Physical Activity and Children
and Adolescents
Knowledge Path
Knowledge Path Table of Contents
- Websites
- Additional Electronic Publications
- Databases: Data, Literature and Research, and Programs
- Electronic Newsletters and Online Discussion Groups
Resources on Specific Aspects of Physical Activity
Please provide feedback on this knowledge path.
This knowledge path about physical activity and children and adolescents has been compiled by the MCH Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe public health campaigns and other promotion programs, and report on research aimed at identifying promising strategies for improving physical activity levels within families, schools and after-school programs, child care and early childhood education settings, and communities. The knowledge path also provides resources about physical activity for children and adolescents with special health care needs. The knowledge path is aimed at health professionals, policymakers, child care providers, and community advocates. Separate briefs present resources for schools and families. The knowledge path will be updated periodically.
See Physical Activity and the Health of Young People, rev. ed. (2008) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This fact sheet highlights the benefits of regular physical activity and the long-term consequences of sedentary behavior for children and adolescents. It also presents participation rates in physical activity and in physical education classes for children and adolescents.
- American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
(AAHPERD). Includes publications, program information, electronic
discussion groups, and links to a research
consortium and each of the alliance organizations that represent
professionals in physical education, health education, recreation,
dance, and sports. The organizations are the American
Association for Health Education (AAHE), the American
Association for Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR),
the National
Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS), the National
Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), and
the National Dance
Association (NDA).
- American
College of Sports Medicine (ACSM): Youth Sports and Health Resource
Center. Presents information about this effort to promote
child and adolescent health and fitness and combat overweight
and obesity through research, education, and initiatives to increase
safe and effective participation in sports and physical activity
and reduce the risk and incidence of injury. Recent publications
include
Selected Issues for the Adolescent Athlete and the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement. (2008).
- Association
of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND):
Moving to the Future. Offers a collection of tools
to develop successful community programs that promote healthy
eating and physical activity. Includes instructions for conducting
a community assessment, writing objectives, developing a plan,
and evaluating programs. ASTHPHND also presents
Critical Need for Public Health Leadership and Capacity to Improve Health through Physical Activity: Recommendations from the Physical Activity Collaborative. (2008).
- Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Supports several
initiatives and offers many resources to improve
physical activity among children, adolescents, and adults
that include
Guide to Community Preventive Services: Physical Activity. Contains recommendations for population-based interventions to increase physical activity that are appropriate for communities and health care systems. Recommendations are focused on interventions in three areas: (1) campaigns and informational approaches to increasing physical activity, (2) behavioral and social approaches to increasing physical activity, and (3) environmental and policy approaches to increasing physical activity.
Physical Activity Resources for Health Professionals. Offers information and tools for state and local health departments, schools and universities, community coalitions, organizations that fund public health programs, health care systems, and other groups that have an interest in or responsibility for increasing physical activity. Provides reports and recommendations, data and surveillance resources, information to assist with program planning and evaluation, and ideas for physical activity promotion.
Social Marketing for Nutrition and Physical Activity. This online course provides training for public health professionals about how to use social marketing to plan nutrition, physical activity, and obesity-prevention programs.
Tobacco-Free Sports Initiatives. Offers materials to help coaches, school administrators, and state and local health departments promote the importance of choosing an active and tobacco-free lifestyle.
Also see these additional CDC resources: Youth Physical Activity Guidelines Toolkit (2009), Healthy Youth!, BAM! Body and Mind, Best Bones Forever!, Physical Activity for Everyone, Designing and Building Healthy Places, Data and Surveillance: An Explanation of U.S. Physical Activity Surveys, and the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity State Legislative Database.
- Girls
on the Run (GOTR). Offers information about this nationwide
program to promote physical activity and healthy behaviors among
girls age 8 to 13.
- Healthy
People 2020. Information about this national health-promotion
and disease-prevention initiative of the Department
of Health and Human Services. View the overview, objectives,
and recommended interventions and resources for physical
activity.
- National
Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA). Presents
information about the National Physical Activity
Plan and its implementation along with links to fact sheets,
tools, reports, and state physical activity coalitions. NCPPA
is a coalition of public, private, and industry organizations
that advocate for policies to encourage all Americans to lead
more physically active lives. See NCPPA’s e-newsletters.
