About the FiSH Project
The Families & Schools for Health (FiSH) Project is longitudinal community study of childhood obesity funded by USDA, OCAST, Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Human Sciences; the Bryan B. Close Professorship; the Endowed Parenting Professorship Bridge Grants, and George Kaiser Endowed Chairs in Child & Family Resilience, Child Development, and Family and Community Policy. We conducted an intervention program for overweight children that targeted negative family and peer relationships. The project design tests three components: a traditional family lifestyle intervention to change family eating and activity patterns, a family dynamics component that targets unhealthy family communication and parenting patterns, and a school-based intervention aimed at improving social acceptance of overweight children. The FiSH Project followed almost 1200 children of all weights from 1st through 4th grade, and recently collected follow-up data from almost 400 of the original children who were seniors in high school. Child psychosocial variables such as emotional eating, self-esteem, loneliness, and social withdrawal are being analyzed as mediators connecting family/peer contexts and child or adolescent overweight. View publications, dissertations, and' theses that have used FiSH data:
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Dr. Amanda Harrist, HDFS, OSU Dr. Glade Topham, FSHS, Kansas State Dr. Lenka Shriver, Nutrition, UNC-Greensboro Dr. Laura Hubbs-Tait, HDFS, OSU Dr. Taren Swindle, Family Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences |
The variables we are investigating...
Classroom Intervention: Illustrations by Margot Felt Hoyt
One component of the FiSH Project was a classroom intervention aimed at increasing acceptance and friendships among the first grade peer group. These illustrations were commissioned by the FiSH Project to accompany The Kingdom of Tall Pines fairy tale written by Paley in her book, You can’t say, You can’t play. We read the fairy tale to children in our classrooms and used the characters and story-line to introduce the notions of inclusion and exclusion.
One component of the FiSH Project was a classroom intervention aimed at increasing acceptance and friendships among the first grade peer group. These illustrations were commissioned by the FiSH Project to accompany The Kingdom of Tall Pines fairy tale written by Paley in her book, You can’t say, You can’t play. We read the fairy tale to children in our classrooms and used the characters and story-line to introduce the notions of inclusion and exclusion.