Children Food Allergies and Holiday Treats in School

Holiday dishes and treats often contain nuts, milk and eggs — three of the top food allergy offenders — which can pose a threat to millions of children with food allergies. According to Dr. Ruchi Gupta, co-investigator of the Greater Chicago Study Center, there are almost two allergic children in every classroom in the United States. Therefore, it is important for schools and parents to be aware of food allergies this time of year, when many children exchange holiday treats  or participate in celebrations in school.

Fall Craft Activity

We recently sent our Study participants in Cook County a list of fun fall craft activities for kids. Then, we thought, why don't we try to make one ourselves? In this video, our happy volunteers, Peter, Alice and Kristi, show us how to make a scarecrow:





These easy to follow instructions are courtesy of dltk-kids.com:

Materials:

•     toilet paper roll
•     printer,
•     something to color with,
•     scissors,
•     glue, and
•     paper

    

Instructions:

    Print out the template of choice: Color or Black & White

    Color pieces, as necessary.
    
    Cut out the pieces.  This step may require adult assistance.
    
    Glue the large rectangle onto the toilet paper roll.
    
    Glue on the head, arms, legs and body patch.
   
If you want to get a bit more creative, you can glue on some tufts of raffia or dried grass as straw. Or as Peter and Alice did, a string of yarn as a belt.

I hope you enjoy making this scarecrow with your kids! Visit our Facebook page for more pictures or post your own!

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

The National Children's Study Greater Chicago Study Center supports National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month by encouraging Cook County families to take small steps to help each child to stay at a healthy weight.



Elissa Bassler, CEO of Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) and Executive Director of the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity, discusses the importance of tackling the issue of childhood obesity, ways in which can parents help overweight or obese children and the role of beverages in the obesity epidemic.



CLOCC's 5-4-3-2-1 Go! message contains recommendations for children (2 and older) and families to promote a healthy lifestyle: 

• 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• 4 servings of water a day 
• 3 servings of low-fat dairy a day 
• 2 or less hours of screen time a day 
• 1 or more hours of physical activity a day 

Visit the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) tor more information.

National Immunization Awareness Month

Dr. Rachel Caskey, MD, MaPP, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and General Internal Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-investigator at the National Children's Study Greater Chicago Study Center, answers common questions that parents may have about vaccines.

July is National Cord Blood Awareness Month

Dr. Ann Borders MD MSC, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University and co-investigator at the National Children's Study Greater Chicago Study Center, answers common questions that parents may have about cord blood banking.

Our Number One Priority: Study Participants

During the course of our interviews with people who live and work across Cook County, we asked women if they would consider participating in the National Children’s Study (NCS). All of the women with whom we spoke overwhelmingly said “yes” to volunteering for the NCS.  In this week’s post, you can see a sample of those responses:



Regardless of where they are in life (some of them are mothers, some do not have children, others are planning to have children), women throughout the region always ask, what does participation in the NCS entail?

During active recruitment, our main message to women who enrolled in the NCS was that they would be part of a pioneering group of women who would join a national effort to ultimately improve children’s health. We are very thankful to all of our participants who answered the call and continue to be involved in Study activities. All of us should be very proud of our participants because their contribution is invaluable to future generations. Besides the real possibility of helping improve children’s health, our participants joined the NCS because:

1.    They only have to give the Study a small amount of their time.
Participation occurs through periodic visits and phone calls with National Children’s Study staff before and during pregnancy, and as their children grow. Our colleagues at the Cumberland County Maine Study Center have written a series of blog posts detailing what happens at each study visit. Take a look here.

2.    The NCS does not interfere with their life.
The National Children’s Study is not a substitute for regular doctor visits for our moms or their children. Participants won’t be asked to take any medications or treatments.

3.    Participants can decide what information to share.
If they are ever uncomfortable answering a question or participating in any part of a Study visit, they can opt out. If life is too busy, they can take a break and rejoin the Study when it better fits their schedule.

4.    Participants can move to a new home or out of Cook County and still be a part of the Study.
Study participants needed to live in one of several randomly chosen communities in Cook County only when they enrolled. If they move out of town or across the country, they can still be involved in the NCS.

5.    They are part of a ground-breaking study.
As we discussed in last week’s post, no other study has looked at how a wide range of environmental exposures impact children’s health beginning with pregnancy over the long-term. Previous adult studies did not consider whether environmental factors might have a different impact on children.

6.    They receive a small amount of money for their time. 
We recognize the commitment participants are making to improve the health and well-being of children. We are providing compensation and thank-you gifts for participating in the Study.

