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Healthy Out-of-School Time (HOST)
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Research Reports and Articles
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Active Hours Afterschool: Childhood Obesity Prevention and Afterschool Programs
Tackling and reversing the obesity crisis will require a comprehensive and sustained effort in every community in America. The nation’s growing network of afterschool providers can make a significant contribution to this battle.
Afterschool Alliance Issue Brief No. 24, April, 2006
Active Living Research
Schools play a critical role in helping children lead active, healthy lives. Physical education (PE) classes, recess, after-school programs, and walking or biking to school all have the potential to get kids moving. Research shows that kids who move more aren’t just healthier, they also tend to do better academically, behave better in class and miss fewer days of school. Unfortunately, our nation’s schools do not offer enough opportunities for children to be active—and many are even cutting back on existing programs.
Active Living Research, 09/04/12
Afterschool and Healthy Youth
Afterschool programs often play an important role in promoting healthy lifestyles for youth. Physical fitness activities after school not only promote health but also serve as crime deterrents, teach youth positive values, and impart knowledge and skills to help youth establish lifelong healthy habits.
Afterschool Alliance Issue Brief No. 8, September, 2004
Assessing the Diet, Exercise, Body Image, and Weight Of Adolescents
This brief discusses diet, exercise, body image, and weight and also provides information for practitioners on how to measure these factors among youth in their program.
By Laurie Martin, Sc.D., M.P.H. and Alyssa Milot, B.A., Child Trends Research-to-Results Brief, Publication #2007-06, March, 2007
Beyond the School Day: Utilizing After-School as Part of a School Wellness Strategy
The initiatives featured in this field report summarize activities of three Action for Healthy Kids Teams that used the ReCharge! Energizing After-School program — a joint effort of Action for Healthy Kids and the National Football League — as a mechanism for enhancing nutrition and physical activity for students in after-school.
Action for Healthy Kids Field Report, Vol. 2, No. 2
Bringing Healthy Food Home: Examining Inequalities in Access to Food Stores
Understanding the possible connections among access to healthy food, what families prepare and eat at home, and obesity can point toward potential environmental and policy solutions.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, July, 2008
Child Care as an Untapped Setting for Obesity Prevention
State Child Care Licensing Regulations Related to Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Media Use for Preschool-Aged Children in the United States.
By Karen M. Kaphingst, MPH, and Mary Story, PhD, RD, Preventing Chronic Disease, Vol. 6, No. 1, January, 2009, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Children
A Kansas Action for Healthy Kids Fact Sheet
Children and Physical Activity: The Importance of Movement and Physical Activity
Understanding why should we be concerned with promoting and integrating physical activity throughout the curriculum.
Article by Eloise Elliott, Ph.D and Steve Sanders, PBS Teachers, Ph.D, February, 2002
Comprehensive City-School Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity
A Report on the City and School Leaders Collaborating on Local Wellness Policies Project, funded by Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
By the National League of Cities, the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, and the American Association of School Administrators, 2010
DC SCORES Program Outcomes Report
DC SCORES is an after-school program in DC (part of a national affiliate, America SCORES), and it has concrete evidence that participation in SCORES which, in part, gets kids active on the soccer field, benefits overall cardiovascular capacity and BMI. In addition, DC SCORES supports school day goals with a model that encourages school engagement through innovative programming and by hiring and training teachers as after school “coaches."
DC SCORES, 2009
Do Short Physical Activity Breaks in Classrooms Work?
Creating activity breaks at school, such as moving and stepping for up to 20 minutes at a time in the classroom during the school day, is a relatively new and innovative method for increasing physical activity among children. This brief summarizes the research on how programs that provide classroom physical activity breaks impact physical activity, on-task behavior, health, and related factors in children.
Active Living Research, February 2013
Expanding the Role of Afterschool Programs in Promoting Health and Wellness
Physical health and wellness are among the core developmental needs critical to child well-being, and afterschool programs are venues that can support good health by providing nutritious food, creating opportunities for physical activity, and offering health education. This policy brief will focus on the issues related to child and youth health, the resources afterschool programs provide, and how to expand the role of afterschool programs to better promote healthy physical development.
