HHP Doctoral Student Katherine Arlinghaus Wins Student Research Paper Contest
HHP doctoral student Ms. Katherine Arlinghaus has won the 2017 Annual Student Research Paper Contest organized by Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) a peer reviewed journal from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Ms. Katherine Arlinghaus
Katherine won the award in the Doctoral Student Paper category, her paper was titled Using “Compañeros” in a School-based Obesity Intervention for Hispanic Adolescents (Houston, Texas), 2013-2016. Her co-authors include Baylor College of Medicine faculty Jennette P. Moreno, HHP graduate student Layton Reesor and HHP faculty Dr. Daphne Hernandez and Dr. Craig Johnston.
The study trained high school students, called compañeros, to be peer health mentors for middle school students. Middle school students participated in an obesity intervention program as part of their PE class. One group of middle school students had compañeros assist with the intervention and another group did not. The middle school students who were in the group with compañeros had significantly larger reductions in standardized BMI than the students in the group without compañeros at both 6 and 12 months. This indicates that the inclusion of compañeros as part of an obesity intervention is a possible strategy for school-based interventions to better promote and sustain weight outcomes in students, and warrants further research.
About Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
PCD is a peer-reviewed electronic journal established to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in chronic disease prevention and health promotion. The journal is published weekly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
The mission of PCD is to promote the open exchange of information and knowledge among researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and others who strive to improve the health of the public through chronic disease prevention.
Visit the Preventing Chronic Disease Journal homepage
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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