Data analysis on built environment and physical activity behavior among women living in an urban area from Santos, Brazil

• Grant number: 12/15729-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nutrition - Nutritional Analysis of Population
• Principal Investigator: Paula Andrea Martins
• Grantee: Angela Cristina Bizzotto Trude
• Supervisor: Joel Gittelsohn
• Host Institution: Instituto de Saúde e Sociedade (ISS). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Baixada Santista. Santos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/05641-9 - Effect of environmental factors on physical activity of children and their mothers, in the city of Santos, Brazil, BP.MS

Abstract

The sedentary lifestyle represents one of the most concern problems in public health due to, mostly, its associated risk factors for gain of weight and obesity epidemic. Nowadays, it is well known that having information it is not the only one reason to change a behavior. However, several studies have been focused on individual factors, forgetting to consider the context where the individual belongs. The socio-ecological perspective suggests investigate the relationship between the individual and the environment through a multilevel analysis to bring a better understands about this phenomenon. With this research project we aim to develop skills in the analysis of multilevel data to apply in the evaluation of the master's project results, with built environment and physical activity data of women with children under 10 years old, living in the city of Santos (São Paulo, Brazil). We intend to analyze individual and built environment data through multilevel model analysis, in which will be assessed the effects of those variables on physical activity behavior and nutritional status of the sample. With this project results, we intend to formulate some intervention strategies for the maternal population of Santos, taking into account the methodology learned with the projects developed in Baltimore city (Maryland, USA), culturally adapting it to the context and reality of Santos populations. (AU)