Monitoring and evaluation of a healthy life-style promotion program for the prevention of childhood obesity among 8 – 12 year olds enrolled in an after-school program in Chicago, Illinois

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a growing burden.  Super H Kids is a community health care program at Chicago's Erie Neighborhood House (ENH) focused on nutrition and physical activity for the prevention of childhood obesity.  A partnership was formed between ENH and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with funding from the Johnson and Johnson Community Healthcare Program to implement and build in-house evaluation capacity to assess the effectiveness of Super H Kids. 

Methods: An after-school program is being implemented over 18-months.  A conceptual framework, goals, objectives, and outcome measures were developed to inform the curriculum.  Pre- and post-tests evaluating knowledge, behaviors, and self-efficacy were administered and heights and weights measured at the beginning and end of each 16-week session.   A data management and evaluation system was created to aid ongoing evaluation of the program and to improve effectiveness.

Results: 46% of the children in the formative phase were overweight or obese.  Only 41% of the children ate at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and just over half (58%) engaged in at least 60 min of physical activity the prior day.  Recruitment is ongoing; follow-up data will be reported.

Conclusion: Programs like Super H Kids are influential in the effort to decrease childhood obesity.  The evaluation results are used to assess progress in meeting goals/objectives as well as identify areas for improvement.  The partnership of community health organizations with academic institutions improves in-house capacity for monitoring and evaluation and provides evidence-based feedback for future program development.