Delivery and evaluation of a pilot obesity prevention project for urban Appalachian children

Abstract

Prevention of childhood obesity is a national concern and there is a need for interventions that can be implemented in community programs and are brief in nature. This pilot project was developed to evaluate the impact of the Children's Healthy Eating and Exercise Program, which was adapted from the Traffic Light Diet. Participants were urban Appalachian children and adolescents who were enrolled in one of two community-based summer programs. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine children's impressions of the program and to assess what they learned during implementation of the program. Results indicated that younger children reported consuming fewer French fries or chips and older children reported eating more vegetables at the end of the program. Knowledge of two categories of Traffic Light foods appeared good; however, participants showed lower knowledge about one of the food categories. Future studies should involve parents as well as incorporate a more rigorous evaluation design with a comparison group to examine the impact of this new program.

Evaluation of an Afterschool Children’s Healthy Eating and Exercise Program

“…Findings indicated that children in the intervention group were learning about red and green light foods. These findings are consistent with other studies indicating the acceptability and feasibility of the adapted Traffic Light Diet for children [21,22]. Children in the intervention and comparison groups were eating more vegetables at the post-intervention assessment.…”

“…Results also indicated that children displayed knowledge of the green and red light food categories, but were less knowledgeable about yellow light foods. There was no significant change in levels of exercise at the end of the program [21]. Thus, the current study added a more intensive physical activity program, having more equipment available for children to use and more time to engage in physical activities at each session.…”

“…The program was implemented and evaluated by a team consisting of one faculty member from the health promotion and education program, and graduate students with a major in community health. A survey that has been utilized [21] was adapted to assess children's opinions about their eating and exercise habits before and after program participation. Questions examined participants' eating and physical activity behaviors.…”

Using Photovoice to Improve Healthy Eating for Children Participating in an Obesity Prevention Program

“…Questions assessing healthy eating were used pre- and post-intervention. 7 The questions assessed consumption of fruits, vegetables, and sweets—“yesterday.” Line-drawings of many types of fruits (eg, strawberries, grapes, apples, oranges), vegetables (eg, broccoli, carrots, green beans), and sweets (eg, cake, donuts, cookies, pie, candy bars) accompanied the questions. Children rated their answers on the following scale: (1) “No, I didn’t eat any.…”

“… 5 The Children’s Healthy Eating and Exercise (CHEE) Program is an after-school program with a successful history of improving children’s consumption of healthy foods, with children eating more fruits, exercising more, and children and parents learning about nutrition. 2 , 6 - 9 More information is needed about how children change their and their family’s eating behaviors. The current study focused on delivering and assessing the impact of healthy eating lessons using photovoice to allow children to capture change in eating behaviors.…”