PC1152: The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR): A Toolkit for Evaluating Childhood Healthy Weight Programs

Background: Childhood obesity continues to be a serious problem in the United States. Recent results from the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicates that an estimated 19.7% of U.S. children and adolescents have obesity, and childhood obesity disproportionately affects some racial and ethnic minority populations. Adherence to evidence-based strategies and program recommendations are important to improving health outcomes for children with obesity. The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) gathered findings from studies on the evaluation of evidence-based childhood healthy weight programs (CHWP). To assist researchers and practitioners in evaluating CHWPs, NCCOR developed an evaluation toolkit.

Methods: In collaboration with invited subject-matter experts and CHWP leaders, NCCOR developed a toolkit to assist users in understanding and implementing the key areas of program evaluation for CHWPs.

Results: The toolkit offers an overview of program evaluation and provides guidance on evaluation readiness, process measures, outcome measures, contextual factors, program sustainability, and remote evaluation of CHWPs. In addition, the toolkit features a resource library, with links to guides, databases, research articles and other toolkits that will support an evaluation plan.

Conclusion: Evaluating CHWPs can improve program effectiveness and advance population health. When CHWPs use similar measures to evaluate programs, comparisons can be made to learn about the comparative effectiveness of CHWPs. This can help improve children’s health as programs determine which interventions work best, when, and why.