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IPEN News IPEN currently has 268 members in 50 countries! We recently received a great score for our IPEN study grant proposal. We hope to start the study in 2009. For more details see the study abstract & aims New Program Announcement from the National Cancer Institute: Geographic and Contextual Influences on Energy Balance-Related Health Behaviors Research training program opportunity to build research capacity in low- and middle-income countries Active Living Research announced that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has reauthorized its program for five years with a $15.4 million allocation for research on environments and policies that support physical activity among children and families. RWJF launched the Active Living Research national program with a $12.5 million grant in 2000. ALR Renewal Announcement Global Alliance for Physical Activity Newsletter Thanks to a generous donation from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) ISBNPA are able to offer up to 20 scholarships for participants from developing countries attending the 2007 ISBNPA Annual Conference in Oslo June 20-23. Each scholarship will provide up to NOK 15 000 (approximately US $ 2300) to help participants offset the costs of attending the meeting (i.e. travel, accommodation and registration fee). Congratulations to Belgium and Hong Kong who were recently funded to conduct IPEN studies. In the US we submitted an application to the NIH for funding for a coordinating center and data collection in several countries. Although on the first attempt we were unsuccessful, we intend to resubmit this application in March 2007. The next IPEN workshop will be at the International Society of Behavioral Medicine on Wednesday 29 November, 2006; 1:00—4:00 http://www.9icbm-2006.org/ Another good conference to attend for IPEN networking opportunities is the Active Living Research Conference in San Diego in February 2007 http://www.activelivingresearch.org/index.php/Annual_Conference_2007/386. If you intend to travel to this from abroad please let us know so we can set aside time to discuss your IPEN plans (jkerr@projects.sdsu.edu).
The network continues to expand and progress! There are now 181 members from 29 countries. The Czech Republic are starting to collect data and Hong Kong and Denmark have applied for funding in their countries - good luck! Translations of the NEWS are growing and can be found on the website www.ipenproject.org/surveytranslated.htm. We have also added an employment section to the website for job advertisements and posting collaboration opportunities, please send Jacqueline details of things you would like to promote www.ipenproject.org/Employment.htm. We have also added a user friendly version of the NQLS manual of operations to the website www.ipenproject.org/methods.htm. There is also a new publication about the IPAQ under member's publications www.ipenproject.org/publications.htm. We are planning special IPEN meetings and workshops in 2006 in Atlanta in April and Thailand in November. And will be meeting in San Diego this October to brainstorm funding opportunities and how to coordinate data management. Jacqueline recently met with CDC staff, Chris Riddoch, and Stuart Trost to discuss IPEN initiatives. Thank you for your continued support and efforts to expand the network!
We managed to organize an IPEN gathering at the ACSM annual meeting in Nashville in June. There were members from Hong Kong, Brazil, Kuwait, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Taiwan and the US there. In addition we had the support of Candace Rutt from the CDC and John Schneider from Actigraph. Abstracts from the meeting are available in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2005, 37, supplement to no. 5. Members please send me any presentations you would like published on the website. An example from Sanne deVries in the Netherlands is available under the "Conferences" page. At the meeting, many suggestions were made and I would like to pass some of these on for your consideration.
2) Actigraphs are also available for lease from Actigraph and the CDC. 3) Concerns about analysis of actigraph data and cut offs were raised. There will be a supplement in October's MSSE about this. Our team will also be developing a cleaning and screening protocol as we analyze our data. There is already a useful NQLS protocol for sending out and using accelerometers, if anyone requires this contact me directly. We also have some software in development for analyzing the data. 4) Some examples of differences between the countries have arisen, as expected. For example, Brazil has no cul de sacs, Hong Kong has no word for neigborhood. We suggest neighborhood is described as within a 10-15 walk from an individual's home in any direction. 5) The important thing is when you come across such differences and issues please share them with us and let us come to some consensus on how to make changes. This way we can keep the data as consistent as possible across countries. 6) Countries may also get some ideas for translations from the Environment module of the IPS. 7) Some members feel overwhelmed by the tasks required to do a fully funded IPEN study. We will try to develop some suggestions how members can start with smaller scale research projects that can be conducted with minimal funding. 8) Members have requested an IPEN powerpoint presentation that can be used to explain the project aims and methods. We will start to develop this in due course. 9) A GIS recipe book will be available on the Active Living Research website in the near future. 10) Members are encourage to join the CDC Livability Listserv www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/contact.htm There will be a special IPEN meeting at the ISBNPA conference in Amsterdam www.isbnpa.org, at 15.00 on Saturday 18th June 2005. Please send Jacqueline a 5 line summary of your research plans or progress to date so that she can circulate this information at the conference.
We were delighted to meet with IPEN members from Denmark, Japan, Australia and Portugal here in San Diego during the recent Active Living Research conference (Program at a Glance 2005. These discussions have helped us to solidify the IPEN concept and make great progress. We look forward to visits from IPEN members from Sweden and the Czech Republic in the next two months.
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