Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, LLC, an affiliate of the WellPoint Foundation (funding provided to Quinnipiac University)
Funding Period:
2010-2011
Study Design:
Pre/post study
Purpose:
To implement and evaluate two health programs in school districts in Hamden and Wallingford, CT.
Further Study Details:
During the 2010-2011 school year, the PRC served as advisor to Quinnipiac University on a project to benefit the health of students in the Hamden and Wallingford school districts. The PRC provided training on the Nutrition Detectives and ABC for Fitness programs to faculty and students in the Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences, who then partnered with teachers in Hamden and Wallingford to offer the programs to third and fourth grade students in selected schools. The PRC also provided technical assistance in using qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the effectiveness of the programs.
Findings:
Quinnipiac faculty/students and school staff collected pre/post data from 110 children in 2 intervention schools and 129 children in 2 control schools. Students who took part in the Nutrition Detectives program in intervention schools increased their food label literacy scores by 25% compared to their baseline scores. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the research team, inconsistencies in the timing and selection of physical fitness data collected by schools led to inclusive results in the assessment of ABC for Fitness.
Eligibility:
Third grade students in selected elementary schools in the Hamden and Wallingford school districts in Connecticut.
Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center