New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) Policy Brief, Winter 2010
Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents
This brief examines how foods and beverages are marketed to children and adolescents, how food and beverage companies encourage younger individuals to buy their products and whether limiting youth's exposure to food and beverage marketing could have benefits in preventing childhood obesity.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, October, 2008
Food Insecurity and Risk for Obesity Among Children and Families: Is There a Relationship?
In the United States,
nearly 15 percent of households are food insecure; they have limited or
uncertain access to food. This research synthesis reviews studies that
examine the relationship between food insecurity and obesity in the
A Research Synthesis by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April, 2010
Health At Every Size: New Hope for Obese Americans?
The “Every Size” strategy, a health-centered rather than weight-centered program, may help chronic dieters reshape their thinking, shed unhealthy habits, adopt new patterns of eating, become more physically active, and increase their self-esteem.
By Marta D. Van Loan and Nancy L. Keim, Agricultural Research Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 3, March, 2006
Healthy Eating in Out-of-School Time: The Promise and the Challenge
NIOST researchers use qualitative research methods to explore healthy eating concepts among OST program administrators, examined their perception of the importance of the childhood obesity epidemic in relation to their mission, and explored perceived barriers to serving healthful foods and the potential utility of guidelines and other managerial supports in helping programs adopt healthy eating practices.
By Jean L. Wiecha, Georgia Hall, Ellen Gannett, and Barbara Roth, Afterschool Matters, Vol. 15, Spring, 2012
Healthy Eating Research - Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
In order to decrease childhood obesity rates, Healthy Eating Research, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program, researches healthy eating in children through environmental and policy strategies. This document provides the research’s goals and the background facts and statistics that serve as support for the research’s purpose.
A Call for Proposals by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, January, 2009
Healthy School Snacks
Ideas for teachers, caregivers, program directors, and parents for serving healthy snacks and beverages to children in the classroom, in after-school programs, at soccer games, and elsewhere
Published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Increasing Physical Activity through Recess
Schools can provide excellent opportunities for children to be physically active through regular recess. This brief summarizes the growing body of research examining recess, which shows that providing recess during the school day is an effective and efficient way to increase physical activity and improve academic performance among children.
Active Living Research
Local School Wellness Policies: How Are Schools Implementing the Congressional Mandate?
A research brief summarizing results of the preliminary evidence on the implementation of local school wellness policies and presents data in three key areas: quality, evaluation and funding of the policies; nutrition standards and nutrition education requirements; and physical activity requirements.
A Research Brief by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June, 2009
Menu Labeling: Does Point of Purchase Nutrition Information Affect Consumer Behavior?
This research synthesis reviews studies that have examined the use of menu labeling in away-from-home food establishments, such as restaurants and cafeterias, and the potential impact of labeling on consumers' food and beverage selections.
A Research Synthesis by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June, 2009
Obesity Prevention in Child Care: A Review of U.S. State Regulations
A research article examining U.S. state regulations on youth obesity prevention in all 50 states. The objective of this examination was to contrast individual state regulations on nutrition and physical activity related to obesity and child care homes. The research found great variation amongst the 50 states’ regulations and suggests enhancing wide-scale state regulations.
Sara E Benjamin, Angie Cradock, Elizabeth M Walker, Meghan Slining and Matthew W Gillman, BMC Public Health, Vol. 8, May 30, 2008, published by BioMed Central
Promoting Good Nutrition and Physical Activity in Child-Care Settings
While children spend a substantial amount of time in school, more than half of kids aged 5 to 14 years are also spending time in a child-care setting. This is also an important out-of-home setting for preschool-aged children. This research brief outlines federal food programs and regulations that govern nutrition and physical activity in child-care settings—and what research has demonstrated about the nutritional quality of foods offered in child-care settings.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May, 2007
Promoting Physical Activity and Healthy Nutrition in Afterschool Settings
Strategies for Program Leaders and Policy Makers
This strategy brief outlines the important role that afterschool programs can play in efforts to prevent childhood obesity.
Produced by the Afterschool Investments Project, August, 2006
Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Physical Activity
This report discusses the various benefits of physical activity for youth development, including positive social relationships and physiological benefits. It also outlines the importance of school and families in youth healthy living and provides tables and charts as visual aids.
