The Comprehensive Obesity Prevention & Education (COPE) Lab examines obesity-related chronic disease disparities among African American families. The primary goal of the research is to reduce risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes, such as poor dietary practices, low levels of physical activity, and limited access to healthy food and physical activity opportunities, among rural families through multi-level, community-based interventions.

Select Sponsored Projects:

• Rural HEALTH: Examining Multi-Level Factors Influencing Health Disparities 
• Rural Healthy Eating And Active Lifestyle Tools for Heart Health (HEALTH) 

Select Publications:

• O’Neal, LaToya J., Lori B. Bateman, Theolishia Smith, Yufeng Li, Theresa Wallace, Chen Dai, and Mona N. Fouad. “An Exploration of Multi-level Physical Activity Correlates among African Americans in Alabama and Mississippi.” Family and Community Health, 41, 197-204.
• Makki, Taj W., LaToya J. O’Neal, Shelia R. Cotten, and R.V. Rikard. 2018. “When First Order Barriers Are High: A Comparison of Second-and Third-Order Barriers to Classroom Computing Integration.” Computers & Education, 120 (May 2018), 90-97.
• Bateman, Lori B., LaToya J. O’Neal, Theolishia V. Smith, Yufeng Li, Theresa Wynn, Chen Dai, and Mona N. Fouad. 2017. “Policy, System, and Environmental Correlates of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in a Low Income African American Population in the Southeast.” Ethnicity and Disease, 27, 355-362.
• O’Neal, LaToya J., Philip A. Gibson, and Shelia R. Cotten. 2017. “Elementary School Teachers’ Belief about the Role of Technology in 21st -Century Teaching and Learning.” Computers in the Schools, 34(3), 192-206.
• O’Neal, LaToya J. and Shelia R. Cotten. 2016. “Promotive Factors and Psychosocial Adjustment among Urban Youth.” Child and Youth Care Forum, 45(6), 947-961. 

Funders, Sponsors, and Collaborators:

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Grant Number 2017-46100-27197)