- National
Physical Activity Plan. Presents a set of strategies
and tactics that aim to increase physical activity in all segments
of the U.S. population. The National Coalition
for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA) is coordinating the
implementation of the plan among organizations throughout the
country.
- National
Society of Physical Activity Practitioners in Public Health (NSPAPPH).
Presents articles, conference and program information, and links
to physical activity resources that have been developed by state
and national organizations.
- National
Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Offers
position statements, journal article abstracts, and other resources
about strength training and conditioning practices to improve
athletic performance and fitness. Topics include anabolic steroid
abuse.
- Physical
Activity Guidelines for Americans. Presents science-based
guidance to help Americans ages 6 and older improve their health
through participation in appropriate physical activity. Recommendations
are provided for groups such as children and adolescents, adults,
older adults, pregnant and postpartum women, and individuals
with special health care needs. Other resources include a blog and fact
sheet for health professionals and a toolkit with posters and
other materials for organizations and communities. The guidelines
are presented by the Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Materials include
2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. (2008). A chapter addresses physical activity in children and adolescents. CDC's Youth Physical Activity Guidelines Toolkit (2009) highlights strategies that schools, families, and communities can use to support these guidelines.
Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report. (2008). This report documents the scientific background and rationale for the guidelines.
- President’s
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS). Contains
resources for coaches, teachers, health and fitness professionals,
and families about physical fitness. Resources include a physical
activity and fitness program toolkit, guides, fact sheets, research
briefs, and the President’s Challenge,
an online physical activity tracking and award program.
- Up2Us: Bring Change Through
Youth Sports. Presents program information, fact
sheets, and policy briefs about using physical activity and sports
as a tool for youth development. Up2Us is a national coalition
of sports-based youth-development organizations.
- Women’s
Sports Foundation. Offers program and grant information
and reports, policy statements, and guides about sports and physical
activity for girls and women. Resources and initiatives include
GoGirlGo! Presents program information, curricula, guides, and Spanish-language materials about this effort to improve the health and wellness of girls ages 8-18 through physical activity.
Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America. (2008). [Report].
Additional Electronic Publications
- Miller W, Simon P, Maleque S. 2009. Beyond
Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America—Recommendations
from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier
America. Princeton, NJ: Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation. This report examines the sources of
health shortfalls in the United States; describes successful community
initiatives and state and federal program innovations to support
healthier choices and health-promoting policies and environments;
and recommends strategies for improving America’s health.
Topics include healthy eating, physical activity, healthy environments
and behaviors, starting healthy habits early, and healthy homes
and communities. A chapter is devoted to increasing children's
opportunities for daily physical activity.
- National Institute for Health Care
Management Foundation. 2008. Prevention
of Adult Cardiovascular Disease Among Adolescents: Focusing on
Risk Factor Reduction. Washington, DC: National Institute for
Health Care Management Foundation. This monograph examines the
prevalence and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and
then explores promising strategies that health professionals and
health plans can use to reduce adolescent risk factors for future
CVD, such as encouraging adolescents to participate in physical
activity.
- Office of the Surgeon
General. 2010. The
Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation.
Rockville, MD: Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS). This report describes the epidemic
of overweight and obesity among children, adolescents, and adults
in the United States and presents recommendations to address the
problem through better nutrition and regular physical activity
in communities, homes, child care settings, schools, work sites,
and medical communities. A fact
sheet accompanies the report.
- Suitor CW, Kraak VI. 2007. Adequacy
of Evidence for Physical Activity Guidelines Development: Workshop
Summary. Washington, DC: National
Academies Press. This report summarizes a workshop of research
scientists and physical activity practitioners who gathered to
consider the evidence base for the Department of Health and Human
Services to develop a comprehensive set of physical
activity guidelines for Americans. Special consideration was
given to the physical activity needs of children and adolescents,
pregnant and postpartum women, older adults, and persons with disabilities.
- Tucker
Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport. 2007. Developing
Physically Active Girls: An Evidence-based Multidisciplinary Approach.
Minneapolis, MN: Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women
in Sport. This report examines the physiological, psychological,
and sociological dimensions and impact of physical activity in
the lives of girls and young women and makes recommendations for
best practices, programs, and approaches.
