The built environmentâ€"the physical world made up of the homes, buildings, streets, and infrastructure within which people live, work, and playâ€"underwent changes during the 20th and 21st centuries that contributed to a sharp decline in physical activity and affected access to healthy foods. Those developments contributed in turn to the weight gain observed among Americans in recent decades. Many believe, therefore, that policies and practices that affect the built environment could affect obesity rates in the United States and improve the health of Americans. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in September 2017 to improve understanding of the roles played by the built environment in the prevention and treatment of obesity and to identify promising strategies in multiple sectors that can be scaled up to create more healthful and equitable environments. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
The built environmentâ€"the physical world made up of the homes, buildings, streets, and infrastructure within which people live, work, and playâ€"underwent changes during the 20th and 21st centuries that contributed to a sharp decline in physical activity and affected access to healthy foods. Those developments contributed in turn to the weight gain observed among Americans in recent decades. Many believe, therefore, that policies and practices that affect the built environment could affect obesity rates in the United States and improve the health of Americans. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in September 2017 to improve understanding of the roles played by the built environment in the prevention and treatment of obesity and to identify promising strategies in multiple sectors that can be scaled up to create more healthful and equitable environments. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Principles of Epidemiology for Advanced Practice Nurses provides students and practitioners with an overview of epidemiology concepts as well as the history, models and frameworks in use today.
Physical Activity in Public Health Practice provides the first evidence-based, practical textbook to guide readers through the process of conceptualizing, justifying, implementing, and evaluating physical activity interventions across a broad array of settings and populations. Section One begins with an overview of epidemiology, measurement, critical milestones, and the importance of moving beyond individual-level physical activity intervention, to interventions aimed at policy-, systems-, and environmental-level changes. Section Two considers planning interventions across a variety of settings and populations, including general concepts for implementation and evaluation, how to build effective coalitions, steps for developing community-, regional- or state-level strategic plans, and effectively translating policy into practice. Section Three addresses how to implement physical activity strategies across a variety of settings, including worksites, faith-based settings, healthcare settings, schools, and parks and recreation. This section also provides guidance on the complexities and challenges of targeting interventions for specific populations, such as families, older adults, persons with disabilities, as well as different strategies for urban and rural populations. Lastly, Section Four outlines effective strategies for how to evaluate interventions depending upon impact, outcome, and cost evaluation, and dissemination models for your intervention. Presented from both a research and a practice perspective while discussing the best available research, this book provides the basis for planning and implementing physical activity programs that work and can build healthier communities. This hands-on text incorporates learning objectives, real-world examples, case studies, and bulleted lists whenever possible so that the content can be digested easily not only in undergraduate and graduate course settings but also by public health workers and other health educators in practice. Written by world experts and augmented by practical applications, this textbook prepares public health students and practitioners to develop effective interventions and spur greater physical activity in their communities. Key Features: Provides effective strategies for properly measuring and increasing physical activity in communities Demonstrates how to carry out physical activity interventions across a variety of settings, including schools, communities, worksites and many more Discusses methods for directing physical activity interventions to specific populations Delivers strategies for building successful partnerships and coalitions Practical group activities, exercises, discussion questions, audio podcast discussions, and a full instructor packet accompany the textbook
Global Health Complications of Obesity presents a valuable resource for research scientists and clinicians by covering the burden of obesity and related diseases and serving as a starting point for in-depth discussions in academic settings and for obesity-treatment specialists. Obesity is associated with a statistically higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases. This succinct resource focuses on the current data, research and management of obesity. It is essential reading for healthcare professionals, endocrinologists, nutritionists, public health students and medical students. - Presents clinical cases, key terms and targeted references - Addresses diseases including diabetes, cancer, hypertension, osteoarthritis, fatty liver disease, infertility, renal failure and depression - Provides a link to new knowledge that is ideal for both researchers and clinicians
This updated edition of the groundbreaking first edition identifies changes in U.S. children and adolescents' obesity levels within the past decade, examining factors contributing to obesity in this younger generation as well as possible solutions. This comprehensive review of obesity in childhood and adolescence describes the many factors that contribute to obesity, how to prevent it, and how to manage it in those who already experience its effects. Written by specialists in biological, psychological, social, and behavioral fields, these volumes take an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, offering readers a broad understanding of the systemic complexity of obesity from a public health perspective. The public must be aware of the deep and extensive roots of the problem in order to make informed decisions about policies related to school and nutritional practices, health care costs, and more. Factors contributing to obesity in children and adolescents range from obvious ones such as quantity of food consumed and amount of physical exercise undertaken to how friendly the neighborhood environment is for outdoor activities and the affordability of nutritional foods such as fruits and vegetables. With the information in these volumes, readers will feel empowered to help their clients, families, and communities.
Ensuring optimal diets and nutrition for the global population is a grand challenge fraught with many contentious issues. To achieve food security for all and protect health, we need functional, equitable, and sustainable food systems. Food systems are highly complex networks of individuals and institutions that depend on governance and policy leadership. This book explains how interconnected food systems and policies affect diets and nutrition in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. In tandem with food policy, food systems determine the availability, affordability, and nutritional quality of the food supply, which influences the diets that people are willing and able to consume. Readers will become familiar with both domestic and international food policy processes and actors, and they will be able to critically analyze and debate how policy and science affect diet and nutrition outcomes.
Based on worldwide public health data, this report lays out the premise for building healthy places and illuminates the role of the real estate and development community in addressing public health issues. This is an essential resource for public officials, real estate developers, engineers, consultants, and students of urban planning.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
