Childhood obesity study: a pilot study of the effect of the nutrition education program Color My Pyramid.
The need for successful nutrition interventions is critical as the prevalence of childhood obesity increases. Thus, this pilot project examines the effect of a nutrition education program, Color My Pyramid, on children's nutrition knowledge, self-care practices, activity levels, and nutrition status. Using a pretest-posttest, quasiexperimental design, 126 fourth- and fifth-grade students from experimental and control schools are compared. The intervention program incorporates an online component www.MyPyramid.gov, Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, and consists of six classes taught over a 3-month period. Results indicated that the program increased nutrition knowledge in the control group. Furthermore, it increased activity time from pretest to posttest and decreased systolic blood pressure for children in both groups; however, there were no significant differences in BMI percentiles. The findings indicate that Color My Pyramid can be successfully employed in school settings and thus support school nursing practice.
Moore
Jean Burley
JB
College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA.
Pawloski
Lisa Renee
LR
Goldberg
Patricia
P
Kyeung
Mi Oh
MO
Stoehr
Ana
A
Baghi
Heibatollah
H
D002648:Child; D004219:District of Columbia; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018910:Video Games