Barriers to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for the Development of Nutrition Materials for Puerto Rican Children

Abstract

Project goal is to prevent and reduce the prevalence of obesity in Puerto Rican children (12-14 years old) through the development of culturally-sensitive-age-appropriate nutrition education materials. General objectives are: generation of knowledge on barriers to healthy eating and physical activity through applied research; development and validation of the nutrition education materials targeting these barriers. Eight focus groups were conducted, five with 4-H members; two with parents/caregivers and one with Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension educators, to identify berries in the first objective. Nutrition education materials were developed targeting these barriers. Validation process for the educational materials consisted of three additional focus groups with the 4-H members. Findings from the focus groups identified four main barriers to healthy eating and physical activity: easy access to unhealthy foods within the school environment; widespread use of sugary foods within the household environment; economic and convenience factors manifested in the preference for fast foods restaurants and sedentary lifestyles due to the high amount of screen time (video games, texting, etc.) Educational materials were developed based on these barriers and included a train-the-trainer manual for FCS Extension educators to be use with their 4-H clubs. This includes six hands-on-activities and educational videos. Findings from the focus groups provided new knowledge and nutrition education resources for Puerto Rican children. The Puerto Rican population is expanding on the US mainland and its cultural idiosyncrasies vary greatly from the Hispanic populations that have been widely studied. Pilot-testing the effectiveness of the educational materials and measurements of changes in behavior will be completed during fall 2017.