A program started 13 years ago at the University of Nebraska at Kearney is now helping families across the state live healthier lifestyles.
Building Healthy Families was recently expanded to Columbus, Gering, Grand Island, Hastings, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Wayne, giving residents of these rural communities easy access to an effective weight management program.
Created by exercise science professor Kate Heelan and her colleagues in the UNK Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, Building Healthy Families is an evidence-based program designed for children ages 6-12 and their families. Participants meet weekly for three months – at no cost – while learning how to improve their nutrition and eating habits, modify unhealthy behaviors and increase their physical activity through a variety of hands-on lessons. Six follow-up sessions are conducted out to one year.
The program has proven success in Kearney, with overweight children losing more than 4% of their body mass and adults dropping an average of 14 pounds over the 12 weeks.
“Building Healthy Families has impacted the lives of many children, and adults, over the past decade. It’s amazing watching these kids grow and mature into confident, healthy young adults,” said Heelan, who serves as director of UNK’s Physical Activity and Wellness Lab. “We have seen parents get completely off blood pressure medications and children improve blood lipid profiles, decrease blood pressure and increase self-esteem.”
Obesity affects 1 in 5 children and adolescents in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with higher rates in lower-income families and rural areas that don’t have access to the same resources as urban cities. Effective family-based programs have been available for more than two decades; however, starting and sustaining these programs in rural communities can be difficult.
“When resources aren’t available locally, rural families are forced to travel to larger metropolitan areas for these services, and that’s not always a realistic option,” Heelan said. “It’s important to have community-based programs where they can go to local facilities and meet with local people.”
That’s the goal of Building Healthy Families.
Using a $2.5 million grant from the CDC, Heelan and a team of researchers from UNK and the University of Nebraska Medical Center are developing a turnkey version of the program that can be easily implemented in smaller communities across the country – starting in Nebraska with Columbus, Gering, Grand Island, Hastings, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Wayne.
These locations launched local versions of Building Healthy Families as part of a five-year pilot project.
Original source can be found here.
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