Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Elementary School Children and Their Families

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-5 - Nourishing the Body and the Mind: An Examination of Contextual Factors to Student Success

Abstract

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study to evaluate a school-based, healthy lifestyle intervention program among 29 urban elementary schools in the southern U.S. The treatment was a 12-week, healthy lifestyle intervention in which classroom teachers taught kindergarten through 5th grade children to consume at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, engage in 2 or less hours of screen time, participate in 1 hour of exercise, and drink no sugar-sweetened drinks per day through daily classroom physical activity, weekly health education lessons, and family-focused health challenges. Results from the pre- and post-test survey of both children (N1 = 2,236) and their parents (N1 = 1,859) indicated that there were significant improvements in children’s as well as parents’ healthy behaviors.

Authors

• Namok Choi, University of Louisville

• Kristi King, University of Louisville