Evaluation of a parent nutrition education program in a large, multi-ethnic, urban school district

Background: The Network for a Healthy California – Los Angeles Unified School District (Network – LAUSD) engages teachers, parents, and students through an ecological approach with the goal of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity among school children in Los Angeles. Following extensive formative research, a comprehensive parent nutrition education program was developed and piloted in Spring 2008. Network – LAUSD is fully implementing the program in the 2008-2009 school year. This presentation focuses on process and outcome evaluation results. Program design/methods: Six weekly interactive workshops for parents were implemented in parent centers at 15 LAUSD schools. Topics of the workshops include: MyPyramid, label reading, healthy choices when eating out, and menu planning. Through a pre-post test quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design, data were collected via a written questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and behaviors related to healthy eating. Results: Formative research indicated that the majority of parents in study schools were low-income and Spanish-speaking. Thus, the intervention and evaluation instruments were designed to accordingly. We expect the outcome evaluation to show increases in parent knowledge about nutrition and physical activity, increases in parents' skills interpreting food labels, and improvements in food behaviors, specifically an increase in FV consumption. Data collected from parents receiving the intervention will be compared to parents in the comparison group (no intervention). Discussion: Findings from this evaluation highlight the obstacles and successes of utilizing an interactive workshop model for school-based parent nutrition education in a low-income, multi-ethnic, and largely Spanish-speaking urban school district.