Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Settings

The evidence base of the impact and effectiveness of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in the out-of-school setting is continuing to emerge. By sponsoring this special issue, the National AfterSchool Association provides a platform for the sharing of a range of research studies that can inform and shape current discussion of best policies and practices to support child and youth wellness. The body of work presented in this issue adds considerably to our knowledge of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in out-of-school programs, and highlights the substantial contribution towards childhood obesity prevention that we envision from our field. This is the 143rd volume of New Directions for Youth Development, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series dedicated to bringing together everyone concerned with helping young people, including scholars, practitioners, and people from different disciplines and professions.

The evidence base of the impact and effectiveness of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in the out-of-school setting is continuing to emerge. By sponsoring this special issue, the National AfterSchool Association provides a platform for the sharing of a range of research studies that can inform and shape current discussion of best policies and practices to support child and youth wellness.The body of work presented in this issue adds considerably to our knowledge of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in out-of-school programs, and highlights the substantial contribution towards childhood obesity prevention that we envision from our field.This is the 143rd volume of New Directions for Youth Development, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series dedicated to bringing together everyone concerned with helping young people, including scholars, practitioners, and people from different disciplines and professions.

Issue Editors' Notes 1Jean L.Wiecha, Georgia HallExecutive Summary 71. 4-H Healthy Living programs with impact: A nationalenvironmental scanLaura H. Downey, Donna J. Peterson, Suzanne LeMenestrel, JoAnneLeatherman, James Lang 13This chapter shares findings from an environmental scan of 4-Hprograms that adhered to the national 4-H Healthy Livingmission.2. Concerns in measurement of healthy eating and physicalactivity standards implementationKatherine H. Hohman, Karah D. Mantinan 25This chapter examines the measurement and monitoring of healthyeating and physical activity (HEPA) standards implementation inYMCA afterschool program sites.3. Creating healthier afterschool environments in the HealthyEating Active Communities programArnell J. Hinkle, Sallie Yoshida 45This chapter describes California's Healthy Eating ActiveCommunities (HEAC) afterschool program initiative, reviews findingsfrom the HEAC afterschool program nutrition and physical activityevaluation, and shares strategies that were used to implement thefive-year training and technical assistance intervention.4. Effects of a competency-based professional developmenttraining on children's physical activity and staff physicalactivity promotion in summer day campsR. Glenn Weaver, Michael W. Beets, Gabrielle Turner-McGrievy,Collin A.Webster, Justin Moore 57This chapter presents findings from a multiyear evaluation of acompetency-based training approach, adopted by the YMCA ofColumbia, SC. Authors describe how a competency-based professionaldevelopment training may be effective at increasing physicalactivity promoting and decreasing physical activity discouragingstaff behaviors and related child activity levels.5. Impact of implementation factors on children's waterconsumption in the Out-of-School Nutrition and PhysicalActivity group-randomized trialRebekka M. Lee, Cassandra Okechukwu, Karen M. Emmons, Steven L.Gortmaker 79This chapter demonstrates the effectiveness of an afterschoolintervention on increases in children's water consumption andoutlines the substantial influence that implementation factors canhave on the effectiveness of an obesity preventionintervention.6. Evidence-based fitness promotion in an afterschool setting:Implementation fidelity and its policy implicationsJean M. Thaw, Manuela Villa, David Reitman, Christian DeLucia,Vanessa Gonzalez, K. Lori Hanson 103Using a three-wave, quasi-experimental, naturalistic observationdesign, this study evaluated the implementation of anevidence-based physical activity (PA) instruction curriculum andwhether the potential health benefits of evidence-based PAinstruction can be replicated in this context when compared toout-of-school time programs that do not use evidence-based PAcurricula.7. Active summers matter: Evaluation of a community-basedsummertime program targeting obesogenic behaviors of low-income,ethnic minority girlsAmy M. Bohnert, Amanda K.Ward, Kimberly A. Burdette, Rebecca L.Silton, Lara R. Dugas 133This study examines the effectiveness of Girls in the Game, asix-hour four-week sports and fitness summer camp program, inincreasing physical activity and reducing body mass index and mediause.Index 151