7.    Participants can change the world!
Doctors, scientists, health agencies and community organizations that work with children could ultimately use information from the Study to improve how we prevent and treat children’s health problems. We can’t stress enough that participation in the National Children’s Study will make a difference for generations to come.

Here for the Long Haul

If you ever stop by our table at a community event, one of the things that you will hear us talk about repeatedly is how big and how long the National Children’s Study (NCS) is. The NCS is simply the largest and longest study of women and children ever to be conducted in the United States. We have never had a study this big, that lasts this long, or that asks this many questions about mothers’ and children’s health. Studying so many children and pregnant women before, during and after their pregnancy for 21 years may help us answer questions about pregnancy and children’s health.

Why is such a long-term study needed? 

Scientists call long-term studies like the NCS “longitudinal.” Longitudinal studies are generally big undertakings, requiring large numbers of study participants and use of extensive resources for their planning and execution. Longitudinal studies are often considered to give very good results, because they are so long and can look at many different parts of people’s lives. Longitudinal studies are useful for studying changes in individuals over time in contrast to surveys, which provide a snapshot at a single point in time. Time, however, is itself one of the most important explanations of change. Therefore, longitudinal studies can give answers to questions concerning change that one-time surveys cannot.

By following children and families for 21 years or more, the NCS will collect information about health at different ages and stages of growth and in various situations, to possibly shed light on the factors that influence health and development as people grow.

As promised in last week’s post, for the next several weeks, we will be posting some outtakes that did not make it into our final set of Videovoice videos. In this week’s clip, Dr. Clavier talks about the importance of longitudinal studies:

As you heard, other large and long-term studies have really made a difference in our understanding of adult health. For example, the willingness of people in a small town in Massachusetts – Framingham – to take part in a study for more than 20 years showed us why smoking is bad for health, among many other things. To learn more about the Framingham study, check out this blog post.

Other studies have given us some clues about children’s health, but none of them was large enough or lasted long enough to give us the information we really need to understand more about children’s health and well-being. The NCS is different. Because the NCS starts before babies are even born and continues until they are young adults, it can tell us a lot more about what really matters when it comes to what makes kids healthy, makes them sick, or what keeps them safe.

The NCS offers our community the opportunity to take part in the largest long-term study of children ever. An unhealthy community affects everyone. If we can learn through a long-term study how homes, schools, and neighborhoods influence the health and safety of kids, we can perhaps address and prevent many health problems.

Text4baby Fights Pertussis with Innovative Technology

In celebration of 2012 National Infant Immunization Week, which emphasizes the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases, we have a guest blog post this week from the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition:

Text4baby Fights Pertussis with Innovative Technology

By Kathy Waligora, Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition

Since 2010, Text4baby, the first ever FREE mobile health service, has been using cell phones to share health tips with pregnant women and new moms. Moms sign up by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE to 511411 to receive messages in Spanish) to receive helpful messages that are timed to their due date or baby’s first birthday. These messages include reminders about check-ups, immunizations, oral health, and tips for good nutrition.

Evaluation of text4baby finds that it is increasing users’ health knowledge, facilitating interaction with their health providers, improving their adherence to appointments and immunizations and improving their access to health services. Below is a summary of preliminary evaluation findings from an evaluation conducted in San Diego, CA:

•    63.1% reported that text4baby helped them remember an appointment or immunization that they or their child needed

•    71.3% of participants reported talking to their doctor about a topic that they read on a text4baby message 

•    53.3% of participants without health insurance reported calling a service number.

Given the success of this program, the recent announcement that text4baby is adding targeted pertussis immunization information is being celebrated within public health circles. To demonstrate how effective these simple text messages are when it comes to improving immunization rates, text4baby has added additional pertussis messages for subscribers in Illinois, and six other states, aimed at stopping the spread of this deadly disease.  Messages like “You & anyone who cares for your baby need a whooping cough shot. The flu shot too during flu season. Call 800-232-4636 to find out where to get them” are simple for parents to understand and provide clear instruction that could have an invaluable impact on the life of their child.

  The Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition is the statewide coordinator for text4baby and we have been working with health departments, community clinics, doctors’ offices and local businesses to promote this important public health tool. To date we have helped to enroll nearly 15,000 users and have made FREE outreach materials available for order from our website.

Even if you don’t need text4baby outreach materials, we hope that you will consider sharing this information with your colleagues, family, and friends. With your help, we can ensure that more women, children, and their families have the best opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives.

