International Mission for the Prevention And
Continuous Treatment of Childhood Obesity ™
Developed by Dr. J. Allen Queen and Dr. Donald Schumacher
© Writer’s Edge Press®, 2009, 2008, 2003
Mission is to improve the unhealthy weight of all children in the world with a beginning focus on the children in North Carolina. Our program is composed of 21 Standards to directly assist schools and districts in both the Prevention and Treatment of childhood obesity. Known as IMPACT Childhood Obesity, our program is research-based, practical and efective. We assist schools to promote changes to healthy habits, behaviors and attitudes of children, teachers and parents that are realistic and sustainable.
Strategy is to provide both Preventive and Treatment within the school systems with specific action plans focused on both healthy and unhealthy weight children and youth to better serve the health needs of all students, K-12.
Ultimate Goal is to establish a K-12 school based program in North Carolina to serve as national and international models that can be duplicated and institutionalized in ALL schools.
Prevention is defined as creating an enviornment which promotes children of healthy weight to maintain that weight and to prevent overweight children from becoming obese and for obese children from becoming superobese.
Treatment orientation is focused on the reversal of unhealthy weight in those children who are overweight and obesity in obese children based on 21 Standards that are practical and research-based.
School Based Programs are based on providing nutrition education and enhanced physical activity to students, teachers and school staff. Programs include supportive information to parents and caregivers. Nutrition education ( 45 minutes a day), incorporated in the core curriculum is supported by healthy changes in the school nutrition program, vending machines, fund raisers and extra curricular events. The aggressive addition of 30-45 minutes a day of physical activity into the school day embedded into well defined lessons in major core areas of study. BMI measurements, questionnaires of students, teachers and parents in addition to direct observations, student and teacher focus groups provide relevant data for analysis to determine success and make changes for improvement. We have developed strategies for involving parents and caregivers to adopt healthy practices within the home environment through a non-invasive but positive appoach using changes that children are learning and practicing at school. Minority and diverse socioeconomic groups are a major focus of IMPACT. A current goal is to modify program components based on the results after completing the first phase of the pilot program in Rockingham County, currently funded by the North Carolina Department of Instruction. Previous results of a self-funded study and a more controlled experimental study funded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield North Carolina Foundation and Be Active to assist school districts using IMPACT, resulted in extremely positive results. Greater community involvement has been incorporated into all school programs to maximize use of expertise and existing local and regional focus and interest in childhood obesity.
IMPACT Personnel
Our team leadership is built upon the combined experiences of a former principal who is presently a Professor of Educational Leadership preparing teachers, principals and superintendents in the profession and is highly knowledgeable of childhood obesity and a physician and nationally known researcher in adult and childhood obesity. This combination provides IMPACT with a unique understanding of the educational, medical, nutritional, behavioral, psychological and academic needs of students. With over 150 professional articles and over 40 books published collectively, our credentials have allowed us to gain the confidence of teachers, principals, superintendents and local school boards to assist districts and schools in our program with research models that have both started on time and have successfully gone to completion with the full cooperation of participants.
