A grant from the Principal Financial Group Foundation, Inc., will help support a University of Iowa College of Public Health initiative designed to combat obesity and promote better health among Iowa's children.
The Principal, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, has pledged a total of $250,000 over five years to support community-based initiatives in Muscatine and Fort Dodge aimed at promoting wellness and reducing childhood obesity by improving nutrition and exercise programs.
Support from the Principal will help focus on strengthening the measurement and evaluation methods used in these projects, which involve local school districts, teachers, families, health care providers and other stakeholders in these communities.
"Childhood obesity has quickly become a national concern. That is why we are pleased to partner with the University of Iowa College of Public Health to develop a meaningful program evaluation and measurement tool," said John Aschenbrenner, president of Insurance and Financial Services at Principal. "Having a clear understanding of how the physical and behavioral changes impact a move to a healthy lifestyle is important for the long-term success of any outreach program."
The College of Public Health project is led by Linda Snetselaar, PhD, interim head of community and behavioral health and professor of epidemiology, and Lawrence Prybil, PhD, professor of health management and policy.
"The goal is to create models of evidence-based, community-wide programs that can be replicated in other communities," Snetselaar said. "This support from the Principal Financial Group Foundation will allow us to develop clearly-defined measures and targets with which to evaluate specific strategies."
The initiatives in Muscatine and Fort Dodge build on existing community-based efforts and ongoing programs linked with the College of Public Health. In Muscatine, the primary community partner is the Muscatine Community School District, while in Fort Dodge, Trinity Regional Medical Center serves as the local partner.
"In both Muscatine and Fort Dodge, local residents and community leaders have identified childhood obesity as a priority health concern that they want to address," Prybil said. "That community commitment, in concert with the use of proven prevention strategies and ongoing assessment, provides an ideal environment to develop programs that will be durable and have measurable impact."
Approved by the Principal Financial Group Foundation, the grant was made through the UI Foundation. Support for the ongoing obesity-prevention project also has been provided by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and other local organizations. |