April is Autism Awareness Month

Molly Losh, Ph.D., Jane and Michael Hoffman Assistant Professor from Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University discusses the importance of early screening and early intervention for parents who are worried about their child’s development.

Dr. Losh’s research focuses on delineating the nature and basis of language impairment in autism and related neurobiological disorders. Her studies adopt clinical-behavioral and family-genetic methods and designs to characterize patterns of language strengths and weaknesses that define particular disorders, and examine ties to neuropsychological and genetic underpinnings.

For our National Autism Awareness Month feature, she takes on the following questions: How does a child's autism diagnosis affect a family? Should parents consider complementary and alternative therapies for their autistic child? Is there a true rise in the incidence of autism in the US? and she offers some helpful suggestions.

The Home Stretch

As we work putting the final touches on the videos produced by the VideoVoice project participants, we continue to reflect on what we have accomplished through this process. One of the main things we have learned is that community leaders are very aware of the health concerns in their communities. At the same time, local parents and residents seem worried about the environment in which their children are growing up. Whether it is a school in proximity to a Brownfields, or a power plant in the neighborhood, or the safety of a well water source, all of these are real concerns that have been brought up in our conversations in the community. There are many unanswered questions regarding the relationship between the built environment and children’s health. Data gathered through the National Children’s Study could provide insight and guidance for developing strategies to reduce the environmental risk of disease in the future. Our VideoVoice Project Coordinator talks about the lessons from conducting research in a very neighborhood-oriented city:

 However, the NCS goes beyond the physical environment, as it will also pay attention to social and cultural factors. As an observational study, the NCS is taking into account child-rearing practices, family background and composition, maternal and infant nutrition, among many other factors that may affect a child’s growth and development.  Additionally, NCS encourages community involvement in places where the NCS is taking place, here in Cook County and around the country. Maria, one our neighborhood ambassador, talks about this issue in the clip below:

“Well, I learned a lot about how my community feels, what their fears are, what their strengths are, how they view life, what their motivations are, what is it that precisely keeps us living in the same community. All of that in terms of my community. I also learned to listen a little bit more, to take my time to understand the thought process that people have when they are conversing with you. [I also learned] to understand their motivations, to see from an even more human point of view those motivations that make you live in such a beautiful community like ours. I also learned to feel more secure when talking to people. When doing the interviews, each one gave me more strength, more security, more confidence in finding out what we are thinking, what is going on with us and how can we project that. It was really beautiful.”

January is Birth Defects Prevention Month

A helpful video from the March of Dimes discussing the importance of folic acid.

Learn and Learn (and Learn)

Over the past couple of months, we have been surprised, sympathetic, and most of all humbled by many of the conversations we have had with people who care so much about their community, their children and their shared future. It has been a great experience being able to record these interviews, and we are working very hard to produce a final set of videos that will hopefully do justice to all the individuals who participated and the communities whom they represent.

While we feel we accomplished one of our goals of learning more about different communities across Cook County, we were also striving to make this project a learning experience for local community residents whom were working with us as neighborhood ambassadors. Early on, we decided one of the main things we were going to work on was interviewing techniques. In the intervening weeks, we also practice some technical skills in handling video and audio equipment. In addition, we became subjects of the interviews ourselves as you have witnessed in this very forum. In this week’s post, Ellie and Rose describe below what they have learned through the VideoVoice process:

But the “learning” does not stop there. In a VideoVoice project, there are actually three areas in which knowledge is gained. As we mentioned before, VideoVoice first affords you the opportunity to learn more about the community. This is particularly helpful for researchers who might be somewhat unfamiliar with the history, background and cultural values of the selected community. Second, VideoVoice provides participants with interviewing skills and an understanding of video production. Finally, VideoVoice aims to share what we learned with the public in general through a final video product. The goal being that the community gains a deeper understanding of our message in their own words. We are anxious to see the end result in the upcoming year.

Happy New Year and look for our next update in 2012!

With a Smile on Our Face

Fresh from one of our last interviews in the community, coincidentally on the first day with fresh snow on the ground, we keep reflecting on what we have learned over the past couple of months as we conducted our VideoVoice project in Cook County. We have interviewed some people who have been really open in telling us how they feel about the National Children’s Study and its goals. Over and over again we have heard from parents, school teachers, community leaders, healthcare professionals and others that the NCS presents a unique opportunity to improve the health of our children. While most people seem to understand the importance of the Study, they are also keenly aware of some of the perceived barriers to participation, whether the length of the Study, the number of interviews per year, language issues, and privacy concerns, among others. However, people we interviewed have been extremely thoughtful not only pointing out some of these issues but also providing their own recommendations on how to overcome them.