Maureen R. Weiss, Ph.D. and Diane M. Wiese-Bjornstal, Ph.D., President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest, Series 10, No.3, September, 2009
Restaurant Realities: Inequalities in Access to Healthy Restaurant Choices
In 2008, Americans were expected to spend $558 billion eating at restaurants. This research brief explores how access to restaurants is related to the risk for obesity and describes what studies show about inequalities in access to different types of restaurants.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, July, 2008
School Foods Sold Outside of Meals
Schools that provide federally reimbursed meal programs must meet federal nutrition standards. But snacks and drinks sold outside of these programs—so-called "competitive foods"—do not have to meet these requirements. This brief examines the availability of competitive foods, their nutritional content, their impact on students' food consumption, and policies for improving the school food environment.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May, 2007
Smart School Snacks: A Comprehensive Preschool Nutrition Education Program
In creating Smart School Snacks, early childhood educators collaborated with nutritionists to combine knowledge of effective early childhood teaching practices with what children need to know about nutrition now and in the future.
By Penny Bernath and Wendi Masi, Beyond the Journal - Young Children on the Web, May, 2006, published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children
Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation
The action plan defines the goal of ending childhood obesity in a generation as returning to a childhood obesity rate of just 5 percent by 2030, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise in the late 1970s. In total, the report presents a series of 70 specific recommendations, many of which can be implemented right away.
The Report to the President from the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, May, 2010
Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Public Health
This research brief examines the latest information on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and food pricing strategies. The brief concludes that taxes resulting in substantially higher prices of SSBs could be a powerful policy tool for curbing obesity rates by leading people to reduce consumption.
A Research Brief by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, July, 2009
The Child and Adult Care Food Program Supports Good Nutrition in Quality Child Care
A brochure-type document for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which “promotes high-quality, affordable child care” via healthy food. This document overviews the program’s successes and includes different studies and statistics proving the program’s effectiveness.
Geraldine Henchy and Carolyn Wait, the Food Research and Action Center
The Importance of Nutrient-Rich Foods in Planning Nutritious Meals for Children
There is compelling scientific justification for using nutrient density as the basis for dietary recommendations. Educating the public, parents and children on how to choose nutrient-rich foods is a positive approach that emphasizes a food’s total nutrient content and teaches how to make healthy food choices.
Published by the the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition
The Negative Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Children's Health
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) by adolescents and children in the United States has been linked to less healthy diets, excessive caloric intake and weight gain, increased obesity rates, and associated adverse health effects, including increased rates of type 2 diabetes in adults. This research synthesis reviews evidence regarding the health effects of SSB consumption, outlines conclusions on the basis of these investigations and suggests areas for additional research.
A Research Synthesis by Healthy Eating Research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, November, 2009
The Role of Schools in Promoting Physical Activity
This infographic highlights a few ways that schools can promote daily physical activity for kids.
Active Living Research 4/5/2012
Watching TV: Even Worse for Kids Than You Think
From Time Magazine: Television-viewing has shown to be the worst form of inactivity amongst today’s youth, showing a significant difference in blood-pressure readings between children who watch television for more than 90 minutes per day and those who watch fewer than 30 minutes. The article covers potential problems posed by TV content, brain stimulation caused by programs cutting into sleep, etc.
Alice Park, Time Magazine, August 04, 2009
What Girls Say About Emotional and Social Health
Research by the Girl Scouts of USA on the view of health of young girls, which includes emotional well-being and safety. Includes tips on how to address health with girls and discusses the importance given to mothers.
The Girl Scout Research Institute, Girl Scouts of the USA Roundtable, September 1, 2009
What Works for the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity Among Children
This fact sheet synthesizes the findings from multiple studies that examined the impacts of various intervention strategies on child obesity. Interpretation of results: The ideal format for a successful, comprehensive obesity prevention program is still unclear.
Alena M. Hadley, M.S., Elizabeth C. Hair, Ph.D., and Nicole Dreisbach, Child Trends Fact Sheet, Publication #2010-07, March, 2010
