Talks at Twelve: Carol Devine and Elaine Wethington, Monday, February 22, 2016
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Large and Small Life Events among Overweight and Obese Black and Latino Adults in a Behavior Change Trial
Carol Devine, Division of Nutritional Sciences and Elaine Wethington, Human Development
Monday, February 22, 2016
12:00-1:00PM
Beebe Hall, 2nd floor conference room
It is widely believed that stressor exposure can negatively affect health. However, the impact of stressors on health behaviors is not well understood. Professors Wethington and Devine developed an interval life events (ILE) measurement method, which assesses exposure to both major stressors (life events) and minor stressors (hassles), for use in clinical trials or observational studies. They evaluated this method in the Small Changes and Lasting Effects (SCALE) trial. SCALE is a community-based intervention promoting small changes in diet and physical activity among overweight and obese African-American and Hispanic adults to discover how stressors interfere with behavior change or trial participation. In their talk Wethington and Devine will report on their findings.
Professor Elaine Wethington (human development; sociology; Weill Cornell Medicine) studies stress and social support processes across the life course. She is co-principal investigator on SCALE, a weight loss intervention with low income Black and Latino adults in New York City, and co-director and MPI for the Translational Research Institute for Pain in Later Life (TRIPLL).
Professor Carol Devine, Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell, studies how food choices over the life course are shaped by life transitions, social roles, and the lived environment. She is co-investigator on SCALE.
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New USDA-funded nutrition center with BCTR ties
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CCE nutrition demo at an NYC farmer's market (file photo)
A new federally-funded Cornell center will study how simple changes to schools, communities, and workplaces could help people live healthier and boost the success of long-running nutrition education programs for low-income families. The center will be led by Jamie Dollahite, professor of nutritional sciences.
The Northeast Regional Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Center of Excellence, based in Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences and funded by a two-year, $856,250 award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Service, unites multidisciplinary researchers, extension leaders and community partners to address socio-ecological factors contributing to obesity. One of five sites established by a $4 million USDA grant, Cornell’s center is a hub for 12 states, from Maine to Virginia, coordinating research and testing interventions primarily through the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
In addition to carrying out this signature research program, the center will issue sub-awards for projects in the Northeast to test community-based interventions and build a network for disseminating findings to the public and throughout the extension system.
Dollahite noted that the center will also focus on building evidence for the effectiveness of programs serving low-income populations. In 2013 nutrition education programs delivered through Cornell Cooperative Extension reached more than 175,000 under-served families across New York.
Cornell won the USDA funding in a competitive grant process carried out last summer. Dollahite believes the university succeeded thanks to “strong existing research and extension programs” and a “diverse team of researchers representing nutrition, health economics, behavioral economics, health communications, and community-based nutrition education.”
“Our steering and advisory committees include nationally recognized experts from Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Tufts and other top institutions, including all of the land-grant institutions in our region,” she added.
Jennifer Tiffany
In support of these goals, Jennifer Tiffany (BCTR director of outreach and community engagement) will serve on the research advisory committee, guiding the project's steering committee and helping identify gaps in the evidence base and proposing methods for pursuing projects designed to fill these gap. This work will draw on Tiffany's extensive experience in community-based health education and research and be supported by her connections throughout the university. In addition to her position in the BCTR, she serves as associate director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), associate director for outreach and extension within the College of Human Ecology, and executive director of CCE’s NYC Programs.
Debbie Sellers
The BCTR's director of research and evaluation Debbie Sellers will serve as the evaluation specialist for the project and will be a member of the steering committee.
The new center promises to increase collaboration between researchers and practitioners across the region. It will contribute to national obesity prevention efforts, and provide new opportunities to remedy gaps in the evidence-base.
USDA designates Cornell as obesity prevention hub - Cornell Chronicle
ShareResearch Synthesis Project releases first sytematic translational reviews
ShareThe BCTR Research Synthesis Project released its first two systematic translational reviews (STRs) this spring. The first identified validated measures of youth nutrition program outcomes, and the second examined the concept of “engagement” in university-community partnerships. These two STRs are the result of a new research synthesis protocol designed to include practitioner input in the review process while maintaining the structure of a systematic review and speed of a rapid review. The method was developed by Research Synthesis Project director Mary Maley to improve the accessibility and use of research evidence by community practitioners and policy makers. Review topics focus on applied practice questions which require a synopsis of evidence to use in order to strengthen program implementation. More about the STR process can be found here.
Psycho-Social Evaluation Measures for 8-12 year-olds in Nutrition Education Programs explores the question, "Which validated surveys measure changes in nutrition knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intent and self-efficacy among 8-12-year-olds in nutrition education programs?" The reviewers found that there wasn't a singular measure to recommend across programs, but that practitioners should select the best fit for their program from the identified validated measures.
The second STR considers, "How is “Community Engagement” described and operationalized in practice?" Community Engagement in Practice concludes that empirical literature does "not reflect a consistent meaning of the term, or the activities associated with it," but suggests ways that both program practitioners and researchers can address and remedy this ambiguity.
