Cardiovascular disease begins early in life but might be prevented or delayed by primary prevention programs designed for children and adolescents. In previous research, a cardiovascular disease risk reduction program for 10th grade adolescents was delivered by specially trained health educators and produced increased knowledge and changes in CBS risk factors. The proposed research will develop a teacher training module to equip regular classroom teachers with the knowledge and skills required to deliver the program. The effectiveness of a special teacher training program which combines programmed instruction, micro-teaching and self- directed behavior change in cardiovascular risk reduction will be compared against the current standard teacher preparation procedure which emphasizes self-study of curriculum materials. It is hypothesized that students taught by the specially trained teachers will have significantly greater knowledge about CVD risk, and greater self-reported increase in healthful behaviors than students taught by teachers prepared through self-study. Six senior high schools will participate in the study; two within one school district and four within a second school district. The two schools in district 1 and two schools in district 2 will be randomly assigned to either the special teacher preparation condition or the traditional teacher preparation condition. The remaining two schools in district 2 will serve as controls. In year 1, all 9th graders in the four intervention schools will receive the risk reduction program. In year 2, the intervention schools will receive the risk reduction program. In year 3, the two control schools will receive followup assessment. Process analyses will examine the integrity of teacher training and program implementation. Self report outcome measures will include: CVD knowledge, food frequency, food choice, physical activity and cigarette smoking.
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