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Hispanic youth have the highest risk for obesity, making this population a key priority for early childhood interventions to prevent the development of adult obesity and its consequences. Involving parents in these interventions is essential to support positive long-term physical activity and nutrition habits. Interventions in the past have engaged

Hispanic youth have the highest risk for obesity, making this population a key priority for early childhood interventions to prevent the development of adult obesity and its consequences. Involving parents in these interventions is essential to support positive long-term physical activity and nutrition habits. Interventions in the past have engaged parents by providing information about nutrition and fruit and vegetable intake through written materials or text such as newsletters and text messages. The Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE) intervention used gardening and interactive activities to teach preschool children ages 3-5 about healthy eating and physical activity. It aimed to increase physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake in preschool children as well as improve related parenting practices. The intervention utilized newsletters to engage parents by promoting opportunities to increase physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake for their children at home. The newsletters also encouraged parents to discuss what was learned during the SAGE lessons with their children. The purpose of this paper is to describe the content of the newsletters and determine the parent perception of the newsletters through parent survey responses. This can help inform future childhood obesity interventions and parent engagement.

ContributorsVi, Vinny (Author) / Lee, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Martinelli, Sarah (Committee member) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
As obesity rates continue to rise in adolescents and young children, the concern for poor future health of the younger population grows. Physical activity and improving nutrition are two ways to combat obesity rates, and the Sustainability via Active Gardening Education (SAGE) project addresses this in underserved and low-income communities

As obesity rates continue to rise in adolescents and young children, the concern for poor future health of the younger population grows. Physical activity and improving nutrition are two ways to combat obesity rates, and the Sustainability via Active Gardening Education (SAGE) project addresses this in underserved and low-income communities in Maricopa County. This project employs a curriculum designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating for Early Care and Education (ECE) sites, most of which are daycares. Further, utilizing indicators of future health can also allow for us to understand and lower obesity rates. One indicator of future health is grip strength: greater grip strength is associated with healthier outcomes such as lower triglycerides, blood pressure, and body mass index. Grip strength has been observed in the older population; however, there are few studies looking at grip strength in younger children, namely preschoolers. As grip strength is a predictor of health, it follows that it should be observed in preschoolers, and improved, if possible, by factors such as physical activity, which would ultimately improve obesity rates. This study aimed to see if there was any relationship between physical activity and grip strength in preschoolers aged 3-5 years old. To do so, grip strength, hand length, height, weight, and information regarding physical activity of preschoolers enrolled in the SAGE project were collected. Physical activity and grip strength were not found to be significantly associated in this study; however, hand length and hand strength were associated. Among secondary outcomes, it was observed that males of ages 3 to 5-years-old may have greater hand grip strength than females of the same age group. Although this was not statistically significant, there was a trend toward statistical significance. Small sample size hampered observation of expected relationships between hand grip strength and dominant hand of the participants, and hand grip strength was not significantly related with BMI. Future directions would consist of collecting longitudinal data, as well as calling back previous years’ participants for additional data, so that there is a larger sample size for data analysis.
ContributorsAtluri, Haarika (Author) / Lee, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Tucker, Derek (Committee member) / Cantu Garcia, Lisbeth (Committee member) / De Mello, Gabrielli (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05