IPEN Research
Teams
Israel
IPEN Adolescent Research Team
Primary Investigator
Mika Moran
Orcid ID: 0000-0002-4225-0388
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=d4l6_oMAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate
Dr. Moran is a senior lecturer and the head of the Health Promotion program at the school of Public Health at the university of Haifa. She specializes in environmental and social determinants of health.
Based on the knowledge and skills gained during her master’s in public health (2006, University of Haifa), and her my PhD in urban and regional planning (2013, Technion), her research methods are diverse and include quantitative (e.g., statistical and spatial analysis) and qualitative (e.g., walk-along interviews, cognitive mapping) approaches. Her research covers different world regions (e.g., Middle-east, Latin America, International) and geographical scales ranging from individuals’ activity spaces (e.g., children’s walking routes and outdoor play areas) through neighborhoods and cities to metropolitan regions.
Dr Moran together with Prof Baron-Epel lead the adolescent IPEN project in Israel and collected the data during the years 2015-17.
Research Team
Orna Baron-Epel
Orcid ID: 0000-0003-3447-2594
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.il/citations?user=wMsrQYgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra
Orna Baron-Epel, MPH, PhD. Prof. Baron-Epel has a BSc and PhD in Biology from the Tel Aviv University and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Orna Baron-Epel, is a full professor Emeritus of public health at the school of public health at the University of Haifa.
Although recently retired is continuing research activities and teaching. During the years 2003 and 2014 she was the head of the health promotion specialty and between the years 2015-2020 the director of the School of Public Health. Her research interests are mainly: health promotion, social epidemiology, the social aspects of health behaviors, and health and the built environment. Many of her studies try to decipher the effects of social characteristics on health and health behaviors among the different groups living in Israel.
Her research methodologies include quantitative and qualitative methods. Prof. Baron-Epel is also involved in evaluating health promotion interventions in the community using these methods. She has published over 140 peer and edited “Health Promotion From Theory to Practice”, the book serves as the basic textbook for students of health promotion in Israel.
Prof. Baron-Epel together with Dr Moran lead the adolescent IPEN project in Israel and collected the data during the years 2015-17.
Project
Obesogenic environments and adolescent obesity: Identifying environmental factors related to adolescent obesity
The Israeli IPEN Adolescents study thought to identify environmental factors associated with sedentary lifestyle and obesity among adolescents aged 15-18. The study was conducted in collaboration with Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) and was approved by the MHS Ethical Review Board. This study followed IPEN-A research protocol, and included a systematic selection of neighborhood based on GIS analysis, face-to-face interviews and accelerometer monitoring. In addition, this study included a telephone survey among adolescents residing in three large cities in three different regions in Israel: north (Haifa), center (Rishon LeZion), south (Beer Sheva). The study was funded by the Israeli Science Foundation between 2015-2017.
Some associations were found between PA as measured by the accelerometer devices and PA and sedentary behaviors reported by adolescents. No associations were found between BMI and PA and sedentary behaviors as measured by the accelerometer devices. Accelerometer data was also associated with a sense of personal safety, obstacles for walking and number of electronics in bedroom. Age, gender and SES/walkability quadrant were also associated with some PA and sedentary measures. These findings point at other factors besides the built environment, like SES, which influence PA and nutritional behaviors and thus contribute to a healthier lifestyle. However, the findings also link physical activity with some environmental determinants, such as personal safety and access to places within a walking distance. These results are not surprising, especially when contextualized within Israeli cities, which are relatively compact. Given the large and growing population and limited land resource, urban densities in Israel are relatively high, thereby creating walking distances between daily destinations, even in the suburban neighborhood layouts.
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