Christine Olson

 

Christine Olson

Professor
406 Savage Hall
Division of Nutritional Sciences
 
Phone: (607) 255-2634 Fax: (607) 255-1033
Email: cmo3@cornell.edu
View Cornell University Contact Info
 
Biographical Statement:

The nutritional concerns of women, infants, and children and developing effective interventions to address these concerns are the focus of my scholarly work. Our research group is conducting a project using electronic communication technology to help pregnant and postpartum women to develop and maintain behaviors that promote healthy body weights.  This project involves faculty and students in the Communications Department, as well as, the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell and faculty collaborators at the University of Rochester Medical Center.  The electronic interventions are currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial in Rochester, NY.

We recently compled a major extension-outreach project (the Healthy Start Partnership) focused on building the capacity of community-based health and nutrition professionals to design and implement environmental interventions promoting healthy weights in women and their infants. We are finishing an evaluation of the impact of the Healthy Start Partnership on women's weights and their infants' rates of growth in the first 6 months of life this year.  In addition, we are examining the inter-relationships between the environments in which the women live, their diets, and body weights as well as their children's nutrition-related behaviors and weights.  

 
Current Professional Activities:

Cornell University Graduate Field Membership: Nutrition; International Development

 
Current Research Activities:

A randomized controlled trial on the effects of electronically-mediated education and behavior change programs for pregnant and postpartum women;


An impact evaluation of a community-based intervention (the Healthy Start Partnership) that has as its goal the promotion of healthy body weights in mothers and their infants;


An assessment of the rural food and physical activity environments and their relation to body weight in women and children; and

 

Prevention of childhood hunger and food insecurity in families.

 

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Current Extension Activities:

The Cornell NutritionWorks Course: Preventing Childhood Obesity: An Ecological Approach.

 
Related Websites:

DNS Home Page

www.emomsroc.org

 
Selected Publications:

 

Hanson KL, Olson CM.  Chronic health conditions and depressive symptoms strongly predict persistent food insecurity among rural low-income families.  Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.  23:1174-1188, 2012.

 

Paul KH, Graham ML, Olson CM.  The web of risk factors for excessive gestational weight gain in low income women.  Maternal and Child Health Journal. Published online: 14 March 2012.  doi 10.1007/s10995-012-0979-x.

 

Lipsky LM, Strawderman MS, Olson CM.  Maternal weight change between 1 and 2 years postpartum: The importance of 1 year weight retention.  Obesity 20(7):1496-1502, 2012.

 

Gantner LA, Olson CM.  Evaluation of public health professionals' capacity to implement environmental changes supportive of healthy weight.  Evaluation and Program Planning 35:407-416, 2012.

 

Stark CM, Graham-Kiefer ML, Devine CM, Dollahite JS, Olson CM. Online course increases nutrition professionals’ knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in using an ecological approach to prevent childhood obesity. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 43:316-322, 2011.
 
Carroll JD, Demment MM, Stiles SB, Devine CM, Dollahite JS, Sobal J, Olson CM.  Overcoming barriers to vegetable consumption by preschool children: A child care center buying club.  Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition 6:153-165, 2011.
 
Gantner LA, Olson CM, Frongillo EA, Wells NW.  Prevalence of nontraditional food stores and distance to healthy foods in a rural food environment.  Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition 6:279-293, 2011.
 
Fernandez ID, Hoffmire CA, Olson CM.  Gestational weight gain in adolescents: A comparison to the new Institute of Medicine recommendations.  Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology 24:368-375, 2011.
 
Olson CM, Demment MM, Carling SJ, Strawderman MS. Associations between mothers’ and their children’s weights at 4 years of age. Childhood Obesity 6 (4):201-207, 2010.
 
Olson CM. Food insecurity and maternal health during pregnancy. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110(5):690-1, 2010.
 
Davis EM, Zyzanski SJ, Olson CM, Stange KC, Horwitz RI. Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in the incidence of obesity related to childbirth. American Journal of Public Health 99:294-299, 2009. 
 
Davis E, Olson C. Obesity in pregnancy. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice 36:341-356, 2009. 
 
Lent MD, Petrovic LE, Swanson JA, Olson CM. Maternal mental health and the persistence of food insecurity in poor rural families. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 20:645-661, 2009. 
 
Olson CM, Strawderman MS, Dennison BA. Maternal weight gain during pregnancy and child weight at age 3 years. Maternal and Child Health Journal 13:839-846, 2009. 
 
Olson CM. Achieving a healthy weight gain during pregnancy. Annual Review of Nutrition 28:17.1-17.13, 2008. 
 
Fernandez ID, Olson CM, Dye TD. Discordance in the assessment of prepregnancy weight status of adolescents: A comparison between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sex- and age-specific body mass index classification and the Institute of Medicine-based classification used for maternal weight gain guidelines. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 108:998-1002, 2008. 
 
Swanson JA, Olson CM, Miller EO, Lawrence FC. Rural mothers’ use of formal programs and informal social supports to meet family food needs: A mixed methods study. Journal of Family Economic Issues 29:674-690, 2008. 
 
Olson C.M. The third decade of the Journal of Nutrition Education (1988-1997): vibrant expansion in research content, audiences, and topics for nutrition education. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 40(5):274-278, 2008. 
 
Olson CM. A call for intervention in pregnancy to prevent maternal and child obesity. Letter to the editor. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 33(5):435-426, 2007. 
 
Olson CM, Bove CF, Miller EO. Growing up poor: The long-term implications for eating patterns and body weight. Appetite 49:198-207, 2007. 
 
Wells NM, Olson CM. The ecology of obesity: Perspectives from life course, design and economics. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 1(3):99-129, 2006. 
 
Bove CF, Olson CM.  Obesity in low-income rural women:  Qualitative insights about physical activity and eating patterns.  Women & Health 44(1):57-78, 2006.
 
Lee S-K, Sobal J, Frongillo EA, Olson CM, Wolfe WS.  Parity and body weight in the United States: Differences by race and size of place of residence.  Obesity Research 13 (7):1263-1269, 2005.
 
Olson CM.  Food insecurity in women: A recipe for unhealthy trade-offs.  Topics in Clinical Nutrition 20(4):321-328, 2005.
 
Lee JS, Frongillo EA, Olson CM.  Meanings of targeting from program workers.  Journal of Nutrition 135:882-885, 2005.
 
Olson CM. Tracking of food choices across the transition to motherhood. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 37:129-136, 2005. 
 
Olson CM, Anderson K,Kiss E, Lawrence F, Seiling S. Factors protecting against and contributing to food insecurity among rural families. Family Economics and Nutrition Review 16:12-20, 2004 
 
Olson CM, Strawderman MS, Reed RG. Efficacy of an intervention to prevent excessive gestational weight gain. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 191(2):530-6, 2004.

 

 
Searchable Keywords:
Nutrition, maternal and child health, disease prevention, pregnancy, obesity, poverty, domestic food insecurity

 
The information on this bio page is taken from the CHE Annual Report.