- White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity. 2010. Solving
the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation: Report to
the President. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President
of the United States. This report describes the problem of child
and adolescent obesity, recommends steps to address the problem,
and outlines benchmarks of success. Recommendations focus on the
early childhood period, empowering parents and caregivers, providing
healthy food in schools, improving access to healthy, affordable
foods, and increasing physical activity.
The databases listed below are excellent tools for identifying data, additional literature and research, and programs addressing physical activity. Many of the entries below contain tips on how to use the databases efficiently. Please note that databases vary in how terms should be entered; for example, some require quotation marks and others don't. Enter search phrases as shown in bold below.
- Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): An Explanation of U.S.
Physical Activity Surveys. Describes and compares several
different national surveys that track physical activity in many
age groups and at several levels for the United States national
public health objectives. Also provides background information
about physical activity assessment. The following surveys are
examined: Behavioral Risk
Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), National
Health Interview Survey (NHIS), National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), National
Household Travel Survey (NHTS), and School
Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS).
- Child Trends DataBank.
Reports on national trends and research on over 100 key indicators
of infant, child, and adolescent well-being. Child Trends is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan research organization providing research and data to
inform decision-making that affects families. Recent analyses about
physical activity and children and adolescents include
Physical Inactivity in U.S. Adolescents: Family, Neighborhood, and Individual Factors. (2009).
- KIDS COUNT Data Center.
Contains information about this national and state-by-state effort
to track the status of children in the United States. See the data
profile, Children
and Teens Not Exercising Regularly, which ranks by state the
share of children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 who engaged in less
than 5 days of vigorous physical activity in the past week. KIDS
COUNT is a project of the Annie E.
Casey Foundation (AECF).
- Title
V Information System (Title V IS). Contains data
from annual Title V Block Grant applications and reports submitted
by all 59 U.S. states and jurisdictions. To learn about states'
efforts to address child and adolescent physical activity, conduct
two searches. Select Measurement
and Indicator Data and go to the State Data section. First,
select State Priority Needs Keyword Search and choose Keyword:
Nutrition/Physical Activity and Population: Children (1 through
21). Click on Start Search to get your results. Next, return
to Measurement
and Indicator Data and select State Performance Measures.
Click on Search by Keyword/Population. Select Keyword: Nutrition/Physical
Activity and Population: Children (1 through 21). Click on Start
Search to get your results. Title V IS is a service of the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
- AGRICOLA
(AGRICultural OnLine Access). Contains bibliographic
information for agricultural literature, including many child
and adolescent nutrition publications from the Department of
Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service; state child nutrition
agencies; Nutrition Education and Training Program products;
Team Nutrition grantees; cooperative extension program materials;
and materials from associations, universities, and the private
sector. AGRICOLA is organized into two data sets (books and journal
articles). To identify books and/or articles on the topic, click
on Keyword Search. Enter the terms, children adolescents and
select "any of these" and "Subject"
in the two fields to the right. Click "And". In the next row, enter fitness
exercise and select "any of these" and "Subject" in the two fields
to the right. Click on "Set Limits" to narrow your search (e.g.,
add a publication date limit). Use the thesaurus to
identify terms for related searches. AGRICOLA is a service of the National
Agricultural Library (NAL).
- ClinicalTrials.gov.
Provides access to information about clinical research studies for
a wide range of diseases, conditions, and health behaviors. Included
are a summary of the purpose of the study, information about recruiting
status, criteria for patient participation, location of the trial,
and contact information. To identify studies, click on Search for
Clinical Trials, enter the search phrase ("physical activity" OR
exercise) AND (children OR adolescents), and click on Search.
Click on the Refine Search tab to narrow your search results. ClinicalTrials.gov
is a service of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH).
- Database
of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). Contains summaries
of systematic reviews that have met strict quality criteria.
Included reviews must be about the effects of interventions.
Each summary also provides a critical commentary on the quality
of the review. To identify reviews, enter the phrase, ("physical
activity" OR exercise) AND (children OR adolescents) in the
search box. Click on Go to get your results. DARE is produced
and maintained by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at
the University of York.
- MCH Library at the National
Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH),
Georgetown University. Maintains several databases to collect,
manage, and disseminate knowledge about maternal and child health
(MCH), with special emphasis on knowledge gained from initiatives
and programs supported by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The library’s bibliographic
database is
MCHLine®. Comprises an online catalog of materials in the MCH Library. To identify items about physical activity, conduct three searches in the keyword field of the database search form using the terms "physical activity", "physical education", and "physical fitness". To narrow your searches, enter a single publication year or range of years, and/or add keywords (e.g., obesity, school). There will be overlap in the records identified in these searches.
