Current research activities are in the following areas:

• Eat Smart, Be Fit, Maryland!
• Nutrition and Physical Activity for 8- to 13-year-old Children
• Women's Health
• Eating Disorders among Military Personnel
• Child Health and Well-being

Eat Smart, Be Fit, Maryland!

The Eat Smart, Be Fit, Maryland! project aims to improve the health of low-income Maryland residents by helping them address their nutrition and physical activity needs. This five-year project includes several phases: a comprehensive assets and needs assessment, intervention development/implementation, evaluation, diffusion planning, and statewide dissemination.

To learn more about the project and answers to frequently asked questions, click here or visit the Eatsmart website.

Dr. Helga Health 'nStein's Body Fun

The overall goal of this project is to redesign and update an interactive game, Dr. Health'nstein's Body Fun, for children that teaches healthy lifestyle habits, translates it for application to the web, and uses it as a centerpiece for building an on-line health community for children. This project is based on the knowledge that health promotion programs intended to meet the needs of all people using a single intervention or "one size fits all" approach are not effective. Individuals have unique health needs and attitudes. Computer-tailored health education materials are highly individualized and have been show to be effective in changing a range of health-related behaviors.

In this project, for the first time ever, computerized tailored messaging will be incorporated into an exciting web-based game to make the learning experience more interactive and personally meaningful for children. The materials, messages, and on-line resources that young people, parents, teachers and others will receive through the Body Fun website are intended to reach one specific person (the child or parent playing the game) or classroom (the teacher using the curriculum). From the game, we will build a virtual community of individuals and organizations with shared values and concerns for the health of children. It will provide a number of interactive experiences. Funder: Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation.

CD-ROM Technology to Increase Appropriate Self-Care and Preventive Behaviors Among Army and Navy Women .

This project seeks to determine the most pressing reproductive health education needs of enlisted military women and to develop and test multimedia health education materials designed to address those needs. We are currently field testing the materials in several military medical facilities. Funding Source: Defense Women's Health Initiative of the Department of Defense.

Chronic and Episodic Disordered Eating among Military Personnel

In collaboration with Drs. Tracy Sbrocco and Evelyn Lewis at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, we conducted a secondary analysis of survey data collected from over 4,000 military men and women.

Collaborative Center for Child Well-being (CCCW)

PHI worked in partnership with several teams of CCCW staff and external scientists toward advancing the knowledge base of positive assets contributing to developmental well-being. Specifically, PHI conducted an extensive literature review of the research exploring the extent to which technology plays a role in child well-being. Funding Source: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through a subcontract with the Task Force On Child Survival and Development.

Part I: A Ten-Year Review of Reviews
Part II: Lessons from Empirical Research