ShareReduce your salt intake, help your heart
Share"Salt makes our food taste, well, delicious. It’s found in nearly everything we eat – from soups, to baked goods to meats and cheeses. Most adults consume between 6 and 12 grams of salt per day, even though health organizations recommend intake less than 5 grams per day."
Read the rest of this post on the Evidence-Based Living blog:
Reduce your salt intake, help your heart
ShareRising food star credits 4-H with sparking his interest in nutrition
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Rising food star, world traveler, and humanitarian Lazarus Lynch is a graduate of the Food and Finance High School (FFHS) in New York City where he studied culinary arts, financial management, and nutrition. In the summer of his freshman year of high school, Lazarus worked as an intern for Cornell University Cooperative Extension as an Assistant Nutrition and Health Educator. In his senior year of high school, he launched a three-day Hunger & Health Conference educating hundreds of students of the extremities of hunger and poverty in the world.
Lazarus credits many of his successes and opportunities to the 4-H Youth Development Program. He attended 4-H's annual Career Explorations events in 2010 and 2012. In 2010, he was a part of the Youth Grow and Nutrition Program, which confirmed his decision to study dietetics and nutrition in college. In 2012 he participated as a Focused Assistant, leading his group Thinking like a Scientist to their everyday workshops and activities. Lazarus will be the keynote speaker at 2013 Career Explorations.
In 2010, Lazarus was one of four New York State students to attend the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa. As a 2011 World Food Prize Borlaug~Ruan intern, Lazarus spent that summer studying at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, China where he explored food security and nutrition issues and conducted advanced genetics research with Chinese researchers. Lazarus has served as a member of the National Brand Advisory Team, using his knowledge and skills to implement new marketing strategies for 4-H.
Through his two blogs and weekly contribution to his school’s newspaper, Lazarus has inspired people all across the world to eat, cook, and live healthy lives. In his near future, Lazarus wants to be an author, dietician, TV personality, and restaurateur. Lynch has been named the next big food star by one of Food Network’s hosts. He has continued in his traveling career during his freshman year of college, when he recently traveled to Rwanda to gather research on genocide prevention to create a theater production on conflict resolution. Lazarus’ goal is to one day lead the effort to eradicate global world hunger and promote healthy eating.
Lazarus attends Buffalo State College where he studies Nutrition, Music, and Theater.
Lazarus' blogs:
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New evidence about the federal food stamps program
Share"Nearly 45 million American receive help purchasing food each year through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps. Here on EBL, we’ve written about the federal program in the past, specifically how it helps keep families out of poverty.
"Now a new report from the National Academies of Sciences Institute of Medicine examines the evidence to determine if SNAP benefits provide sufficiently for the families they serve."
Read more at the Evidence-Based Living blog:
New evidence about the federal food stamps program
ShareThe murky evidence on saturated fat
Share"For decades, it has been accepted as truth that eating foods high in saturated fats such as full-fat milk products and fatty cuts of meat — lead to an increased risk of heart disease. Yet a small but growing body of evidence is raising questions about whether reducing saturated fat intake impacts health outcomes."
Read more on the Evidence-Based Living blog:
The murky evidence on saturated fat
ShareTalks at Twelve: Carol Devine and Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro, Tuesday, April 30, 2013
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Food Choices among Dominican Women in New York City: Interaction of Food Culture and Environment
Carol Devine and Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
12:00-1:00PM
Beebe Hall, 2nd floor conference room
This talk is open to all. Lunch will be served. Metered parking is available in the Plantations lot across the road from Beebe Hall.
This is a BCTR Innovative Pilot Study Grant recipient talk.
Dominicans are a large and growing population in New York City with significant health and economic challenges. This qualitative study investigated how Dominican women defined and interacted with their food environments and how socio-cultural factors shaped their choices with implications for nutrition interventions in urban communities.
Project collaborators:
Carol Devine, PhD, RD Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro, MPH, RD, Doctoral Candidate, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Sandra P Gucciardi, MPH, RD, Extension Associate, Cornell University Cooperative Extension of New York City
Carol Devine is Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, where she studies continuity and change in nutrition practices over the life course and how these practices are affected by life transitions, social roles such as work and family life, and the lived environment. She has over 35 years of community nutrition research and outreach experience, focusing on the use of environmental strategies to promote healthy eating and physical activity in worksites, childcare, and other community settings. Professor Devine is a Co-Investigator on SCALE (Small Changes Lasting Effects), an NHLBI-funded weight loss intervention with low income Black and Latino adults in New York City. She is a member of the Cornell NutritionWorks team, offering on-line professional development for over 10,000 nutrition and health professionals around the world and is a co-author of an online course on ecological approaches to obesity prevention. She earned her doctorate in nutrition from Cornell University, her master’s degree from Tufts University, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire.
Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro is a doctoral candidate in Community Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. She received her bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and Master’s in Public Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. After completing her MPH, she moved to New York City to work in field of health education where her experience as a researcher at the Mount Sinai Hospital and Program Manager at HIP Health Plan fueled her interest in health disparities in urban areas. In an effort to better understand how health disparities can be ameliorated, she has focused her dissertation research on Dominican women living in Washington Heights and the South Bronx, which you will be hearing about today.
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