Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Music Inspires Health: Obesity Prevention Multimedia Campaign for Adolescents

2009; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 104; Linguagem: Inglês

10.14309/00000434-200910003-01459

1572-0241

Benjamin J. Levy, Elisa Wershba, Tyler C. Wind,

Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Purpose: According to recent statistics from the CDC, obesity has become a huge problem in America for adolescents ages 12 to 18. Approximately 30.4 percent of adolescents are overweight and 15.5 percent are considered obese by BMI. Physicians and medical students at Emory University, University of Virginia, and George Washington University recently organized a new national health education campaign called “Music Inspires Health” aimed at teaching middle school, high school, and college students about obesity prevention. Our goal was to educate young Americans from different socioeconomic, racial, and educational backgrounds about nutrition and exercise through innovative and empowering multimedia projects. Methods: A national online survey was created and administered on www.surveymonkey.com between 2006-2008. We conducted internet and paper surveys at both public and private schools to identify which music celebrities adolescents trust to present accurate health information about obesity prevention. We also determined the most preferred multimedia education methods for each age group and gender. Finally, adolescents helped us choose an obesity prevention campaign name and slogan. Survey items were written by medical students, physicians, and public health experts on our national medical advisory board. Recruitment of 3,250 survey responders occurred via posters and emails to middle and high school student bodies. All paper and online survey responders in the study agreed to an informed consent form and filled out demographic info. Survey response options were jumbled at random to prevent order bias. A sampling of the college campuses that participated included: University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, University of Georgia, Georgia State, Morehouse, Spelman, University of Florida, University of Texas, University of Arizona, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. Results: U2, Dave Matthews Band, Will Smith, and Sheryl Crow were selected as the most trusted musicians to teach about obesity prevention. Middle school, high school, and college students preferred the terms exercise and nutrition instead of obesity prevention for any future health education campaign due to overuse of the word “obesity” by the media. 74% of survey responders believed that health education short films should be used to encourage Americans to get into shape and reduce fat in their diets. 83% reported that a national health education concert tour would be the most innovative and empowering way to teach about obesity prevention. Conclusion: This formative obesity prevention research fine-tuned plans for our spring 2008 national health education concert tour, health education website, poster campaign, and short films created by young directors in Hollywood.