Also see the MCH Organizations Database.
- National
Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC). Contains evidence-based
clinical practice guidelines and related materials for health
professionals. Identify guidelines by selecting Detailed Search
in the Search box. Enter "physical activity" in the Keyword
field. Scroll down on the search form to select Age of Target
Population and Publication Date. The database is an initiative
of the Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ).
- National
Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting
Tool (RePORT): RePORTER. Provides access to reports,
data, and analyses of NIH research activities, including information
on NIH expenditures and the results of NIH-supported research.
To identify information on the topic, conduct two searches. First,
enter "physical activity" children in the search
field and click on Submit query to get your results. Conduct
a second search by entering "physical activity" adolescents in
the search field and clicking on Submit query to get your results.
There will be overlap in the records identified in these searches.
Narrow your searches by selecting a state or adding terms to
other search fields.
- PubMed.
Contains more than 20 million citations for biomedical articles from
MEDLINE and life science journals. Citations may include links to
full-text articles from PubMed Central or publisher websites. To
identify citations on the topic, enter the term exercise in
the search box. Click on Limits and make the following selections
on the page: select a date (e.g. Published in the last 2 years);
click on Languages: English; Click on Species: Humans; Click on Ages:
All Child: 0-18 years; and select Search Field Tags: MeSH Major Topic.
Add search terms to further limit the search (e.g., exercise AND
environment design). Use the MeSH
(Medical Subject Headings) database to identify additional search
terms (e.g., physical education). PubMed is a service
of the National Library of Medicine
(NLM).
- Also see the Active Living Research Literature Database.
- Community
Pediatrics Grants Database. Comprises an archive of community
pediatrics grant projects. Identify projects by selecting Physical
Activity in the Topic field. Click on Basic Submit to get your
results. The database is a service of the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
- Discretionary
Grant Information System (DGIS). Contains information
for more than 900 grants issued by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). To identify grants, select
Abstracts. Type physical activity in the search
field. Click on Search to get your results. To find products
and publications produced by MCHB training grantees, select Program
Data, Training, and Search Products and Publications. Type physical
activity in the search field, and click on Search to
get your results.
- Health
Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj). Provides
information about ongoing health services research and public
health projects. To identify projects, enter ("physical activity" OR
exercise) AND (children OR adolescents) in the search box.
Click on Search to get your results. HSRProj is funded by the National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
- MCH
Organizations Database. Lists over 2,000 government,
professional, and voluntary organizations involved in MCH activities,
primarily at a national level. Find organizations focusing on
the topic by conducting three searches in the database using
the terms, "physical activity", "physical education",
and "physical fitness" in the keyword field of the database
search form. There will be overlap in the records identified
in these searches.
- National
Association of Counties: Healthy Counties Database.
Presents information about model policies, programs, and initiatives
that counties nationwide have enacted to promote nutritious diets,
physical activity, and healthy built and social environments.
Search by county size, state, issue area (e.g., Physical Activity),
best practice type, and keyword.
- Nutrition,
Physical Activity and Obesity State Legislative Database.
Contains summaries of state legislative bills related to nutrition,
physical activity, and obesity from 2001 to the present. Select
Physical Activity in the Subject field, and select a state or
topic to narrow your search. Click on Search to get your results.
Links are provided to each state legislature site where the full-text
version of the bill is available. This database is presented
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
- Partnership
to Fight Chronic Disease: Promising Practices. Presents
information about public and private programs from across the
country that have proven successful in improving health and health
behaviors and reducing the burden of disease. To identify programs,
look under Find Programs and click on Physical Activity/Fitness
under Select a Health Topic. Click on Go to get your results.
This resource is based on Keeping
America Healthy: A Catalog of Successful Programs (2008).
Additional materials accompany the report.
- Prevention
Research Centers (PRC). Presents information about
projects that focus on the prevention and control of chronic
diseases and a wide range of additional public health issues.
To identify projects, go to the search
form. Select Nutrition and physical activity for youth under
the field, Health Topics. Click on Search to get your results.
