Integrating Schools, Community, and Family to Effect Sedentary Behavior, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Physical Activity Through Gardening

This project tested the feasibility of using a school garden to integrate youth, community, and family to promote healthy lifestyle choices for overweight prevention. There were several components to this project. We 1) developed and tested a theory-based after-school gardening program that promoted healthy lifestyle choices through targeting fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and gardening behaviors, self-efficacy, and proxy-efficacy; 2) developed and evaluated a volunteer program to build community support for the after-school garden program and for garden maintenance; 3) built high tunnels and established school gardens for year-round food production; 4) developed bi-weekly family guides linked to the after-school gardening program to improve healthy lifestyle choices at home; 5) developed monthly volunteer guides to foster community development; and 6) developed an assessment for self-efficacy and barriers to self-efficacy for gardening.  The after-school gardening intervention targeted 4^th and 5^th grade children attending schools in a Kansas school district and their parents. Participation in the program was compared pre- and post- program through youth surveys, parent surveys, volunteer surveys, and interviews of youth, school administrators, and volunteers. The after-school gardening program succeeded in increasing gardening time of the children, gardening self-efficacy and gardening barrier self-efficacy compared to children attending control sites. Parents of children attending garden club increased in gardening social support after intervention compared to control sites. Although we were able to see differences in gardening behavior and self-efficacy, we did not see changes in the healthy lifestyle choices also targeted in the intervention. We theorized that through gardening children would increase their physical activity, reduce their sedentary behavior, and increase their fruit and vegetable consumption.  We saw no differences in physical activity behavior and fruit and vegetable consumption of children attending garden club compared to control sites and saw an increase in sedentary behavior of children attending garden club. Accelerometer data from after-school hours indicated that moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was significantly higher during garden club than non-garden club after-school hours and that children obtained app. 30 minutes of MVPA during garden club and app. 15 minutes MVPA on non-garden club after-school hours. Additionally, children participating in garden club were more physically active and less sedentary on garden club days than non-garden club days. Results demonstrate that an after-school gardening club can serve as a venue for obtaining MVPA, particularly for youth that may not participate in other forms of physical activity.