Adolescents Committed to Nutrition and Physical Activity

Adolescents Committed to Improvement of Nutrition and Physical Activity (ACTION)

Community based participatory research principles will be used to create, implement and evaluate a culturally relevant and age-appropriate obesity intervention for adolescents who are overweight or obese. The intervention will be implemented through school-based health centers (SBHC) and will include clinical encounters with SBHC providers, use of Motivational Enhancement Therapy to help overweight/obese adolescents adopt healthier behaviors, and use of a community advisory council to develop obesity risk reduction strategies that will be delivered by print and digital video disc (DVD) media. To test efficacy of the ACTION intervention, overweight/obese adolescents will be recruited to either the intervention condition or the usual care condition. Students will have pre- and post- intervention measurements to assess if adolescents in the intervention condition will have improved risk factor profile for metabolic syndrome, improved nutrition and increased physical activity when compared with students in the usual care condition.

Inclusion Criteria:

• greater than or equal to the 85th percentile in BMI
• in 9th through 11th grades at participating schools

Exclusion Criteria:

• BMI greater than or equal to 40
• previously diagnosed type 1 or type 2 diabetes
• blood pressure in the range of stage 2 hypertension
• medications that significantly interfere with weight