Overweight and Obesity

Tools and Resources

NEW!

State Initiatives Supporting Healthier Food Retail: An Overview of the National Landscape [PDF-2.3Mb] provides useful information about the rationale for and characteristics of healthier food retail legislation enacted in the last decade.

Anti-Lobbying Restrictions for CDC Grantees
General overview of lobbying restrictions on the work of CDC grantees, along with examples of restricted and permissible activities. The examples are provided for illustrative purposes, but should not be regarded as definitive legal guidance, as they may not apply to the specific circumstances of the work of any specific grantee.

Anti-Lobbying Restrictions for CDC Grantees
July 2012 [PDF-501.6KB]
Memo to Communities Putting Prevention to Work Grantees July 2012 [PDF-67.59KB]

At A Glance 2011 — Obesity, Halting the Epidemic by Making Health Easier
CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is working to reduce obesity and obesity-related conditions through state programs, technical assistance and training, leadership, surveillance and research, intervention development and evaluation, translation of practice-based evidence and research findings, and partnership development.

Body Mass Index: Considerations for Practitioners [PDF-144k]
Learn more about issues to consider when using BMI to measure body fat.

CDC's Community Health Resources Database
Search or browse through CDC's best resources to help you plan, implement and evaluate community health interventions and programs to address chronic disease and health disparities issues. You'll find links to hundreds of useful planning guides, evaluation frameworks, communication materials, behavioral and risk factor data, fact sheets, scientific articles, key reports and state and local program contacts.

CDC/DNPAO Health Equity Toolkit
The purpose of this toolkit is to increase the capacity of state health departments and their partners to work with and through communities to implement effective responses to obesity in populations that are facing health disparities. The Toolkit’s primary focus is on how to create policy, systems, and environmental changes that will reduce obesity disparities and achieve health equity.

Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation
The Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation, (TRT). The Center TRT provides practitioners with the best available evidence on preventing and controlling obesity, heart disease and stroke, and other chronic diseases through nutrition and physical activity. They also provide practice-relevant information and resources to assist with developing and implementing successful interventions at various levels of the socio-ecologic model. In-person courses and web-based trainings are used to promote evidence-based public health practice.

Developing an Effective Evaluation Plan: Setting the course for effective program evaluation [PDF-2.5Mb]
This workbook helps public health program managers, administrators, and evaluators develop a joint understanding of what constitutes an evaluation plan, why it is important, and how to develop an effective evaluation plan in the context of the planning process.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides advice about how good dietary habits for people aged 2 years and older can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases.
Also available, a brochure for consumers: Let's Eat for the Health of It. [PDF-967k]

DNPAO Sources of Evidence [PDF-180k]
Learn more about the evidence available on research- and practice-based initiatives for DNPAO-funded programs.

Early Assessment of Programs and Policies to Prevent Childhood Obesity is a 2-year project to identify and assess local-level programs and policies that have been implemented with apparent success to prevent obesity by improving the eating habits and physical activity levels of children aged 3–17 years. In each year of the project a systematic search process identified programs and policies, then an expert panel suggested further exploration of the most promising programs and policies. Priority was given to programs and policies that addressed low income populations and ethnic groups with disproportionate childhood obesity.

The reports below are the first of a series of reports that will be coming from this study.

Early Assessment of Programs and Policies to Prevent Childhood Obesity Reports

Health Bucks Evaluation Toolkit
This tool kit was created to assist farmers’ market incentive programs in designing and implementing evaluations. The provided tools can be adapted for incentive programs of various sizes, and can be scaled to guide both small and large evaluations. This tool kit uses the New York City Health Bucks program as an example, providing evaluation tools, sample evaluation questions, and recommendations/lessons learned.

Healthier Food Retail (HFR) The food retail environment can be an important factor in people’s obesity risk and ability to eat a healthy diet. In recent years, leading public health authorities have recommended improving the retail food environment to make healthier foods more accessible among underserved populations.

Healthier Food Retail: Beginning the Assessment Process in Your State or Community [PDF-522k] provides public health practitioners with an overview of how to develop an assessment of their state’s or community’s food retail environment.
State Initiatives Supporting Healthier Food Retail: An Overview of the National Landscape [PDF-2.3Mb] provides public health practitioners, their partners, community members, and policy makers with useful information about the rationale for and characteristics of state-based healthier food retail legislation enacted in the last decade. Action steps that public health practitioners can use to inform, educate, and support improved fruit and vegetable access through HFR initiatives are also provided.

Healthy Communities: What Local Governments Can Do to Reduce and Prevent Obesity [PPT-14.1Mb]
This presentation, which was developed for local government staff, provides a basic understanding of the prevalence, disease burden, and economic cost of the U.S. obesity epidemic and how local government can be a part of the solution.
Also available in an Adobe Acrobat version [PDF-3.8Mb].

Guide to Community Preventative Services: Review of Interventions that Support Healthy Weight
A systematic review of the effectiveness of selected population-based interventions aimed at supporting healthful weight among children, adolescents, and adults.

Making Health Communication Programs Work: A Planner's Guide
Produced by the National Cancer Institute, Making Health Communication Programs Work uses a practical approach to guiding readers through four stages in the health communication process: 1) planning and strategy development, 2) developing and pretesting concepts, messages, and materials, 3) implementing the program, and 4) assessing effectiveness and making refinements. The book is available in print, online, and CD-ROM formats.

Obesity Prevention Coordinators' Social Marketing Guidebook [PDF-2.6Mb]
Developed by the Florida Prevention Research Center at the University of South Florida, the guidebook provides instruction on how to coordinate a social marketing intervention for nutrition, physical activity, or obesity prevention. It includes worksheets, tools, and information to help in the management and coordination of a social marketing program. The guidebook is supplemental to CDCynergy: Social Marketing Edition and adds practical tips and information specific to nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Funding for this project was provided by CDC.

Performance Report of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases [PDF-434k]
Read how funded states have changed policies and environments to support improved nutrition and increased physical activity. (You can also request a printed copy of the report appendices.)

Profiles of Funded State Programs
An interactive map that links to in-depth profiles of state nutrition, physical activity, and obesity-prevention programs funded through a cooperative agreement with CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases.

Social Marketing Resources
Social marketing can be thought of as a mindset used in planning and partnership development, or a structured and strategic planning process. It can be used to influence the behavior of individuals or the behavior of policymakers and influential persons for policy and environmental changes. The structured planning process allows you to make well-informed decisions about what audiences to target, what are their specific needs, and how you can meet those needs. The development of programs or products to effectively change behavior can be accomplished by understanding your audience. This Web section offers various information and resources using social marketing methods.

State NPAO Evaluation Guidance Documents
These evaluation guidance documents: clarify approaches to and methods of evaluation; provide examples and tools specific to the scope and purpose of state nutrition, physical activity and obesity programs; and, recommend resources for additional reading.

Developing and Using an Evaluation Consultation Group [PDF-477K]
Evaluation of State Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Plans [PDF-620k]
Partnership Evaluations Guidebook and Resources [PDF-1.47Mb]

State Plan Index [PDF-218k]
Used to guide and assess nutrition, physical activity, and obesity program planning efforts in CDC-funded states and to provide an evaluation tool adaptable to other chronic disease areas. Developed through a collaboration between CDC and more than 100 public health experts.

The Weight Management Research to Practice Series
Designed to summarize the science behind various weight-management topics for health professionals as well as the general public.