Overview of the Lab

The focus of research in the Physical Activity and Health Promotion lab (located in 164F Forker Building) is on the assessment and promotion of physical activity, physical fitness and health in the population. Accurate assessments of physical activity are essential for answering many questions in physical activity epidemiology so improving the accuracy of assessments has been a major focus in the lab. However, our team has also been building lines of work that capitalize on the self-monitoring capabilities of contemporary monitors to promote physical activity behavior. We have developed several promising assessment tools to facilitate evaluation of physical activity (Youth Activity Profile) and home environments (Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Screening Tool) and have active lines of work focused on improving these tools (See Behavioral Research Tab). Another major area of work focuses on applied research on the FITNESSGRAM youth fitness program. 

Affiliated Faculty 

A number of colleagues collaborate on work in the lab.  Click here to see listing of affiliated faculty members or colleagues collaborating working on projects through the Physical Activity and Health Promotion Lab. These pages also provide direct links to individual lab pages.

Research Teams

The lab serves as a hub for researchers with interests in physical activity assessment and promotion. Brief descriptions of some active teams are listed below.

Physical Activity Research Team for Youth

The Physical Activity Research Team for Youth (PARTY) group includes 3 Kinesiology faculty (Dr. Welk, Dr. Chen, and Dr. Vazou) and graduate students (Yang Bai) interested in youth physical activity programming. The team has worked to coordinate the Iowa FITNESSGRAM Initiative and has also established robust measurement tools to evaluate correlates of physical activity in youth. Visit the PARTY page to learn more about our work.

SWITCH Obesity Intervention Research

The SWITCH research team is an interdisciplinary research group coordinated by faculty researchers from Kinesiology (Dr. Welk, Dr. Chen, Dr. Vazou), Nutrition (Dr. Lanningham-Foster) and Psychology (Dr. Gentile). A number of graduate students contribute to SWITCH programming (Tara Weber, Yoonho Nam, and Joey Lee). Click here to learn more about SWITCH.