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  The Science Around Us: creating culturally relevant STEM-H enrichment activities to engage rural students and community.

  S M. Davis, S Mishra, K Peters, A Begaye, and A Ortega

  Presented at: NIH SciEd 2016; May 9-12, 2016; Washington, DC.

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  Trends in early childhood obesity in a large, urban school district in the Southwest from 2007 to 2014.

  A Cantarero, Jimenez E. Yakes, O B. Myers, T Scharmen, P Kinyua, K Tollestrup, D Cohen, V Sanchez, and P Pribis

  Presented at: Experimental Biology 2016; April 2-6, 2016; San Diego, CA.

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  Village Interventions and Venues for Action (VIVA II).

  S M. Davis

  Key note address presented at: The 30th Anniversary of the Prevention Research Centers at the CDC; February 29, 2016; Atlanta, GA.

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  VIVA II: a community-academic partnership promoting access to and consumption of water in a tri-ethnic community in rural New Mexico.

  T H. Cruz, S M. Davis, and A Ortega

  Presented at: American Public Health Association 2016 Annual Meeting & Expo; October 29-November 2, 2016; Denver, CO.

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  Culturally situating a childhood obesity prevention coalition in a tribal context.

  J Page-Reeves, T H. Cruz, and S M. Davis

  Presented at: Conference on Cultural-Based Nutrition and Fitness for Native American Youth; April 28-29; Farmington, NM.

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  Discursive Strategies in International Public Health Campaigns about Gardasil.

  E A. Lilo

  Presented at: 36th Annual Conference of the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association; February 11-14, 2015; Albuquerque, NM.

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  Dyslipidemia and prediabetes in overweight/obese teens and waist circumference.

  A S. Kong, E Yakes Jimenez, D Cohen, S G. Sanders, A Harris, and G Trejo

  Presented at: 8th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference; June 29-July 2, 2015; San Diego, CA.

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  “Eat Smart to Play Hard”: a social marketing intervention strategically designed to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables by 8- to 10-year olds in rural New Mexico.

  J Johnston and G Canaca

  Presented at: Individual, Family, & Community Education Research Showcase 2015; November 12, 2015; Albuquerque, NM.

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  Environmental factors influencing water consumption and access in rural communities: Cuba, New Mexico.

  C Thornton, S Davis, and T Cruz

  Presented at: Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science; October 29-31, 2015; Washington, DC.

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  Patterns of accelerometer-assessed physical activity patterns in adolescents.

  A S. Kong, S G. Sanders, E Yakes Jimenez, and B J. Skipper

  Presented at: 8th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference; June 29-July 2, 2015; San Diego, CA.

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  Physical activity patterns of adolescents by wrist-worn Geneactiv accelerometer.

  S G. Sanders, E Yakes Jimenez, B J. Skipper, and A S. Kong

  Presented at: American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting; May 26-30, 2015; San Diego, CA.

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  Practical approaches to characterizing health disparities in your community: a workshop and panel.

  A Cantarero, S Davis, R Kozoll, and A Ortega

  Presented at: 2015 Annual Conference of the New Mexico Public Health Association; March 31-April 1, 2015; Albuquerque, NM.

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  Preventing sexual violence in New Mexico: what our communities have to say.

  S Bear, J Hess, and T Cruz

  Presented at: 2015 Annual Conference of the New Mexico Public Health Association; March 31-April 1, 2015; Albuquerque, NM.

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  Rural and small-town complete streets: from planning to engineering.

  S Hausam, M Brazie, S M. Davis, J Sanchez, and T Rogers

  Presented at: 2015 American Planning Association-New Mexico and American Society of Civil Engineers-New Mexico Statewide Conference; September 23-25; Las Cruces, NM.

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  The Science Around Us: Partnerships to foster interest and competency in science among middle school students in rural NM

  Sally Davis, Shiraz Mishra, Alejandro Ortega, and Kathryn Peters

  The New Mexico SEPA project engages rural Hispanic and American Indian middle school students in the science around us, through curricula, summer camp, field trips, career days, school gardens, nature hikes and other learning opportunities in and out of the classroom. Emphasis is placed on role models, health careers, healthy living, and natural history. Learning activities are inquiry based, culturally appropriate and educationally sound. Frequent “think tanks” ensure teacher input and guidance. Professional development is aligned with the program objectives and needs of the teachers.

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  Training primary care providers in motivational interviewing for youth behavior change.

  M Vallabhan, A S. Kong, and SW Ewing Feldstein

  Presented at: 8th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference; June 29-July 2, 2015; San Diego, CA.

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  Usage of Tobacco Cessation Helpline (QUITNOW) in Rural New Mexico

  Abigail Velasquez, Theresa Cruz, Andrea Cantarero, and Sally Davis

  The QUITNOW program is an evidence-based method for increasing tobacco cessation in New Mexico. Although many efforts have been made to create and implement tobacco cessation interventions, research on the effectiveness of such programs in rural communities is limited. Data obtained from cities are typically generalized to all communities. This study aims to address the following question: "To what extent are adults in rural communities engaging in the QUITNOW program compared with adults in urban communities?" We hypothesize that rural communities may have a considerably lower rate of accessing QUITNOW than urban communities because of unique circumstances, which vary according to community. Rates of QUITNOW use will be calculated for each zip code in New Mexico. We will analyze the ratio of the total number of initial contacts to the eighteen and over population who are tobacco users interested in quitting. Data from rural communities will be compared with data from urban communities, statistically by t-test. We found the initial contact rate to be significantly lower (P=.03) in rural communities than that of urban communities. Results also indicated there was not a statistical difference in enrollees. This research will inform development of a focus group to better understand barriers to QUITNOW use in rural communities. It will also inform future interventions to increase use of QUITNOW in those communities. Tobacco-free living is an essential component of reducing health disparities. Our findings regarding disparities associated with residence in a rural community will help to address gaps in our knowledge.

