BodyWorks Evaluation

The Office on Women's Health (OWH) contracted with Altarum Institute to conduct an independent process and outcome evaluation of the BodyWorks Toolkit and training. The goals of the evaluation are to:

• Evaluate the impact of BodyWorks on awareness, knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents and adolescent girls in relation to physical activity and nutrition,
• Determine the most effective strategies for ensuring successful implementation of BodyWorks.

To accomplish these goals, a quasi-experimental, pre-post comparison-group design was used to measure changes in outcomes, knowledge, intentions, and behaviors over time and across six different implementation sites including private medical practices, Centers of Excellence, County Health Departments and Community-Based Organizations. Survey data was collected from over 180 intervention parents, 55 comparison parents and 70 adolescents. Data collection was completed in June 2008. Additionally, those who were trained to deliver BodyWorks by OWH were asked to complete a posttest to explore the skills, resources, and motivation necessary to prepare them to implement BodyWorks with parents and caregivers.

This evaluation, designed in collaboration with OWH and its partners, provides rich data and information that can be used to improve BodyWorks during its program life. Equally important is the contribution that this study potentially can make toward increasing the knowledge and science base regarding effective interventions for addressing healthy eating and physical activity, thereby reducing the toll of childhood obesity.

Data analysis is currently underway and the results of the evaluation will be available in early 2009.

Thank you to all of those who participated in the evaluation especially the following six sites:

• Girls in the Game
• Girl Scouts of Utah
• Health Promotion Council and Inter-faith Housing Alliance
• Ogle County Health Department
• Dr. Monica Richter and Valley Children's Clinic
• University of Illinois at Chicago

For additional information regarding the evaluation, please contact Jodi Anthony at jodi.anthony@altarum.org

Current as of September, 2008