Choose Health: Food,Fun, and Fitness Youth Curriculum Promotes Positive Behaviors

Objective

Evaluate whether participation in Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness (CHFFF), a hands-on, experiential curriculum aimed at third- to sixth-graders, resulted in improvements in the targeted obesity and chronic disease prevention behaviors.

Methods

The researchers evaluated CHFFF in low-income youth participating in 2 federal programs in New York State during 2013–2015. Food and activity behaviors were assessed using the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program third- through fifth- and sixth- through eighth-grade pre-post surveys, along with 2 sets of added CHFFF-specific items completed by subsamples. Educators trained in CHFFF had youth complete the surveys as they delivered the curriculum, primarily in schools and after-school programs.

Results

Paired t tests showed significant (P?<?.01) positive changes before to after CHFFF education for consumption of vegetables, fruits, sweetened drinks, nutrition label reading, and other food and activity behaviors.

Conclusions and Implications

Results provide practice-based evidence that CHFFF promotes positive behavior change in participating youth.