Assessment of Attitudes Regarding Access to Healthy Diet and Physical Activity Resources in an Urban Community Health Center Population - Abstract
Obesity is a major threat to public health. The socioecological model recognizes the many different contributors to obesity but, to date; primary care clinicians seeking to help patients to change their dietary and exercise habits have not effectively assessed non-physiological barriers to weight loss. The Capability Assessment for Diet and Activity (CADA), is a tool designed to help practices determine barriers to patient’s ability to change diet and exercise behaviors. One potential weakness of this tool was that it had only been tested in a Texas border area population for which it was developed. We administered the CADA to a random sample of patients at one community health center in New York City and report on the results that we obtained and the differences between our results and those previously published using the CADA. We conclude that the CADA is a useful tool to help clinicians and practices
identify the environmental, social, and emotional barriers that have the potential to impact patient’s ability to achieve health-related goals.