Abstract 222: Students’ Assessment of the Educational Component of Project Healthy Schools: A Middle-School Wellness Program

Abstract

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years, potentially leading to dangerous problems in heart health in later years. Project Healthy Schools (PHS) aims to improve the wellness of students during adolescence by promoting healthy lifestyle changes. PHS incorporates 10 educational lessons into 6th grade students’ curricula. Each of these lessons emphasizes the PHS goals of healthy eating, regular exercise, and less sedentary behavior and are designed to be interactive, hands on, and fun. This report describes the students’ assessment of the educational model used in PHS. METHODS: Upon completion of the education module, participating students received a process survey. The purpose of this survey was to gather feedback from the students on the educational component of PHS. Results from the process survey were compiled from 4 separate school districts over the years 2008-2013. Five questions regarding the educational activities and resultant behavior changes are reported. RESULTS: 1793 students completed the survey. After completing the 10 lessons, 71% of students reported learning that was consistent with the PHS goals and25% reported liking all 10 PHS activities. Students enjoyed the activities for the following reasons: 45% because they were fun; 16% enjoyed moving around and/or playing games; and 36% enjoyed learning about being healthy. Furthermore, students reported the following lifestyle changes after the program was completed: 43% eating more fruits/vegetables, 38% increasing minutes of physical activity, 27% decreasing screen time, 30% choosing healthier drinks, 38% eating less fast food, with 29% making no changes. Lastly, when being tested on specific material from the course, 46% of students selected the correct answer. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS/FUTURE DIRECTIONS: The majority of students successfully learned the content of the lessons and made at least one positive healthy lifestyle change. The process survey has allowed PHS leaders to assess real-time feedback from participating students, make content changes accordingly and will continue to guide future revisions of the program.