Publications

We publish research on interventions that improve childhood health, grounded in whole-of-community approaches and systems theory. We strive to advance the fields of obesity prevention and community health and actively pursue opportunities to share ChildObesity180’s research findings in peer-reviewed scientific publications. Our work has been published in high-impact journals like Obesity, American Journal of Public Health, Preventing Chronic Disease, and Childhood Obesity.

Browse Catalyzing Communities Publications

Greer, Y. D., Nevels, D., Meinen, A., Korth, A., Moore, T. R., Appel, J., Werner, K., Calancie, L., & Economos, C. D. (in press, 2024). Applying community-based system dynamics to promote child health equity: The case of Healthy & Fit Kids in Milwaukee, WI. Frontiers in Public Health, 12, Article 1375284. 

Moore, T.R., Calancie, L., Hennessy, E., Appel, J., Economos, C. (2024) Changes in systems thinking and health equity considerations across four communities participating in Catalyzing Communities. PLoS ONE 19(10): e0309826. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309826 

Economos, C. D., Calancie, L., Korn, A. R., Allender, S., Appel, J. M., Bakun, P., Hennessy, E., Hovmand, P. S., Kasman, M., Nichols, M., Pachucki, M. C., Swinburn, B. A., Tovar, A., & Hammond, R. A. (2023). Community coalition efforts to prevent childhood obesity: two-year results of the Shape Up Under 5 studyBMC public health23(1), 529. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15288-5

Kasman M, Hammond RA, Mack-Crane A, Purcell R, Korn AR, Appel JM, Hennessy E, Swinburn B, Allender S, Economos CD. Using Agent-Based Modeling to Extrapolate Community-Wide Impact from a Stakeholder-Driven Childhood Obesity Prevention Intervention: Shape Up Under 5. Child Obes. 2023 Mar;19(2):130-138. doi: 10.1089/chi.2021.0264. Epub 2022 May 24. PMID: 35612430; PMCID: PMC9986012.

Calancie L, Fair ML, Wills S, Werner KE, Appel JM, Moore TR, Hennessy E, Economos CD. Implementing a Stakeholder-driven Community Diffusion-informed intervention to create healthier, more equitable systems: A community case study in Greenville County, South Carolina. Frontiers in Public Health.;11:1578.

Calancie, L., Nappi, D., Appel, J., Hennessy, E., Korn, A. R., Mitchell, J., Patrick, A., Werner, K., & Economos, C. D. (2022). Implementing and Evaluating a Stakeholder-Driven Community Diffusion-Informed Early Childhood Intervention to Prevent Obesity, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 2018-2020Preventing chronic disease19, E03. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd19.210181

Calancie, L., Fullerton, K., Appel, J. M., Korn, A. R., Hennessy, E., Hovmand, P., & Economos, C. D. (2022). Implementing Group Model Building With the Shape Up Under 5 Community Committee Working to Prevent Early Childhood Obesity in Somerville, MassachusettsJournal of public health management and practice : JPHMP28(1), E43–E55. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001213

Korn A.R., Appel J.M., Hammond R.A., Hennessy E., Mâsse L.C., Must A., Economos C.D. (2021). Validation and Refinement of the Stakeholder-driven Community Diffusion Survey for Childhood Obesity Prevention Implementation Science 1691 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-021-01158-4

Korn AR, Hammond RA, Hennessy E, Must A, Pachucki MC, Economos, C.D. Evolution of a Coalition Network during a Whole-of-Community Intervention to Prevent Early Childhood Obesity. Childhood Obesity. 2021 Mar 23. doi: 10.1089/chi.2020.0156. (Epub ahead of print.) 

Hennessy, E., Economos, C. D., Hammond, R. A., & SUS Systems Map Team and the COMPACT Team (2020). Integrating Complex Systems Methods to Advance Obesity Prevention Intervention Research. Health Education & Behavior: The Official Publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 47(2), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119898649

Appel, J. M., Fullerton, K., Hennessy, E., Korn, A.R., Tovar, A., Allender, S., Hovmand, P.S., Kasman, M., Swinburn, B.A., Hammond, R.A., & Economos, C.D. (2019). Design and methods of Shape Up Under 5: Integration of systems science and community-engaged research to prevent early childhood obesity. PLoS One 14(8): e0220169. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220169

Hennessy, E., Korn, A., & Economos C.D. (2019). Using Systems Approaches to Catalyze Whole-of-Community Childhood Obesity Prevention Efforts. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Kasman, M., Hammond, R.A., Heuberger, B., Mack-Crane, A., Purcell, R., Economos, C.D., Swinburn B., Allender, S., & Nichols, M. (2019). Activating a Community: An Agent-Based Model of Romp & Chomp, a Whole-of-Community Childhood Obesity Intervention. Obesity, 27(9), 1492-1502. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/oby.22553

Korn, A.R., Hennessy, E., Hammond, R.A., Allender, S., Gillman, M.W., Kasman, M., McGlashan, J., Millar, L., Owen, B., Pachucki, M.C., Swinburn, B., Tovar, A., & Economos, CD. (2018). Development and testing of a novel survey to assess Stakeholder-driven Community Diffusion of childhood obesity prevention efforts. BMC Public Health, 18(1) 1-11. https://www.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5588-1

Korn A.R., Hennessy E., Tovar A.,  Finn C., Hammond R.A., Economos C.D. (2018). Engaging coalitions in community-based childhood obesity prevention interventions: A mixed-methods assessment. Childhood Obesity. 14(8), 537-552. https://www.doi.org/10.1089/chi.2018.0032

McGlashan, J., Nichols, M., Korn, A., Millar, L., Marks, J., Sanigorski, A., Pachucki, M., Swinburn, B., Allender, S., & Economos, C. (2018). Social network analysis of stakeholder networks from two community-based obesity prevention interventions. PloS one, 13(4), e0196211. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196211

Owen, B., Brown, A.D., Kuhlberg, J., Millar, L., Nichols, M., Economos, C.D, & Allender, S. (2018). Understanding a successful obesity prevention initiative in children under 5 from a systems perspective. PLoS one, 13(3), e0195141. https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195141

existing network

Learn more about the other communities where Catalyzing Communities is already making a difference in the lives of children and families.