Pediatric Healthy Weight Research & Treatment Center – MATCH Wellness

MATCH, Motivating Adolescents with Technology to CHOOSE Health™, is a middle school-based, childhood obesity intervention that uses an interdisciplinary approach to student wellness. Since 2007, MATCH has reached over 40,000 7th graders and in the 2023-24 school year it is in place for 43 schools. The program combines a nutrition, physical activity, and technology curriculum with the web-based resource system to meet educational and wellness objectives simultaneously. MATCH teaches students how health choices they make will impact their future.

The program is funded through the NC SNAP Ed program and is aligned with national and state educational standards, Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) school model, the Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) and follows recommendations for achieving a healthy weight as outlined in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Obesity.

To implement MATCH, teachers are trained to deliver lessons within their subject area, one teacher acts as a coordinator to help plan lessons across disciplines, all materials are made available via a secure website, and students have all lessons in a student-friendly workbook. The MATCH curriculum follows an intentional progression of lessons, goals, and activities.

Program methods and results are so strong that after in-depth, objective review by the Center for Training, Research and Translation (CTRT), it was given the highest available “evidence-tested” designation. Results have been described in peer-reviewed articles in the journals such as Childhood Obesity and the Journal of School Health.

Dr. Suzanne Lazorick, a PHWRTC pediatrician and obesity researcher, oversees and evaluates the program. Current funding for the program is provided by the North Carolina Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed), Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina, and the State Employees Credit Union Foundation.

To learn more, contact, Jami Frazier, MATCH Project Director at frazierj15@ecu.edu.

Lazorick, S., Fang, X., Crawford, Y. (2016). The MATCH Program- Long term obesity prevention through a middle school based intervention. Childhood Obesity, 12(2):103-112 DOI: 10.1089/chi.2015.0073

Lazorick S., Fang X., Crawford Y., Hardison G.T (2015). Improved BMI measures following a middle school-based obesity intervention- The MATCH program. J of School Health, 85(10): 680-687 DOI: 10.1111/josh.12301

Lazorick S., Crawford Y., Gilbird A., Fang X., Hardison G.T., Moore V., Burr V. (2014). Long term obesity prevention and the Motivating Adolescents with Technology to CHOOSE Health™ (MATCH) program. Childhood Obesity, 10(1):25-33. DOI: 1089/chi.2013.0049

Lazorick, S., Crawford, Y., Hardison, GT. (2013). School-based obesity treatment: the MATCH intervention. NCMJ, 74(1): 35-36

Lazorick S., Hardison GT, Esserman DE, Perrin EM. (2011). Sustained Body Mass Index Changes One and Two Years Post MATCH: A School-Based Wellness Intervention in Adolescents. Childhood Obesity, 2011; 7(5)372-378.