TY - JOUR
T1 - Sprouts growing healthy habits
T2 - Curriculum development and pilot study
AU - Fisher, Meghan C.
AU - Villegas, Elizabeth
AU - Sutter, Carolyn
AU - Musaad, Salma M.
AU - Koester, Brenda
AU - Fiese, Barbara H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Fisher, Villegas, Sutter, Musaad, Koester and Fiese.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - High rates of childhood obesity and the impact this has on children's health make it important to establish a healthy lifestyle during the early school years. This pilot study explored the impact of a newly developed healthy habits curriculum. The Sprouts: Growing Healthy Habits curriculum presents topics such as energy balance, healthy sleep habits, and food groups through short activities and interactive book-reading. A nonrandomized controlled experimental study design was used to assess impact. Fifty-seven children between 5 and 6 years of age participated from two elementary schools (36 from the intervention school, 21 from the control school). Knowledge was assessed pre- and post-intervention in five content areas (farm to table, bedtime routines, portion size, energy expenditure, sugar content of beverages) using card sorting, ranking, and sequence activities. Within- and between-school comparisons were conducted using differences between groups and mixed modeling approaches. Within the intervention school, significant increases in knowledge were observed for farm to table, sugar content of beverages, and bedtime routines. For the control school, there was a significant increase in knowledge of portion sizes. Considering between-schools, only change in knowledge of bedtime routines remained significant, with greater increases in the intervention school. Results seem promising given the short dosage of curriculum. Increases in knowledge of healthy habits in early childhood may help in promoting healthy behaviors and combatting the effects of obesity.
AB - High rates of childhood obesity and the impact this has on children's health make it important to establish a healthy lifestyle during the early school years. This pilot study explored the impact of a newly developed healthy habits curriculum. The Sprouts: Growing Healthy Habits curriculum presents topics such as energy balance, healthy sleep habits, and food groups through short activities and interactive book-reading. A nonrandomized controlled experimental study design was used to assess impact. Fifty-seven children between 5 and 6 years of age participated from two elementary schools (36 from the intervention school, 21 from the control school). Knowledge was assessed pre- and post-intervention in five content areas (farm to table, bedtime routines, portion size, energy expenditure, sugar content of beverages) using card sorting, ranking, and sequence activities. Within- and between-school comparisons were conducted using differences between groups and mixed modeling approaches. Within the intervention school, significant increases in knowledge were observed for farm to table, sugar content of beverages, and bedtime routines. For the control school, there was a significant increase in knowledge of portion sizes. Considering between-schools, only change in knowledge of bedtime routines remained significant, with greater increases in the intervention school. Results seem promising given the short dosage of curriculum. Increases in knowledge of healthy habits in early childhood may help in promoting healthy behaviors and combatting the effects of obesity.
KW - Health curriculum
KW - Health education
KW - Healthy habits
KW - Program effectiveness
KW - Program implementation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065326862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85065326862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00065
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00065
M3 - Article
C2 - 30972317
AN - SCOPUS:85065326862
SN - 2296-2565
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
JF - Frontiers in Public Health
IS - MAR
M1 - 65
ER -