The high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in this country, particularly those from minority backgrounds and living in poverty, has become a major national concern. In the majority of cases, the obesity epidemic, caused by poor diet and physical inactivity, is preventable. Promoting positive eating behaviors in childhood is important because dietary behaviors developed during this time tend to track into adulthood. This developmental trajectory highlights the importance of targeting healthpromotion programs for young children who are not yet overweight, and as such, schools are an important venue for activities to occur. Prior school-based nutrition education research has demonstrated how challenging it is to achieve enduring behavior change and to impact biological measures of obesity. This is not surprising, given the oxic enviornment in this country that is well suited for the development and maintenance of obesity. Despite these challenges, school-based obesity prevention efforts are important to pursue. The purpose of this study is to further school-based nutrition education research by developing and evaluating a multi-component, theoretically-grounded, intensive 5-A-Day health promotion program that will follow a cohort of children from kindergarten through fourth grade. This program will be implemented in 6 schools in the Boston Public School District. All of the schools are affiliated with the Athletes in Service (AIS) AmeriCorps program, and have college student athletes working in them full time to promote physical health and academic success. The school staff and AIS staff will collaborate to implement the classroom, lunchtime, afterschool, and family components of this program. The outcome evaluation will examine changes in students' nutrition knowledge, eating behaviors, eating preferences, and biological indicators of obesity and overweight and impact of the family component on availability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables at home over a 5 year period.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23HD047480-05
Application #
7488583
Study Section
Pediatrics Subcommittee (CHHD)
Program Officer
Grave, Gilman D
Project Start
2004-09-01
Project End
2009-08-31
Budget Start
2008-09-01
Budget End
2009-08-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$124,161
Indirect Cost
Name
Northeastern University
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
001423631
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Hoffman, Jessica A; Thompson, Douglas R; Franko, Debra L et al. (2011) Decaying behavioral effects in a randomized, multi-year fruit and vegetable intake intervention. Prev Med 52:370-5
Hoffman, Jessica A; Franko, Debra L; Thompson, Douglas R et al. (2010) Longitudinal behavioral effects of a school-based fruit and vegetable promotion program. J Pediatr Psychol 35:61-71
Blom-Hoffman, Jessica; Leff, Stephen S; Franko, Debra L et al. (2009) Consent Procedures and Participation Rates in School-Based Intervention and Prevention Research: Using a Multi-Component, Partnership-Based Approach to Recruit Participants. School Ment Health 1:3-15
Blom-Hoffman, Jessica; Wilcox, Kaila R; Dunn, Liam et al. (2008) Family Involvement in School-Based Health Promotion: Bringing Nutrition Information Home. School Psych Rev 37:567-577
Blom-Hoffman, Jessica (2008) SCHOOL-BASED PROMOTION OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION IN MULTICULTURALLY DIVERSE, URBAN SCHOOLS. Psychol Sch 45:16-27