Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jill Carter, EdM, MA, Physical Education, Program Director, Planet Health & Eat Well Keep Moving, Boston Public Schools, 5 Mildred Avenue, Mildred Avenue Middle School, Mattapan, Boston, MA 02126, Linda M. Grant, MD, MPH, Health Services, Boston Public Schools, 443 Warren Street, Boston, MA 02121, and Samatha Panati, MSc, MPH, Evaluation Unit, Research Office, Boston Public Health Commission, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, 617 534 9645, spanati@bphc.org.

Method: Boston Public Schools (BPS) has been implementing two evidence-based interdisciplinary nutrition and physical activity curricula; Eat Well and Keep Moving (EWKM), for upper elementary school students and Planet Health (PH) for middle school students, from 2002. This was funded by Carol M White Physical Education for Progress (PEP) grant that ended in 2004. From 2005, the curricula have been funded by Boston Steps, (a CDC funded program to reduce the burden of diabetes, asthma, and obesity, Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts and Boston connects, a public private partnership. Results: The evaluation results of the PEP grant showed significant changes in some of the student's physical activity and nutrition behaviors and reflected on the implementation challenges. Television watching on a school day decreased from 3.14 to 2.65 hours (p=0.0019) for elementary school students and from 3.45 to 3.14 hours (p=0.0247) for middle schools students. Number of times at snack decreased from 2.86 to 2.58 (p=0.0048) and 3.04 to 2.65 (p=0.0001) for elementary and middle school students respectively. Consumption of fruits and vegetables, engaging in moderate and vigorous physical activity showed a positive tread, though not statistically significant. These preliminary results helped to attain funding from Boston Steps, BCBS and Boston Connects. The BPS nutrition and beverage policy, to eliminate sugared beverages from the vending machines complemented the school based health promotion activities. Conclusion: Partnership with public and private organizations and facilitating factors like nutrition policy aided for successful implementation, sustainability and expansion of the curricula in BPS.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the need to sustain and expand curriculum based health promotion activities
• Identify the facilitating factors for the implementation of the curricula

Keywords: School-Based Programs, Curricula

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered