Research
Jie Weiss is Associate Director of the Center for the Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles and Obesity Prevention and a Co-Principal Investigator for the center project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is currently working on several research projects with her colleagues. One project evaluates and provides evidence based information on the effectiveness of the pediatric obesity intervention program "PowerPlay-MC-OC". The other project utilizes the hierarchical Decision Making Model to examine Latino mothers’ intentions for healthy feeding along with the daily decisions they make regarding meal choices for their children. A third project examines motives underlying students’ lifestyle choices and the interaction between lifestyle, students’ well-being and their academic performance/ The goal is to develop culturally sensitive promotion programs that encourage healthy lifestyle choices.
Mothers’ Feeding Decision
This project utilizes the hierarchical Decision Making Model with little decisions (everyday, repetitive meal choices) being nested under big decisions (setting a policy that governs healthy feeding practices) to examine Latino mothers’ intentions for healthy feeding and the daily decisions that they make regarding meal choices. The goal of this study was to expand understanding of the feeding decisions that mothers make during the critical preschool years when the child’s eating patterns and food preferences develop. Participants were mothers of preschool children who had just enrolled in a parenting nutrition education class in communities. We used Ecological Momentary Assessment methods for the data collection (supported by CDC, Grant #: ).
Effectiveness of Pediatric Weight Management Program
This project is to evaluate and provide evidence based information on the effectiveness of pediatric obesity intervention programs. In addition to examining the weight loss via the program, we also examined the association between childhood obesity and psychosocial factors. The program, PowerPlay-MD-OC, is a medically based, culturally sensitive, pediatric weight management program in Orange County whose goal is to promote healthy and active children. The target population is children between the ages of 2-18 years who have been clinically diagnosed as obese (BMI > 30). (supported by CDC, Grant #: ).
Dietary Pattern, Physical Activity, and Well-Being among College Students
The purpose of the project is to enhance our understanding of the motives underlying students’ lifestyle choices and the interaction between lifestyle, students’ well-being and their academic performance, particularly among Latino students. The goal is to develop culturally sensitive promotion programs for healthy lifestyle choices. The behavioral decision making model, a Multi-Attribute Utility Model (Keeney & Raiffa, 1976) is utilized as the theoretical framework to examine the decision making process in lifestyle choices. According to this model, the anticipated consequences associated with a decision option determine its attractiveness. Fifteen hundred current students attending CSUF will be recruited from various colleges and departments. The project will entail the data collection of paper-and-pencil surveys and salivary/urinary pH tests over two collection periods: (1) Time 1: Food intake questionnaire and salivary/urinary pH test using pH/litmus paper for 7-days; (2) Time 2: A battery of questionnaires on the decision-making process of food intake, alcohol use, physical activity, subjective ratings of physical and psychological health, and demographic information.