8
doc • Winter 2014
Kentucky
Tweens Nutrition and
Fitness Coalition
“Exercise Is Miracle Grow for the Brain”
By Martha Evans
Sparks, Staff Writer
Anita Courtney, Registered
Dietician, has a saying:
“Exercise is Miracle Grow
for the Brain.” She is turning that belief into practice. Courtney,
chairperson of the Tweens Nutrition and
Fitness Coalition, Lexington, explains the
Coalition’s approach to accomplish three
things in the lives of children ages nine to
13, the tweens demographic. Their goal, she
said, is to help children “eat better, move
more, and reduce screen time.” The third
thing refers to the tendency of tweens to sit
for hours glued to their smart phones, television, or other small-screen device.
Courtney and Dr. Carol Bryant founded
the Tweens Coalition in 2003. Dr. Bryant,
whose Ph.D. in anthropology is from
the University of Kentucky, is now a
Distinguished USF Health Professor in
Community and Family Health at the
University of South Florida. Initially
funded with a grant from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
the Tweens Coalition now has
what Courtney calls “a patchwork quilt of support.” More
than 30 community groups
have representatives on the
Coalition, including among
others, the Lexington Fayette
County Health Department,
Baptist Health, The Bluegrass
Community Foundation, United
Way, and Community Ventures
Corporation. They chose
tweens—9 to 13 year olds—
because these years are an important developmental phase and
not many community services are
available to them.
Why are they concerned?
Kentucky has the third highest
rate of childhood obesity in the
nation. Courtney reports that
seven out of ten of Kentucky 5 to
18 year olds have a cardiovascular
risk factor. This includes things
like overweight and high cholesterol. She
reports that Kentucky is number one in
the nation in overweight and obese high
school students, grades 9 to 12. She reports
seeing Type 2 diabetes (usually developed
in middle age or older and often linked to
overweight) in young people.
How do they motivate the young people
to change their eating and exercise habits?
Courtney credits Dr. Bryant with coming up
with a theoretical model to make coalitions
more effective. “Take a good old fashioned
coalition with its networks resources and
combine that with social marketing which is
the sophisticated tools that commercial marketers use to understand their market audience and develop products that address their
wants and barriers.” By listening a lot, using
focus groups and interviews, the Coalition
explores carefully how to intervene before
they act. They attempt to find out what this
market demographic—the tweens— see as
barriers that would prevent them from using
the “product” the Coalition is trying to
market. What is appealing to them and what
holds them back? Market to those issues.
Courtney explains that you try to make your
product as helpful and useful to people as
you can. In this case, the “product” is healthful eating and exercise.
“The level that we work at, we try to change
policy, systems, and environment that make
healthy eating and physical activity more
accessible and more popular for tweens,”
said Courtney. To do this the Tweens
Coalition has developed a number of initiatives involving research, development,
and dissemination. Among the projects are
Better Bites, Good Neighbor Store (GNS)
Network, and School Wellness Action Plan
(SWAP).
An example of working to change policy
was a recent Coalition speaking appearance
before the Fayette County School Board.
The Coalition’s SWAP proposed three policy changes: drop the use of food as a reward,
require a recess period for all elementary
students, which means it does not get taken
away for punishment or remedial work and
has a plan for a recess where physical activity is possible in inclement weather. Third