Chapel Hill video production company, Cirque Productions, has partnered with the UNC Chapel Hill Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) as part of a new Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) grant. The project, which is funded for one year by the National Institutes of Health ($133,000) with matching state funds administered through the NC Board of Science and Technology ($75,000), involves the development of an innovative web-based toolkit designed to facilitate implementation of federally required wellness policies (WPs) in middle schools. The project also involves the development of a commercialization strategy for underwriting the cost of the toolkit by local businesses.

To date, implementation of federally-mandated school wellness policies remains a significant challenge for schools. While websites with information about WPs have proliferated since the mandating of these policies in 2006, there are few existing tools that can be directly applied in the school and classroom setting and that engage teachers, families, cafeteria staff, and administrators as well as children; the STTR web-based toolkit will be designed to do just that.

The toolkit will contain three components: 1) video products that use social marketing strategies to inform key stakeholders about WPs and motivate behavior change; 2) a self-monitoring TRACKER allowing students to track physical activity and nutrition behaviors to meet personal goals and participate in friendly competitions; and 3) a behavioral and environmental SCREENER to assess factors associated with obesity prevention and provide immediate computer tailored feedback to users. The toolkit will be tailored for middle schools, which have been overlooked in prior applied research and where many of the challenges are greater, and will be piloted in four schools in Durham and Chapel Hill, NC. Cirque and HPDP will also develop and test a business Sponsor Promotion Package for use by school advocates to engage local businesses in the financial underwriting of the toolkit. Applying Phase I findings could lead to the creation of an affordable, portable and marketable product in Phase II that fills the statutory need placed on schools to implement WPs.

About project partners: Cirque Productions is a small video production company in Chapel Hill, NC that specializes in custom videography, photography, multimedia design, and a spectrum of other digital services. HPDP conducts, evaluates, and disseminates innovative, community-based public health research. Cirque and HPDP have worked on a number of projects together since 2005 and share a common interest in developing wellness tools tailored for young people. Through various projects, Cirque has kept closely in touch with the teenage market and is well-suited to develop tools that appeal to their preferences. HPDP has led several school-based research and intervention projects and understands the challenges unique to working in a school setting. Other project partners include: Fitnessrace.com, People Designs, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Physical Activity (PANA), an advisory group comprised of local middle school teachers, and a number of expert consultants from across the country. The Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) provided assistance in navigating the pre and post-award STTR grant process and through conferences and other workshops.

Contact: Dr. Alice Ammerman, Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, and HPDP Center Director, will serve as Principal Investigator for this project. Brian Burnham, President of Cirque Productions, will be responsible for the development and commercialization of the toolkit. For more information about this project, please contact Lara Khalil (HPDP Project Director) at 919-843-0595 and lara_khalil@unc.edu.