Nurse Practitioner-Coordinated Childhood Obesity Early Intervention and Prevention Program

Abstract

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, and the problem is disproportionately represented in low-income, minority settings. In an attempt to intervene, an elementary school-based prevention program designed to educate children and their caregivers in healthy and active lifestyles was developed by a community-based coalition. The coalition was anchored by faculty, staff, and students of a medical school. The design, launch, and operations of this program serves as a model that may be useful to other communities.