If you look back at our first post, we explained that a VideoVoice project like ours seeks participation from community members, strengthens and builds upon those relationships, and mobilizes people to action. It is fair to say that we have been overwhelmed by the level of participation of our community partners and community residents, and as we compile all the interviews for our final video, you will see that people really let their voices be heard. Our call to action will come soon when we release our final product and ask you to help us distribute it widely.

In this week’s clip, one of our neighborhood ambassadors reflects upon interview styles. When conducting VideoVoice interviews, our aim has always been to create a relaxed environment where the interviewee feels comfortable and even forgets that there is a camera and a microphone pointed at him or her. We have accomplished this by interviewing people in their own setting, whether their own home, office, or out in their community. We also practiced how to ask questions in a calm voice and friendly manner. In addition, we assure interviewees that they do not need to prepare prior to the interview. If someone asked to see the questions we will be asking, we have sent a list of the types of questions we ask; while keeping in mind that our intention is to have a frank and honest conversation with them. Have you ever interviewed someone who never smiles? Neither have we.

Suggestion Box

As President Obama said on his Thanksgiving address last week, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday “eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we are.”

Here at the National Children’s Study, we are thankful for the opportunity to contribute to such a significant undertaking as improving the health of all children. We would be unable to do that if we did not have the support of our amazing community partners, who week by week over the past twelve months continue displaying our posters and brochures at their locations, inviting us to community events, and referring people to call our number if they are interested in participating.

As our VideoVoice project is coming to an end, we asked our neighborhood ambassadors for their thoughts and suggestions as the National Children’s Study moves forward in Cook County. Here is what Maria had to say:

“Some of the things that I can recommend are basically the same things that people recommended me or the same concerns they had about it. Among them is the expansion of the selected communities, perhaps to include more communities in order to admit a larger number of children.

Perhaps, contemplate the possibility of having women who become pregnant prior to eighteen years of age because that is a reality in our community. There are many pregnant women under eighteen, [whom] regrettably could be left out of this program having the opportunity to study the effects precisely which that premature pregnancy could have on the baby throughout his life.

Another would be to emphasize more our program through television, radio, mass media, utilize the media so that people know about us even more. Those are the main things that I would suggest the Study.

Of course, to continue working, to persist bringing information to the families. Perhaps one more thing that could work quite well is to bring specific information about topics of interest to our community. For example, health topics, mental health topics… In our Latino community, one of the main concerns is how the environment affects the emotional health of its inhabitants.”

NCS in the Community

On a cold Midwestern day, we traveled to the southwest suburbs of Cook County to interview one of our community partners. Lori Chesna, Executive Director of the Southwest Special Recreation Association, has been a strong supporter on the National Children’s Study Greater Chicago Study Center since the first time we met her almost nine months ago. Lori spoke to us about her interest in the NCS not only on a professional level, as a community leader at an agency that works with families of children with special needs, but also on a personal level as a mother of four.

Lori sees the opportunity to participate in the National Children’s Study as a way for moms and dads to contribute to society. “I would love to be a part of it,” Lori said when asked if she would take part in the Study. “So I encourage anybody to really be involved in a program like this, although it might not affect you, you are helping impact generations to come.” Lori goes on to say how other community organizations should get involved in the NCS and tell families whom they work with to find out if they are eligible to participate.

In this week’s post, one of our neighborhood ambassadors and our project coordinator talk about the impact of the National Children’s Study in the community. Our neighborhood ambassadors have had a fantastic experience in the community not only promoting the Study but also interviewing people for our VideoVoice project. We are really excited for all the footage that has been gathered and cannot wait to put together the final video. In the meantime, we leave you with some initial recommendations and thoughts for the future of the project:

Environmental Factors

We started this project because we are “all committed to observe, listen carefully, evaluate the evidence, engage, and incorporate the voices of the communities and people interested and involved in the study.[1]”

The National Children’s Study has the potential to impact millions of children and families across the country to lead healthier, safer and happier lives in the future. The Study plans to accomplish this by focusing on environmental factors and their influence on the health and development of children. The NCS defines the “environment” very broadly. First of all, environment includes your physical surroundings, and as the interviews on this week’s post reveal, many community residents that we talk to do worry about the quality of the air, water and soil in their community and how that might affect their children’s health.

