This is an application to use schools to deliver a dietary behavior intervention to the parents of elementary school children. The intervention will have children encourage fruit and vegetable consumption at home, increase motivations for dietary change, present dietary change skills and serve as a source of social support and encouragement. The intervention package is based on social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical model of behavior change, and will consist of an existing school-based curriculum (Gimme 5) targeting fruit and vegetable consumption, weekly Family Updates that the child delivers home as part of the curriculum activities, interpersonal contact through PTSA meetings, individualized letters containing messages tailored to their stage of change for fruit and vegetable consumption, and staged videos containing the same messages in visual and verbal format through fun motivational messages and demonstrations of facts and behaviors. The project is divided into two phases. Phase I includes developmental activities for the intervention materials and assessment instruments. These include: the collection of dietary data to develop the intervention and adapt the outcome assessment instruments, conduct of recipe development, focus groups, tests of alternative food frequency and stages of change measures in regard to fruit and vegetable consumption. Phase II is a randomized trial wherein schools are assigned to intervention and control conditions. Initial assessment at baseline and post-intervention include food frequency questionnaire, stages of change, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. Extensive process evaluation measures will assess the fidelity of intervention implementation and exposure to intervention components. Quality control measures will ensure greater use of intervention materials. The results of this study will determine to what extent schools can be used as a channel to reach the parents of elementary school children to change dietary behavior in lower income urban African American communities.
| Warneke, C L; Davis, M; De Moor, C et al. (2001) A 7-item versus 31-item food frequency questionnaire for measuring fruit, juice, and vegetable intake among a predominantly African-American population. J Am Diet Assoc 101:774-9 |
