The 2011 ASHS Annual Conference

Over the past decades, obesity has become an epidemic in the United States.  One way to fight against obesity is with programs that not only aim to teach students healthier eating habits and how to grow and eat their own food, but also to spread their nutritional knowledge to the rest of their families.  Eat Your Way To Better Health (EYWTBH) is one such program that is offered to third-grade classrooms in Indiana through the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service and extension educators collaborating with local elementary schools. The program was first offered in the fall of 2008 and is currently (2011) in its final grant-funded semester. One way that efforts and budgets can be optimized in the fight against obesity is to measure the effectiveness of the program, which was attempted through pre-post surveys administered to both the program participants and their parents/guardians.  The instrument, developed by the authors, combined previously validated self-efficacy scales, gardening questions, and food consumption indexes. Pre- and post-surveys were administered in the classroom before and after the program.  The youth survey measured four main variables:  behavior with regards to fruit and vegetable consumption, interest in different food items as snacks, self-efficacy with regards to fruit and vegetable consumption, and social intention with regards to fruit and vegetable consumption.  The parent survey measured four main variables:  knowledge about the USDA daily fruit and vegetable serving recommendations, attitudes pertaining to fruits and vegetables, and behaviors pertaining to gardening, fruit and vegetable consumption, and snacking.  Pre-survey results show Cronbach's Alpha of 0.87 for behavior, 0.88 for interest, 0.81 for self-efficacy, and 0.94 for social intention. Post-survey data show Cronbach's Alpha of 0.88 for behavior, 0.88 for interest, 0.79 for self-efficacy, and 0.90 for social intention. Preliminary results of self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption in youth and parents pre- and post-program show modest improvements. Youth reported consuming a mean of 2.88 servings of fruits and vegetables before the program, and a mean of 2.93 servings after the program.  Parents reported a mean of 1.59 servings of fruits and vegetables being consumed in their homes daily prior to the program, and 1.66 servings after the program. Small changes in fruit and vegetable consumption point to weakness in the length of the program, 10 weeks, indicating that a longer program may aid in behavior change needed to improve healthy eating habits.