Nutrition Intervention to Hispanic Groups: Pilot Studies with Children and Caregivers

ABSTRACT

Childhood obesity is a pressing public health issue, especially in the Hispanic community. Two pilot studies were performed; Study 1 was performed to assess the effect of a nutrition education intervention on the nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of Hispanic children in an after-school program. Nutrition educational lessons were administered 1 h per week. Evaluation was conducted as a baseline Pre-test, a Post-test (following the last session) and a 4-month follow-up. Children showed a significant decrease in the consumption of less-healthy foods from the time of the Pre-test to the Post-test measure (P < .05) and could identify healthy foods. Study 2 was performed to assess the effect of a nutrition education intervention on Hispanic children’s caregivers’ willingness to engage in healthy behaviors. Caregivers increased their willingness to engage in healthy behaviors (P < .05). This indicates that knowledge and attitudes about foods can be altered, and that caregiver education is needed so to ensure that healthy foods are available in a child’s diet and to reinforce positive attitudes about foods.

KEYWORDS:

• After school programs
• Hispanic
• Nutrition
• Nutrition education

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations [GEO00805, HATCH 1010056,Grant GEO00663 Hatch 0217572].