Impact

Affinity Health Plan Study
In June, 2009, Dr. Oz presented the results of an independently conducted two-year efficacy study overseen by a methodologist from Cornell University and funded by Affinity Health Plan. The focus of the study was to quantify the impact of the HealthCorps program on a predominately Hispanic New York City intervention group. Results of the study found significant benefits of HealthCorps on three dimensions:

1. soda pop consumption decreases by 0.61 times per week;
2. participants are 36% more likely to report that they are more physically active;
3. participants score 10.7% higher on the test of health knowledge. (These estimates assume zero benefit for dropouts; excluding dropouts results in larger effect sizes.)

In an article published in April in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Thomas Frieden (Director of the CDC) and Kelly Brownell (Yale) argued that soft drinks “may be the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic.”

Impact Study of HealthCorps in Palm Beach County
Through a study conducted on four high schools in Palm Beach County - Santaluces High School in Lakeworth; Forest Hills High School in West Palm Beach; Atlantic High School in Delray Beach; and Wellington Community High School in Wellington – the analysis of data revealed that the HealthCorps curriculum on nutrition, fitness and mental resilience led to most students’ adopting healthier lifestyles. 

Implementing the Healthcorps Behaviors Assessment Tool, the independent non-profit researcher reached over 4,100 students in the first part of the program year, using a Likert approach to assess responses to 33 questions.  The survey concluded that:

• About 40% less students were drinking soda more than twice a day
• As to consumption of healthy foods, including fruit juice and vegetables, an increase of 15% of students responded that they were eating at least 2 of each of these foods weekly
• 10%  percent of respondents increased their weekly water consumption and 45% acknowledged drinking water more regularly
• An increase of 55% stated that they exercise at least 4 days a week
• 11% percent more respondents indicated that they watch less TV and 5% more students learned how to more effectively cope with problems

Regarding the Stress Scale measured, results found that:

• 35% of students worried less about unexpected events
• 56% of students were better able to control themselves           
• 21% of students never or almost never got “stressed”
• 7 % of students were more able to handle personal problems       
• 14% of students generally feel better
   

In support of the HealthCorps’ model, a recent Johns Hopkins study (Youfa Wang, associate professor, Bloomberg School's Center for Human Nutrition) concluded that a number of factors, including peers, had a greater influence over the food choices of older kids than did the family or parents (Social Science and Medicine - May 25, 2009).

Baylor School of Medicine, Human Neuroimaging Lab
Dr. Read Montague at Baylor is currently conducting a groundbreaking brain imaging (fMRI) efficacy study of the HealthCorps program in Houston.

Teen Iron Chef contests have been shown to
improve teen dietary quality.

Teen Iron Chef Program
For the nutrition section of the curriculum, starting with the 2009-2010 school year, HealthCorps has established a formal relationship with Family Cook Productions to train all Coordinators to carry out the Teen Iron Chef program in schools. Albert Einstein School of Medicine conducted a study of the program last year establishing it as an evidence-based initiative.

Future
In partnership with Teen Iron Chef and Albert Einstein School of Medicine, HealthCorps is applying for an NIH grant to pursue further study of the HealthCorps program. The University of Florida will also be conducting a study of the HealthCorps program in Gainesville, FL in 2010.