Building Healthier Kindergarten Students Through Nutrition Education

Abstract

The goal of the Building a Healthy Me (BHM) program is to promote a healthy diet, defined as one that includes nutrient-rich foods. This provides positive messages of what students can eat, not what is forbidden and encourages sensible eating patterns that can be maintained long term. California Kindergarten students and their families. Program delivered in English and Spanish. The program is based on an integration of the Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory. Early childhood is an ideal time to solidify a strong foundation of good nutrition. School classrooms allow for a large reach of students and many parents are actively involved in their children's school work. This 8-unit classroom-based nutrition education program covers food group classifications, healthy snacks, and the importance of breakfast. Family homework builds on key concepts to encourage dialogue and improved home food environment. A quasi-experimental design assessed changes in the outcomes, with pre- and post-surveys completed in the intervention group in 2013-14 school year. Results from the student surveys showed significant improvements in students’ nutrition knowledge for all of the content areas tested after receiving the BHM lessons. Students in the intervention classrooms had a greater percentage of correct nutrition knowledge answers on the post-survey than students in the control classrooms. This suggest that the BHM program was most effective at improving kindergarten students’ nutrition knowledge.