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Abstract #164673

Tammy Lee, BS, MPH, Public Health, Hunter College at City University of New York, 6299 Broadway #C8, Bronx, NY 10471, 917-406-4785, mztammylee@yahoo.com and Brian Jones, BS, ACSM, Wellness Coordinator, Betances Health Center, 280 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002.

Effective nutrition and physical activity education strategies to encourage overweight children of different ethnic groups in low income communities require health professionals to relate and understand their participants. Using innovative practices that are fun, creative and supportive would encourage more motivated participants. This presentation describes concepts and examples of how these creative methods were used to encourage children to learn and help promote a healthier lifestyle through a positive relationship with their educators. The educators created a positive environment through 8 strategies: (1) educators communicated with one another by collaborating and organizing their lesson plans together; (2) educators were attentive to children's needs, reactions and responses; (3) educators encouraged children to eat properly and exercise daily; (4) educators used activities to encourage critical thinking about their food choices; (5) educators used creative methods to teach children nutrition by asking children to create their own superhero characters; (6) educators were very supportive of children's creativity; (7) educators created a nutrition and physical activity world map where each visit introduced the children to a new culture and encouraged children to use their pedometers; and (8) educators gave positive feedback to children. Applying these strategies should result in a more effective real-world practice by having a more attentive class.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Apply nutrition and physical activity knowledge to teach school-aged children how to live a healthier lifestyle through creative intervention.
• 2. Identify children's nutritional and physical activity learning capability through classroom participation and intervention.
• 3. Develop teaching methods that are culturally sensitive to diverse ethnic groups in a low-income community.
• 4. Discuss various strategies and techniques to teach overweight children to utilize physical activity, math, geography, and history lessons.
• 5. Evaluate children’s critical thinking and nutrition knowledge by assigning them to create a diet through character creation.

Keywords: Health Education Strategies, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.