This month, NCCOR released the second white paper based on a series of workshops on advancing measurement for childhood obesity. The white paper, titled “Advancing Measurement for High-Risk Populations and Communities Related to Childhood Obesity” describes the workshop held on September 23-24, 2019. The workshop series was funded by The JPB Foundation.
Leading research and practice experts were convened to (1) illustrate current challenges, needs, and gaps in measurement for high-risk populations, and (2) discuss current practices used to adapt existing measures and develop new measures for high-risk populations.
This whitepaper highlights recommendations for actionable steps to address short-term (1-3 years) and medium-term (3-5 years) measurement needs in these areas. Recommendations included: (1) To develop new, and adapt existing, measures for high-risk groups, (2) To develop methods and guidance to accommodate the need to balance standardization against tailoring, (3) To support efforts to ensure that measures and their implementation reflect cultural competence and cultural humility, and (4) To develop ways to share current work to improve learning and leverage existing research and implementation practices. The white paper can be accessed on the NCCOR website at www.nccor.org/measurement-workshop-series/.
The first white paper is also available on the NCCOR website. The third paper will be available by the end of the year. In addition, NCCOR plans to publish a synthesis of findings and recommendations from the three workshops in the scientific literature. It is anticipated that priority areas from these workshops will advance development of improved measures that can be used across a range of research, surveillance, and intervention activities related to diet, physical activity, and childhood obesity by addressing the many levels of influences, such as social determinants that impact the onset and progression of childhood obesity.