidisciplinary health and wellness event would have on lifestyle choices of adults and children. 

Parents and their children ages 6 to 55 years predominately living in the Frazier Community of South Dallas. Over 90  people attended the community event with 21 parents and their children agreeing to participate in the study.

Staff from Our Children’s House at Baylor, Texas Woman’s University, and the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute partnered in the fall of 2011 to hold a multidisciplinary community health promotion event with the goal to assist families with learning about healthy lifestyle practices. At the initial event, participants received educational materials related to nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle choices.  Baseline and follow up outcome measures included height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, resting heart rate, and performance on a 3-minute step test to obtain a clinical measure of VO₂ max for both adults and children. Parents and children completed questionnaires about their physical activity levels and their eating habits.  The researchers provided pedometers to participants so that they could track their physical activity levels over the 3-month period at which time outcome measures were re-administered. 

Eleven out of 21 participants returned to the follow-up event for assessment. Researchers conducted Wilcoxon signed rank analysis of the numerical data from pre- and post-testing.  Body Mass Index, blood pressure, and VO₂ max testing showed no statistically significant changes over the 3 month period although positive trends emerged in VO₂ max and resting heart rates for both adults and children.  Additionally, several participants in the study made improvements in nutrition choices and physical activity levels over the 3 month period. 

In this pilot study, participants did not show statistically significant changes in their health measures; however, many did show improvements in physical activity and nutrition practices.  The outcome of this fair suggested that more points of contact might increase participants’ abilities to make greater changes in fitness levels and health measures. This event enabled physical therapists and physical therapy students to partner with other medical professionals in a community-based fair. This format holds promise for future outreach opportunities in health promotion and illness prevention.