L.I.F.E

Lifestyle Improvements in the Family Environment



Lifestyle Improvements in the Family Environment

Step 1

Strategies used by the school, families, and community to promote children's health

Since its inception, L.I.F.E. has been a program of awareness and opportunities based on the belief that parents want what is best for their children. In addition, L.I.F.E. has been a program of advocacy for changes in policy and the environment supportive of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Guiding principles that evolved with program growth include the following:

Screening focus emphasizing health and risk factor concerns as related to health.

Intervention focus emphasizing support for and change toward positive behaviors at the root of the issue, that is, increased physical activity and healthy nutrition choices.

Feedback loops including evaluation of both process and outcomes to facilitate implementation, benchmark achievement, and support program growth.

Family involvement is critical to influencing childhood behaviors in serving as role models and in shaping the common, shared environment (Epstein, 1996).

Behavior change is a process and a journey, not an activity or an event.

A team approach within the school setting, with families and community partners, is essential in addressing current and future health concerns of today's youth. Of note, the original project started with three partners. L.I.F.E. currently has nine community partners mainstreaming limited resources with a unified voice and a consistent message (Flegal 2006, 1549).

Step 2

Identify each of these six strategies as being at the primary, secondary, or tertiary level of prevention; include a one-sentence explanation supporting your selection of each.

Screening focus emphasizing health and risk factor concerns as related to health. It is the primary level of prevention.

Intervention focus emphasizing support for and change toward positive behaviors at the root of the issue, that is, increased physical activity and healthy nutrition choices. It is the primary level of prevention.

Feedback loops including evaluation of both process and outcomes to facilitate implementation, benchmark achievement, and support program growth. It is the secondary level of prevention.

Family involvement is critical to influencing childhood behaviors in serving as role models and in shaping the common, shared environment. Now this is the primary level of prevention in order to improve child's health.

Behavior change is a process and a journey, not an activity or an event. It is the tertiary level for prevention of health risks.

A team approach within the school setting, with families and community partners, is essential in addressing current and future health concerns of today's youth. It is the secondary level of prevention.

Step 3

Select one health-promoting strategy described in the article and discuss why with your rationale. Select one disease/illness-preventing strategy and discuss why with your rationale.

The health promoting strategy as described in the article is a team approach within the school setting, with families and community partners, is essential in addressing current and future health concerns of today's youth. The disease/illness prevention strategy as given in the article is the screening focus emphasizing health and risk factor concerns as related to ...