Objective: The Education and Curriculum Core (ECC) is designed to develop and deliver culturally and ageappropriate primary prevention education programs that directly address the behavioral and lifestyle factors that lead to the metabolic syndrome in youth and young adults.
Specific Aims : 1. Expand the current 15-week Partners in Wellness (PIW) course on diabetes and hypertension at SCSU to a 2-semester students experience. The 1st semester is devoted to theoretical and didactic classroom work, and the 2nd semester is focused on a community-based research internship experience. 2. Translate the current 15-week course curriculum into a lower literacy, 6-week version for children and their parents in the Orangeburg community around South Carolina State University. 3. Create and implement both Saturday and Summer Health Academies that utilize the abbreviated 6-week curriculum to teach children and their parents in the community about risk factors for developing the metabolic syndrome and the healthy lifestyle patterns which reduce that risk. 4. Integrate the PIW program with distance learning via the existing SCSU science, nursing, nutrition and 1890s Extension Program outreach networks. To create materials for distance learning, an educational library will be created by videotaping and editing lectures by faculty in the expanded PIW course at SCSU. Methods & Innovation: The two components of the current 15-week PIW course at SCSU will be extended to two semesters by separating and augmenting the didactic and applied (community) components. Students in the PIW course will develop a mini-course of 6 weeks length that is appropriate for children in the community and their parents. The students will interact with the community in the development and implementation of the course. The 'mini-course' on the metabolic syndrome will also serve as the basis of the Saturday and Summer Health Academies, each 6 weeks in duration, which will be used to reach additional children in the community and their parents. The expanded didactic series in PIW will serve as the basis for creating educational videotapes used in the distance-learning program. Significance: The ECC will contribute substantially to the goal of reducing metabolic-syndrome related health disparities in young adults as well as youth and their parents through educational efforts aimed at primary prevention. These efforts of the ECC attack the root of the metabolic syndrome, which is grounded in unhealthy, lifestyles.
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