Harris County Steps Project

Written By: Steps to a Healthier Houston - Harris County Consortium in Partnership with the University of Texas School of Public Health Harris County CATCH Steps Project Team

In 2005, the Steps to a Healthier Houston - Harris County Consortium (Steps Consortium) received a generous grant from the Houston Endowment to train elementary school personnel in coordinated school health and to disseminate the CATCH Program in public elementary schools in Harris County . In direct partnership with The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services, the Steps Consortium took on the challenge of disseminating CATCH in Harris County, Texas, one of the largest counties in the United States.

Over the 2005-08 grant period, several important achievements were made, including the training of 2,011 school personnel from 488 elementary schools and 19 school districts in coordinated school health, with a potential reach of more than 335,000 students; the formation of school-level CATCH committees, with 67% of evaluation schools (n = 39) reporting an active CATCH committee in Fall 2007; and the dissemination of CATCH Program curricula and support materials in Harris County schools. Findings based on a single group, pretest-posttest evaluation design indicated several positive health-related outcomes (n = 39 evaluationschools). The prevalence of childhood obesity between 2005/2006 and Fall 2007 was maintained, with no increases during the intervention period (p>.05). The percent time 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th grade children engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PA) during PE class increased from 36.7% at baseline (n = 97 class observations), to 41.6% at Time 2 (n = 85), to 46.3% (n = 99) at Time 3 (posttest) (p<.001). Other significant increases in PA, diet, and intermediary outcome targets such as self-efficacy were also noted. As with most projects, specific challenges were noted, including a relatively lowimplementation of CATCH classroom lessons.

Focus group interviews with district level school leaders suggest that competing activities within the classroom may be one reason for lower implementation of CATCH in the classroom. These limitations notwithstanding, the positive findings reported suggest that large-scale, low-intensity implementation of the evidence-based CATCH Program can achieve important changes in specific obesity prevention-related outcomes.

Back to Archives

Contact us for more information on CATCH!