Project FIT: A School, Community and Social Marketing Intervention Improves Healthy Eating Among Low-Income Elementary School Children.
Project FIT was a two-year multi-component nutrition and physical activity intervention delivered in ethnically-diverse low-income elementary schools in Grand Rapids, MI. This paper reports effects on children's nutrition outcomes and process evaluation of the school component. A quasi-experimental design was utilized. 3rd, 4th and 5th-grade students (Yr 1 baseline: N = 410; Yr 2 baseline: N = 405; age range: 7.5-12.6 years) were measured in the fall and spring over the two-year intervention. Ordinal logistic, mixed effect models and generalized estimating equations were fitted, and the robust standard errors were utilized. Primary outcomes favoring the intervention students were found regarding consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grain bread during year 2. Process evaluation revealed that implementation of most intervention components increased during year 2. Project FIT resulted in small but beneficial effects on consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain bread in ethnically diverse low-income elementary school children.
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA, alaimo@msu.edu.
Katherine
K
Alaimo
Joseph J
JJ
Carlson
Karin A
KA
Pfeiffer
Joey C
JC
Eisenmann
Hye-Jin
HJ
Paek
Heather H
HH
Betz
Tracy
T
Thompson
Yalu
Y
Wen
Gregory J
GJ
Norman
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003256:Community Participation; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D044469:Racial Groups; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D040241:Social Marketing; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors