Author: Cynthia M. Barrar

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) shows that the prevalence of childhood overweight has almost tripled in the past three decades. In 2006, data from the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PedNSS) showed the prevalence of overweight among low-income children aged 2 - 5 years was 14.8%, compared with 13.9% for all U.S. children of a similar age. The Pennsylvania WIC Program set the long-term objective of reducing the incidence of childhood obesity among participants enrolled in the WIC Program. By January 2001, the Pennsylvania WIC Program implemented the Obesity Prevention Series, an on-going nutrition education plan for parents and caregivers of children over the age of two. Key educational components of the series include: physical activity promotion, parenting skills related to child feeding, choosing lower fat fast foods and convenience foods, role modeling, limiting sweetened beverages and snack foods and increasing the consumption of water, fruits and vegetables. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Obesity Prevention Series Module "Increasing Fruits and Vegetables" at promoting knowledge of the health benefits of and positive attitude towards consumption of fruits and vegetables, as measured by a change in parental knowledge and beliefs, and their intention to change behavior. The study was conducted at three Pennsylvania WIC sites located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Parents or guardians of children two to five years of age were asked to complete a survey to measure knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy prior to participating in a brief nutrition education session using the Obesity Prevention Services Module "Increasing Fruits and Vegetables". The nutrition education session is designed to encourage families to eat more fruits and vegetables and manage barriers. Following the brief nutrition education session, parents and caregivers were asked to complete a survey similar to the survey they had completed previously. The post survey provided a space for parents and caregivers to write in goals related to increasing the fruit and vegetable consumption of their child or themselves as a means to measure intention to change behavior. Twenty-nine paired pre and post surveys were collected. The Obesity Prevention Series Module "Increasing Fruits and Vegetables" was effective in positively changing knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy as measured by change in mean response pre to post survey. Interestingly, 14%(4) of participants in this study did not agree that their consumption of fruits and vegetables could influence their child's consumption of fruits and vegetables, at both pre-survey and post survey. Fifty-two percent of parents and caregivers intended to change behavior following the intervention by setting fruit and vegetable related goals. The most popular goals set by parents and caregivers included serving fruits and vegetables with every meal, hiding vegetables in foods, trying new fruits and vegetables and serving more fruit salad, mixed vegetables, frozen fruit bars, or stir fries. Childhood overweight and obesity is a complex issue with many related causes such as genetics, environment, diet and level of activity. There is some research that shows an inverse association between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the incidence of childhood overweight and obesity. A key educational message for parents and caregivers moving forward would be to eat and serve more fruits and vegetables as part of a low-fat diet. Nutrition education needs to address attitudes related to modeling behaviors, parent/child feeding roles, the use of food as a reward and increase knowledge regarding the purchase, storage, and preparing of fruits and vegetable. WIC Nutritionists can work with parents and caregivers to explore their perceptions of fruits and vegetables, to reduce barriers and to increase their children's access to fruits and.