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  Usage of tobacco cessation helpline (QUITNOW) in rural New Mexico.

  A Velasquez, T Cruz, A Cantarero, and S M. Davis

  Presented at: Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science; October 29-31, 2015; Washington, DC.

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  Using pedestrian counts to assess community-wide interventions to increase physical activity in rural Cuba, New Mexico.

  H Torres, S Davis, and T H. Cruz

  Presented at: Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science; October 29-31, 2015; Washington, DC.

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  Using Pedestrian Counts to Assess Community-Wide Interventions to Increase Physical Activity in Rural Cuba, NM

  Hannah Torres, Theresa Cruz, Andrea Cantarero, and Sally Davis

  Rural residents are often less active than urban and suburban residents. Reasons cited in the literature include certain environmental barriers such as lack of sidewalks, bike lanes, and affordable exercise facilities. The VIVA-Step Into Cuba project aims to address these barriers in Cuba, NM, by implementing community-wide interventions to increase physical activity. The aim of this study was to determine whether the implemented interventions resulted in an increase in walking over time. The data were collected according to methods established by the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Project. These methods included field observations performed by trained researchers and community members on three days of the week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) during two time intervals (12 noon-2 pm and 5 pm-7 pm). The total sample included counts of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized traffic obtained in the month of May from 2010-2015 and totaled 1,772 observations in three established locations. Data were characterized by type of traffic, location, gender, age, and year. Analysis showed a decline in travels over the study period, with an average decrease of 9. 08 people per year. There was an increase of about 5.2 pedestrians per year among individuals under the age of 18. Weather may have accounted for the decline, as rain was documented on observation dates for the last three years, while the first three were indicated as sunny or mild weather. These results will be used by the VIVA project to tailor further interventions to increase physical activity in rural communities in New Mexico.

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  What communities have to say: using focus groups for SVP planning.

  T Cruz and J M. Hess

  Presented at: 2015 National Sexual Assault Conference; September 2-4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA.

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  What’s new in the YRRS? A look at new questionnaire items with a focus on sexual minority status.

  D L. Green, J Padilla, L J. Penaloza, and L E. Tomedi

  Presented at: 2015 Annual Conference of the New Mexico Public Health Association; March 31-April 1, 2015; Albuquerque, NM.

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  Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE): a transcommunity intervention for preschool children.

  S M. Davis, G F. Canaca, T H. Cruz, P C. Keane, A Morshed, and S Sanders

  Presented at: New Mexico Public Health Association and New Mexico Center for the Advancement of Research, Engagement & Science on Health Disparities National Health Disparities 2014 Joint Conference; April 1-2, 2014; Albuquerque, NM.

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  "Eat Smart to Play Hard": a social marketing intervention designed to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables by 8- to 10-year olds in New Mexico

  Jennifer Johnston and Glenda Canaca

  Despite the many public health interventions in the past 40 years, in 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that rates of obesity, overweight, and disease related to diet are high, indicating that education alone is not adequate to change behavior. Social marketers have developed a specific planning process using traditional commercial marketing techniques to create positive social behavior change. Based on these principles and other specific strategies, the UNM PRC social marketing team developed and pilot tested a campaign in Santa Fe, NM, that showed promising results (an average increase of 0.76 serving per day, from baseline to follow-up, in fruit and vegetable consumption in the intervention group). The proposed intervention builds on these findings to test the campaign in rural communities across NM.

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  Environmental Factors Influencing Drinking Water Consumption and Access in Rural Communities: Cuba, New Mexico

  Courtney Thornton, Theresa Cruz, and Sally Davis

  Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) contributes to increasing obesity rates because they are a highly caloric beverage with poor nutritional value. Substituting SSB consumption with water consumption will help to decrease obesity. Water consumption is affected by various factors, including water access, a clean water supply, SSB popularity, policies, recommendations, and individual perceptions. Little research has addressed water consumption in rural populations. We are investigating access to drinking water of residents of the rural multicultural town of Cuba, NM. A literature review is being conducted on the advantages of water consumption and adverse effects of SSBs. Field observations assessed access to water and water quality in schools. Federal, state and local requirements for water in schools are being reviewed. A modified version of the Nutrition Environment Measurements Survey will assess the availability and pricing of water in comparison to that of SSBs. An analysis of a transcribed meeting on community water consumption will provide information on the knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes of community members regarding their water supply and consumption rates. A geographic information system map will be used to document water sources and quality as previously determined by annual tests (2004-14). Our findings should provide information on environmental factors influencing water consumption in Cuba that inform development of a community guide to facilitate discussions about increasing water consumption in that community. This information will also contribute to research on increasing drinking water consumption in other rural communities.