The PRCs and this database are funded by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Shaping
America’s Youth (SAY) Program Registry. Includes
information on intervention programs throughout the United States
that are working to improve physical activity and/or nutrition
in children and adolescents. Search by program name, keyword,
organization, state, and category (e.g., programs addressing
physical activity). SAY is a public/private partnership committed
to improving physical activity and nutrition in American infants,
children, and adolescents.
- Also see the NCSL
Healthy Community Design and Access to Healthy Food Legislation
Database.
Electronic Newsletters and Online Discussion Groups
- National
Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).
Offers NASPE-Talk,
a collection of electronic discussion groups on physical education
topics. Also offers NASPE-Forum,
a moderated electronic discussion forum for in-depth discussions
on topics of interest to physical education, sport, and physical
activity professionals.
- National Coalition
for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA). Publishes two
newsletters. NCPPA
News is published twice each month and contains news about
research, reports, funding opportunities, and upcoming events
on physical activity. NCPPA’s public affairs newsletter,
the Activity
Advocate, is published 10 times a year and covers federal
and state legislative activity concerning physical activity.
- University
of South Carolina Prevention Research Center. Offers
an electronic newsletter with information about research, training
opportunities, and resources regarding physical activity and
public health. Also offers a listserv to advance public health
approaches to promoting physical activity by creating a national
network of public health practitioners, researchers, and interested
others.
- Also see the CDC’s
Healthy Community Design News Listserv and the National
Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) News.
- See the MCH Library family resource brief Physical
Activity and Kids and Teens.
Resources for Schools
- See the MCH Library school resource brief Physical
Activity and Physical Education.
Resources on Specific Aspects of Physical Activity
Child Care and Early Childhood Education
- National
Child Care Information Center (NCCIC): Fit Source. Presents
a set of links to resources for child care and after-school-program
professionals to help them incorporate physical activity and
nutrition into their programs. Resources include activity and
game ideas, curricula, and lesson plans.
- WIC
Works Resource System: Physical Activity. Links
to resources about physical activity for infants and children
up to age 5. Also see Food
and Fun for Families: Active Play for lesson plans and educational
materials about physical activity developed by state programs
involved in the Fit WIC obesity-prevention initiative. WIC Works
presents resources for health and nutrition professionals serving
in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children (WIC). These resources are useful for child care
and early childhood education professionals too.
- Active Living
by Design (ALBD). Presents program and conference
information, reports, promising strategies, and other resources
about creating healthy eating and active living environments.
Includes a collection of recommended publications, resources,
organizations, and tools from the major fields that are considered
the foundation of the active living movement. ALBD is a national
initiative supported by the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and located at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
- Active
Living Research (ALR). Offers program information,
research briefs, bibliographies, and other tools and resources
that examine how environments and policies influence active living
for children and their families. ALR is a national program of
the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF). Resources include
Active Living Research Literature Database. Features journal article citations about the relationship between environment and policy and physical activity and obesity.
- Active
Living Resource Center (ALRC). Presents educational
materials and planning and implementation tools to help community
organizers make neighborhoods more bicycle and pedestrian friendly.
ALRC is located at the National Center for Bicycling and Walking
and operates with support from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
- Association
of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO): Smart Growth
Toolkit. Describes the components of smart growth,
including physical activity, and their importance to public health.
Gives case studies from communities around the country and links
to resources to help state and territorial health officials develop
model practices for their own communities.
- Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Designing and Building
Healthy Places. Offers program and conference information,
fact sheets, journal articles, a course curriculum, and links
to a wealth of resources about the interaction between people
and their environments. Topics include children’s
health and the built environment and physical
activity. Resources and initiatives include
Active Environments. Presents program information and resources to encourage environmental and policy interventions that will affect increased levels of physical activity and improved public health by promoting walking, bicycling, and the development of accessible recreation facilities.
Health Impact Assessment (HIA). Presents links to a wealth of tools to evaluate the potential health effects of a project or policy before it is built or implemented.
Healthy Community Design News Listserv. This electronic discussion group addresses issues related to health and the built environment. An electronic newsletter that includes news articles, research, and updates on conferences and events related to livability is sent to all subscribers once a month.
Also see CDC’s Healthy Youth! and the Guide to Community Preventive Services.
