141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

289544
Advancing school & community engagement now for disease prevention

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 8:48 AM - 9:06 AM

Valentine Njike, MD, MPH , Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT
Judith Treu, MS, RD , Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT
Jesse Reynolds, MS , Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT
Erica Smith , Independence School District, Independence, MO
Jennifer Walker, M.Ed , Independence School District, Independence, MO
David Katz, MD, MPH , Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT
BACKGROUND Schools can help prevent childhood obesity. Parental involvement enhances children's health.

PURPOSE To promote healthy lifestyles among students and families.

SIGNIFICANCE We compared a standard nutrition and physical activity intervention in elementary school classrooms vs. a high-intensity intervention to benefit students and families.

METHODOLOGY Participants were K-5 students in the Independence School District (ISD) and Raytown School District (RSD) in Missouri. We randomly assigned ISD's 17 schools to standard-intensity (SI) or high-intensity (HI) intervention, with RDS's 9 schools serving as controls (C). SI included a program on food labels/choosing healthful foods in third grade, and physical activity program in PreK-5 classrooms. HI included these programs plus enhancements in schools, homes, and a supermarket. We assessed body mass index (BMI), food label literacy, fitness, performance, behavior, and medication for asthma or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

FINDINGS Post-intervention, BMI changes were 0.6 ± 1.9, 0.6 ± 1.9, and -0.3 ± 15.8 respectively, in SI, HI, and C schools, with no significant difference between groups (P>0.05). Both intervention groups improved in some fitness measures, more so than controls; comparison between SI and HI yielded mixed results. Food label literacy improved significantly by 20% in SI and by 16% in HI schools; the improvement was significantly greater in SI vs. HI (P=0.02). HI did not confer greater benefits than SI in performance, behavior, or medications.

CONCLUSIONS Both interventions offered some benefits compared to control. The HI intervention seemed to confer little further benefit.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate healthy lifestyles among students and families. The Yale Prevention Research Center, Independence School District, and Raytown School District compared the effects of offering a nutrition and physical activity program in elementary schools vs. reinforcing their messages to engage students and families in multiple settings.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a co-principal investigator of multiple funded grants related to school based obesity prevention programs. My interest have been the evaluation of the impact of these obesity prevention programs.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.