Testing the Effectiveness of an Abbreviated Version of the Nutrition Detectives Program

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Katz, David L. ; Treu, Judith A. ; Ayettey, Rockiy G. ; Kavak, Yasemin ; Katz, Catherine S. ; Njike, Valentine
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Obese or overweight children have an increased risk for chronic diseases. Targeting diet and exercise in schools could help prevent childhood obesity. We have previously shown the effectiveness of a 90-minute nutrition program in improving elementary school students’ food-label literacy. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a 45-minute version of the program.
  
  Methods
  
  We conducted a pre–post study in a public school district, with no control group. We provided teacher training and program materials. Participants were 5th-grade students in 5 schools who had parental consent and were willing to take part. We condensed the program to a 45-minute lesson with a presentation and hands-on activity. The lesson showed students why and how to make healthful food choices based on Nutrition Facts panels and ingredient lists. The district’s physical education teachers taught the lesson. The primary outcome measure was food-label literacy (ie, the ability to distinguish between more and less healthful foods using a validated test instrument with Nutrition Facts panels and ingredient lists).
  
  Results
  
  A total of 212 students completed pre–post measures. Following program delivery, we observed a significant gain of 16.2 percentage points in scores overall, ranging from 4.3 percentage points to 23.6 percentage points among schools. Results were similar to those achieved with the 90-minute program.
  
  Discussion
  
  The condensed nutrition program improved students’ food-label literacy while requiring a minimal allocation of time. Further studies in other school districts would be useful.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Child Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena Child Nutrition Sciences Choice Behavior Curriculum Diet Exercise Female Food Preferences Health Behavior Health Education Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health Promotion Humans Male Original Research Overweight Schools Students

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 11.
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd11.130161
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  24721217
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3984941
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  5U48DP001945/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  11
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dcb4d017ecc72737416db9d2e9f9aee0c315ef9f5313e598c8aa222ac108d2dd22f678ad75093d4d43cdecb8007c875abedbabee56bb5487df89c75fe90d2d92
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22409/cdc_22409_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 574.11 KB ]