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The Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital advances knowledge and strategies for achieving energy balance by exploring how environments and social groups influence healthy choices, and engages communities in improving access to healthy eating and active living options.
The Center works on a statewide scale through Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA) and other regional organizations to deliver programs and events that support healthy eating and physical activity in schools, recreation, healthcare, and the community. The success of these initiatives inspired the development of a national, branded social movement: nrgBalance™ – make healthy easy.
The Center is committed to translating best practices in evidence-based programming for broad implementation.
Central to the nrgBalance movement, 12345! offers five simple recommendations with practical tips for achieving energy balance every day. These recommendations are based on findings presented in "Recommendations for Prevention of Childhood Obesity, " Davis MM et al, Pediatrics, December 2007 and other publications. Click here for more resources on the Science Behind Energy Balance. Grounded in published evidence, nrgBalance 12345! provides a simple, easy-to-follow framework for achieving optimum health.
The Center uses three main sources to develop and inform all nrgBalance strategies and programs: the socio-ecological model, social marketing theory, and published evidence.
Center staff from various public health backgrounds tap these sources to create innovative initiatives that rally health and wellness champions to take an active role in creating schools and communities that support healthy lifestyles.
The Center’s robust research component is based on the RE-AIM framework recommended for public health interventions. With measures for reach (R), effectiveness (E), adoption (A), implementation (I), and maintenance (M), this model offers Center staff a multidimensional evaluation method for creating powerful change initiatives.
To learn more about RE-AIM, visit http://www.re-aim.org/.
For information on the Center’s translational research priorities, please visit the Center Web site.
