Though 2020 was a challenging year for many reasons, NCCOR had one of its most successful years yet. This year, NCCOR launched brand-new resources, collaborated across agencies through workshops, disseminated information at multiple conferences, and more. A special thanks to NCCOR members who worked tirelessly to keep us safe, took on extra work, and worked long hours, all while accelerating childhood obesity research!
Here are some of our top highlights from 2020:
- Released a new tool for those working on assessing childhood obesity. A Guide to Methods for Assessing Childhood Obesity helps users understand the most common adiposity assessment methods and select the most appropriate method for their objective.
- Published four papers highlighting findings from NCCOR’s Childhood Obesity Evidence Base (COEB) Project, a collaborative effort between NCCOR and Mission Measurement to use a novel taxonomic method of data aggregation on obesity prevention efforts for children aged 2-5 years.
- Published a new paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine describing available diet and physical activity measures from NCCOR for populations at high risk for obesity. The paper, Identification of measurement needs to prevent childhood obesity in high-risk populations and environments, reviews NCCOR’s landmark tool, the Measures Registry.
- Created a new tool, Measures for Children at High-Risk for Obesity, especially for measurement in high-risk populations. The resource includes a decision tree that walks researchers and practitioners through a series of questions regarding whether to develop, adapt, or apply an instrument for obesity measures in high-risk populations. The decision tree also provides five real-world case scenarios that describe the rationale for choosing one of the three measurement approaches.
- Published “Identification of Effective Programs to Improve Access to and Use of Trails among Youth from Under-Resourced Communities: A Review” in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The primary aim of this review paper was to identify programs and policies that effectively promote and increase the use of trails among youth, especially those from under-resourced neighborhoods or communities.
- Released three new whitepapers that resulted from the Advancing Measurement for Childhood Obesity Workshop Series, funded as part of NCCOR’s Strategic Alliance with The JPB Foundation. The three new whitepapers are “Advancing Measurement of Individual Behaviors Related to Childhood Obesity,” “Advancing Measurement for High-Risk Populations and Communities Related to Childhood Obesity,” and “Advancing Measurement of Environmental and Policy Influences on Childhood Obesity.”
- Created a new workgroup to develop a research agenda on childhood obesity and COVID-19.
- Launched the new NCCOR Student Hub for graduate students and faculty.
- Released a new fact sheet that shows classroom teachers how to incorporate the Youth Compendium into their curricula.
- Translated the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities into Spanish to expand our reach internationally.
This list is just a preview. To learn more about NCCOR’s accomplishments in 2020, join our next Connect & Explore webinar on February 10, and stay tuned for our forthcoming 2020 NCCOR Annual Report!