For us, environment does not only include geographic location and differences between neighborhoods, but also biological factors such as diet and family health history. The Study also plans to look at other factors such as family size and composition. There are also emotional factors such as behavioral inhibition, and social factors such as closeness to family and friends. As children get older, the Study will also observe their cognitive development, peer and cultural influences. In addition, the Study intends to examine chemicals in the environments where children live, learn, and play. As this video from HealthyChild.org  shows, there are more chemicals in the environments where children grow up today than ever before:

The NCS wants to find out how the interaction of all these environmental factors makes some children predisposed to certain diseases. In addition, the NCS also seeks to find which factors are actually helpful in preventing some children from developing illness. The goal of NCS is to provide policy makers with valuable data to improve prevention programs and the necessary tools to combat the negative environmental impacts on children’s health and development.

The issues raised by our neighborhood ambassadors in the following videos come out of their conversations with parents in the community. We know that some communities in Cook County disproportionately suffer from premature deaths, high rates of asthma and emergency room visits due to air pollution. In addition, lead poisoning is still major concern nationwide as there are 36.7 billion square feet of lead paint remaining in the United States, which is enough to coat the entire city of Chicago with four layers.[2] Expecting parents who are interested in increasing our understanding about these and many other environmental health issues are signing up for the National Children’s Study. Even if you are not planning to have more children, watch the videos below and then click the links on the left to find out other ways in which you can get involved:

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[1] Hirschfeld S, Kramer B, Guttmacher A. Current Status of the National Children’s Study [commentary]. Epidemiology. 2010;21:605–606.

[2] Source: HUD National Survey of Lead and Allergens, 2000

Research vs. Study

Research (noun): studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

Study (noun): a careful examination or analysis of a phenomenon, development, or question

At first look, both of these terms “research” and “study” seem to refer to the very same concept. However, as the interviews on this week’s post reveal, community residents may have different reactions when they hear each word mentioned. From a researcher’s standpoint, our community outreach goal is to engage potential participants and explain the benefits of joining the National Children’s Study (NCS). In that respect, our neighborhood ambassadors have become the key link between what’s happening on the ground and what the Study wants to accomplish.

Last week, our neighborhood ambassadors talked about how community residents want better and healthier neighborhoods for our children. But how do we achieve that? Policy-makers base their decisions on evidence-based research. The National Children’s Study has the potential to become the richest source of information that could provide recommendations on how to make our communities better places for children to grow up healthy and safe. In order to achieve that goal, we need expecting mothers, couples starting their families, women and local residents from across Cook County and throughout the country to consider the NCS a viable way of public participation.

The current state of affairs may signal that people are eager to make a contribution to society. The NCS is asking mothers-to-be to share their stories so we can gain a better understanding of what affects children’s health before conception, during pregnancy and for years thereafter. By answering survey questions, participating in interviews and providing biological and environmental samples, NCS participants are making a contribution that could improve the lives of generations to come.

Below, Dr. Nadine Peacock, one of our co-investigators, talks about what surprised her about our discussion during our weekly VideoVoice meeting. On the other hand, one of our neighborhood ambassadors explains how she goes about convincing people of the value of the NCS.

What are your views on the National Children’s Study? Please share your comments below after watching this week's clips:

Progress in the Field

As we continue our work in the community, attending events throughout Cook County, making presentations, talking to mothers and fathers interested in participating in the Study, we have been learning a great deal about what people’s concerns are in terms of the health of their community and what they want for their children.

Some parents have told us they are worried about living in proximity to a power plant and how that might affect their children’s health. One dad wanted to know if his son might have to stay behind in school like he did when he grew up. A community leader is concerned about lead poisoning as his community is mostly made up of older homes. An elected official talked about households using well water and not knowing how often they check the water quality. Others have mentioned the lack of resources in their community including access to parks and safe places for children to play.

Our VideoVoice project is a chance for people to go “on the record” expressing those concerns and giving feedback to the Study. Our neighborhood ambassadors have been asking local parents, community leaders, healthcare providers and others to participate in interviews, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Over the next several weeks, we will be producing a number of community videos which reflect the attitudes of people in our community about the National Children's Study. We will be sharing those videos through here and other means. In the meantime, two of our neighborhood ambassadors share their experiences working to promote the Study in the Latino community:

What have you learned from your first interviews?

"Working with people, doing the interviews has been very good because I have come to find out, in the first case, that the same experiences people have had are the same most of us have had. We are not really as different as we may seem, and our concerns remain mostly the same. We all want the well-being of our children; we want the well-being of our community and ourselves."

How do you think people in your community will respond to the NCS?

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