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POSTER PRESENTATIONS MONTREAL 2008 ABSTRACTS | 357 Getting School Kids Moving! Results from the Sandy Lake School-Based Diabetes Intervention Study. IAN J. HAASE*, STEWART B. HARRIS, MEIZI HE, MARIAM NAQSHBANDI, SUSAN WEBSTER-BOGAERT, Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, ON The Sandy Lake First Nation is a remote Oji-Cree reserve located in NW Ontario that has reported one of the highest prevalence rates of T2DM and childhood obesity in the world. The culturally sensitive curriculum used for the intervention was developed using Aboriginal North American learning styles, targeted towards the Ojibway-Cree background of the students. In addition to the school curriculum, the intervention also included healthy lunches, daily physical activity, and a family component to inform parents of the healthy eating and physical activity messages being addressed in the school. We report here results from the School-Based Diabetes Prevention Program (SBPP), a 2-year (Sept. 2005 – April 2007) diabetes intervention in Sandy Lake First Nation for children in grades 3 and 4. Results of the intervention were comparable with other school -based diabetes intervention studies in First Nations communities. In terms of physical fitness, we observed a significant improvement for the maximal multistage 20m shuttle test score (2.13 - 2.39; p 0.036), and also significant improvement with respect to the children’s knowledge concerning healthy levels of television and video games (2.86 – 3.11, p 0.007). Several other variables showed positive trends, including knowledge of healthy foods, self efficacy, and intake of trans fats, total sugar and protein. Overall, we found no significant improvements for age-adjusted BMI percentiles over the 2 year period, reflected in part by a significant increase in caloric intake consumed by study participants (kcal). The SBPP was participatory in nature with a large after school component which resulted in several spin-off community programs including baseball, broomball, summer camp, and hockey leagues. Motivations and Barriers to Healthier Lifestyles. BEYOND THE BASICS WORKING GROUP, Canadian Diabetes Association, Toronto, ON A project of the Canadian Diabetes Association assisted by an unrestricted educational grant from Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. The Association conducted an on-line survey to explore: current lifestyle behaviours, awareness of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and the motivations and barriers to undertaking a healthy lifestyle. The Beyond the Basics subcommittee of the National Nutrition Committee guided the project. Environics Research group conducted the on-line survey from January 21 to February 2, 2008. A total of 2,375 Canadians aged 18 or older including several hundred people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes were sampled. Results: Canadians may not be as healthy as they think and may be putting themselves at risk for chronic disease. Canadians understand the importance of diet for overall health, with more than half acknowledging that they should eat 5 to 10 servings of vegetables and fruit each day. However, only 1 in 5 are actually getting this many servings. Lack of willpower and lack of time were the top two reasons for not achieving a healthier diet. Almost half say they already exercise enough to be healthy, but less than a third are actually getting the amount of exercise recommended. Five in 10 state that the family physician was very influential. Although, 6 in 10 say the desire for more energy would motivate them, only 4 in 10 would be motivated by the threat of a serious illness. Canadians have much of the knowledge they need about healthy lifestyle behaviours, but they perceive many barriers to taking action. 215 216 217 218
