142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

298089
Nutrition as the Foundation for Good Health: Evaluating the Impact of Food Programs on Health

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Adam Burgess , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Nicholas Field , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Douglas Handley , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Laura Lazzarini , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Dilasha Mahat , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Daryl Selen , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Raj Thakrar , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Sarah Adams-Kollitz , Burlington Children's Space, Burlington, VT
Janice Gallant, MD , University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Jan K. Carney, MD MPH , Department of Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated a link between food insecurity and childhood behavioral problems. Burlington Children’s Space (BCS), a local preschool and daycare in Burlington, VT, created a meal program for children, many of whom are food insecure. The goal of this study was to demonstrate that providing a healthy meal program at school would reduce the amount of internal behavioral problems seen in children who are otherwise food insecure.

Methods: The parents of 25 children at BCS agreed to enroll their children in our study. The USDA Food Insecurity Module, completed by parents, was used to ascertain household food insecurity. Child and Adult Care Food Program eligibility was also collected as a secondary measure of food insecurity. Teachers at BCS used the Childhood Behavior Checklist to assess the children’s behavioral problems. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare behavioral problems between the food secure and food insecure groups.

Results: Food insecurity as reported by parents, was consistent with eligibility for state-administered free and reduced lunch programs. Despite the small number of participants (n=25), T-tests identified significant differences (p < .05) between the food secure and food insecure groups for external behavioral problems (43.9 vs. 51.8) and total behavioral problems (41.4 vs. 49.0. However, statistical differences were not seen for internal behavioral problems.

Discussion: Our results indicate that a school nutrition program that provides balanced and healthy meals to every student, may mitigate the increase in internal behavioral problems expected to be observed among children from food insecure families.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the effects of food insecurity on childhood behavior. Describe how food insecure children would benefit from school nutrition programs. Identify approaches that could be used in other geographic settings and populations.

Keyword(s): Child Health, Food Security

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I participated in the design, implementation, data collection, analysis, and presentation of this project.
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.