Evaluation of a nutrition program delivered to Mississippi elementary students during subsidized field trips to a community-based children's health education center

Background: At 41%, Mississippi has one of the highest overweight/obesity percentages in the US among students in grades K-12 (Kolbo et al, 2012). The effectiveness of community-based nutrition programming delivered to elementary-aged children via children’s museums and health education centers has been under-studied. HealthWorks! is a community-based children’s health education center whose mission is to improve health and nutrition knowledge among Mississippi children. One way HealthWorks! fulfills its mission is through nutrition education programs delivered to elementary students from rural and low-resource schools during subsidized field trips to HealthWorks!. Methods: In Fall 2012, 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-graders (N=1,000) from 11 schools were recruited to participate in field trips and pre- and post-tests to evaluate the Be a Food Groupie (BAFG) program. BAFG is an interactive nutrition education program designed to equip children with “‘smart-food-know-how’ on choosing whole grains, reading food labels, and avoiding portion distortion.” The evaluation used a constructed matched comparison group design in which ‘intervention’ schools and ‘control’ schools were matched based on percentage of: 1) economically disadvantaged students; 2) minority students; 3) students ‘proficient’ on the Mississippi Curriculum Test 2 for language proficiency. Intervention students received the pre-test, BAFG, and post-test. Comparison students received the pre-test, post-test, and BAFG. Results: Eighty-three percent of intervention students had improved scores from pre- to post-test (M=15.57, SD=13.25) compared to 45% of comparison students (M=2.76, SD=21.67). An ANOVA calculated on difference in test score was significant at p=0.00. Discussion: Implications for community-based interactive health education programs targeting school-aged children are discussed.