- Leadership
for Healthy Communities: Active Living. Presents a collection
of materials and tools for promoting physical activity, smart
growth, and healthy community design among state and local government
leaders. Leadership for Healthy Communities is a national program
of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF).
- National
Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): Healthy Community Design
and Access to Healthy Food Legislation Database. Describes
state legislation that seeks to increase access to healthy food
and opportunities for physical activity. Search for legislation
by state, topic area (e.g., Bike/Pedestrian, Physical Activity),
year, bill type, bill status, and bill number.
- Pedestrian and Bicycle
Information Center. Presents a wealth of information
and training tools about health and safety, engineering, advocacy,
education, enforcement, access, and mobility as it relates to
increasing and improving spaces for safe walking and bicycling
as a viable means of transportation and physical activity. The
center is funded by the Department of Transportation Federal
Highway Administration.
- California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
(CPEHN). 2009. Unlocking
the Playground: Achieving Equity in Physical Activity Spaces.
Oakland, CA: California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN). This
report describes models for joint-use agreements between schools
and communities for sharing spaces to keep people active and healthy.
- Committee on Environmental Health. 2009. Built
Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity
in Children. Elk Grove Village, IL: American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This policy statement describes
the relationship between the built environment and physical activity
in children and makes recommendations for pediatricians and governments
to promote environments that encourage more active lifestyles.
- Lee V, Mikkelsen L, Srikantharajah J, Cohen L. 2008. Strategies
for Enhancing the Built Environment to Support Healthy Eating and
Active Living. Oakland, CA: Healthy
Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership. This policy brief
outlines organizational practices and public policies being considered
to improve the built environment in support of healthy eating and
regular physical activity.
- National Policy and Legal
Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN). 2010. Complete
the Streets! Using Street Design to Create Healthier Communities.
Oakland, CA: Public Health Law
and Policy (PHLP). This webinar describes Complete Streets,
an initiative to help communities change how streets are designed
and built so that residents of all ages and abilities can travel
easily and safely along community streets, whether they are walking,
biking, or riding the bus. The webinar also contains an advocacy
success story from Columbia, MO. NPLAN's fact
sheet, model
comprehensive plan language, and model
laws and resolutions for advocates and community members complement
the webinar.
- Ogilvie RS, Zimmerman J. 2010. Opening
School Grounds to the Community After Hours: A Toolkit for Increasing
Physical Activity Through Joint Use Agreements. Oakland, CA: Public
Health Law and Policy (PHLP). This toolkit is designed to help
communities and school districts work together to develop joint
use agreements to increase access to recreational facilities on
school grounds.
- Disabled Sports
USA. Contains program information for this national network
of community-based chapters offering a variety of sports rehabilitation
and recreation programs to anyone with a permanent disability.
- National Center on
Accessibility (NCA). Presents a webinar series,
technical reports, educational materials, articles, product listings,
and program information for consumers; health professionals;
and the parks, recreation, and tourism industries about recreation-related
accessibility issues for people with disabilities. NCA is part
of Indiana University's School of Health, Physical Education,
and Recreation.
- National
Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD). Offers
resources about physical activity and disability that include
an electronic
newsletter and fact sheets about activities, games, camps,
recreational pursuits, and sports that have been adapted to the
needs of people with disabilities. NCPAD is located at the University
of Illinois at Chicago.
- Special
Olympics International (SOI). Contains program and event
information for year-round sports training and athletic competitions
for children, adolescents, and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Includes sports rules, program guides, coaching guides, articles,
and a program
locator. Special Olympics serves more than 2.5 million individuals
with intellectual disabilities in more than 120 countries.
- Popper B, Irish S, Dworetzky B, Anderson B, Minihan P, Must A.
2008. Family
Matters: Promoting Health and Wellness for Children with Special
Heath Care Needs—Family Booklet. Albuquerque, NM: Family
Voices. This booklet presents guidelines, tips, and resources
on healthy eating, physical activity, and limiting screen time.
- Also see the Physical Activity Guidelines
for Americans and BAM! Body and Mind.
- Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families knowledge path
- Nutrition in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
- Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
Physical Activity and Children and Adolescents: Knowledge Path, 5th
ed. (March 2010). (Updated: September 2011).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewers: Cicley Gay, Women's Sports Foundation; Olivia K. Pickett,
M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.
