Kim Maier
Researchers at Michigan State University have recently been awarded a $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand a pilot program that promotes fitness among middle school girls. The five-year program, called “Girls on the Move,” is lead by Lorraine Robbins of the MSU College of Nursing. Robbins is assisted by a team of MSU collaborative researchers, including Karin Pfeiffer, assistant professor of kinesiology and Kim Maier, assistant professor of measurement and quantitative methods for Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education.
Karin Pfeiffer
The main goal of the study is to increase physical activity among middle school girls – particularly, minority groups who come from low-income, urban households. To do this, the researchers have created a program that offers individual counseling with school nurses and an after school physical activity club.
Previously limited to the Lansing area, the new grant will allow the program to spread to Detroit, Flint, Jackson, Kalamazoo and Muskegon.