Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Penny Leake, PhD, RN¹, Julie Goedken, BSN, RN², and Stacy Greene, Student Nurse¹. (1) Department of Nursing, Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, IA 52101, 563-387-1451, leakepen@luther.edu, (2) Winneshiek County Public Health Nursing Service, 305 Montgomery Street Suite # 2, Decorah, IA 52101

During the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 school years, nursing students, public health nurses, and county extension education specialists collaborated to provide an intensive nutrition and fitness education project in four parochial schools in our county. Nursing students taught lessons on the various parts of the food pyramid each month, and teachers incorporated lessons into the regular curriculum that supported the emphasis on nutrition and fitness education. At the end of the first year, the project culminated with daylong activities, games and lessons at a local 4-H camp to review what had been learned during the year. In order to determine the impact of the lessons and activities implemented on the health of the students involved, data is being collected through part of an ongoing research project. All children in the schools took quizzes to measure knowledge levels before and after the lessons. Height, weight, and BMI (body mass index) had been measured for three years prior to the education project. Measurements for the five years following the project will also be collected. This data will be compared with national trends on childhood obesity and to see what impact was achieved. Results of the data collected to date will be shared in the presentation. In addition, specific lessons and activities and an extensive list of resources used as part of the project will be shared with the participants.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe one collaborative approach school nurses and/or public health nurses can use to improve nutrition and fitness education in school.
• Demonstrate at least three games and/or activities that can be used in the classroom to promote nutrition and fitness education.
• Compare data collected from a local research study with national trends on childhood obesity.

Keywords: School Health, Health Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered