What is COMPACT?
COMPACT is a groundbreaking five-year international collaboration to apply the principles of systems science to community-based childhood obesity interventions. COMPACT is funded by National Institutes of Health grant #1R01HL115485 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Office for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR).
Why is childhood obesity an important issue to address?
What causes childhood obesity ?
Childhood obesity and overweight are complex problems with many causes, including:
Why do most interventions to address childhood obesity and overweight fail to show lasting effects?
Why apply systems science to childhood obesity?
Systems science can help researchers identify the factors that lead to the effective implementation of childhood obesity interventions. By taking into account the passage of time and the influence of multiple levels with concepts from disciplines like engineering, management, evolutionary biology and social science, systems science may contribute to solutions to the seemingly intractable problem of childhood obesity.
What interventions for childhood obesity show promise?
Researchers have proposed interventions that address multiple aspects of a community, including the environment in which young children live and play and the policies governing that environment. Examples of such interventions are Shape Up Somerville in the U.S. and Romp & Chomp in Victoria, Australia, both of which resulted in lower BMI (body mass index) among children in intervention communities than in similar comparison communities. These interventions included strategies like:
What are the goals of COMPACT?
Our goal is to identify what works, for whom and under what circumstances. We're using computer-based agent-based models (ABM) to analyze successful completed obesity interventions, including Shape Up Somerville in the US and Romp & Chomp in Australia. We will refine and calibrate these models using data from participatory group model building exercises in an ongoing intervention study in Australia communities. We will then use the model and insights from this set of studies to design and plan a new pilot intervention, “Shape Up Under-5,” a redesigned version of Shape Up Somerville targeting underserved children age 0-5 years and their caregivers.
COMPACT is a groundbreaking five-year international collaboration to apply the principles of systems science to community-based childhood obesity interventions. COMPACT is funded by National Institutes of Health grant #1R01HL115485 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Office for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR).
Why is childhood obesity an important issue to address?
- In the United States and other developed countries, including Australia, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school-age children and adolescents approaches one-third.
- In the US, obesity prevalence doubled among infants, toddlers and preschool-age children from the 1970s to today.
- Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the prevalence of obesity and overweight appear to be widening.
- Children who are overweight or obese are more likely to be obese adolescents and adults.
- Obesity in childhood is associated asthma, orthopedic problems, problems in psychological and social functioning, and for some children, type 2 diabetes.
What causes childhood obesity ?
Childhood obesity and overweight are complex problems with many causes, including:
- biological susceptibility;
- the influence of social and family networks;
- child care policies on feeding and exercise;
- and the influence of media and advertising.
Why do most interventions to address childhood obesity and overweight fail to show lasting effects?
- Interventions may apply only to motivated families and may not be sustainable over time.
- Interventions that focus on individual behavior may fail because long-term energy imbalance is not wholly under a person’s control.
- Interventions may not be effective in early childhood, when children's diet, sleep, and active play time are regulated by parents or other caregivers.
Why apply systems science to childhood obesity?
Systems science can help researchers identify the factors that lead to the effective implementation of childhood obesity interventions. By taking into account the passage of time and the influence of multiple levels with concepts from disciplines like engineering, management, evolutionary biology and social science, systems science may contribute to solutions to the seemingly intractable problem of childhood obesity.
What interventions for childhood obesity show promise?
Researchers have proposed interventions that address multiple aspects of a community, including the environment in which young children live and play and the policies governing that environment. Examples of such interventions are Shape Up Somerville in the U.S. and Romp & Chomp in Victoria, Australia, both of which resulted in lower BMI (body mass index) among children in intervention communities than in similar comparison communities. These interventions included strategies like:
- improving health and social services;
- instituting or strengthening infant feeding and child care policies;
- altering the local media environment;
- and engaging family and social networks to modify routines at home.
What are the goals of COMPACT?
Our goal is to identify what works, for whom and under what circumstances. We're using computer-based agent-based models (ABM) to analyze successful completed obesity interventions, including Shape Up Somerville in the US and Romp & Chomp in Australia. We will refine and calibrate these models using data from participatory group model building exercises in an ongoing intervention study in Australia communities. We will then use the model and insights from this set of studies to design and plan a new pilot intervention, “Shape Up Under-5,” a redesigned version of Shape Up Somerville targeting underserved children age 0-5 years and their caregivers.
