Physical inactivity has been linked to many lifestyle diseases such as coronary artery disease (CD), non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), and obesity. For these physical disorders, prevention has been touted as a cost effective means to lessen the economic burden of health care costs in this country. As a group, Mexican Americans are at higher risk for many lifestyle diseases than their non-Hispanic white counterparts and would particularly benefit from preventive programs. There is evidence to suggest that increased risk for CAD, obesity, and NIDDM is initiated in childhood and increases in severity into adulthood. This may be related to the fact that regular physical activity is not part of the sociocultural environment of Hispanic children. The El Paso Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) program, based on the 1991-1994 multi-center trial, began in the Fall of 1997 in 19 El Paso area elementary schools and was funded by the not-for-profit Paso del Norte Health Foundation. Two of the main goals of the El Paso CATCH program are to decrease the fat content of school means to less than 30% and to increase the time spent in physical education classes doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to greater than 40% of class time. Although this intervention with elementary school children in the El Paso area has received funding and support, there has been no plan made for program evaluation to assess the effects of El Paso CATCH on Hispanic children and their families. The current proposal is designed to evaluate the El Paso CATCH program implemented in 1997. Both process and outcome evaluation will be incorporated into the overall assessment of the success and feasibility of El Paso CATCH. Process evaluation measures will be used to interpret the results of the outcome measures and as qualitative and quantitative guides for designing guides for designing school-based interventions for a healthy lifestyle in U.S. Mexico border regions. Results from the Ep Paso CATCH program evaluation will be used to understand the link between sociocultural processes and disease prevention in Hispanic communities and to provide a unique forum for the study of how the environment influences health-related behaviors during Hispanic children's development.
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