Progress 07/01/12 to 12/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences reached during the project period were administrationers, teachers, and studentsin a large urban school districtservesmany low-income communities and offers its studentsuniversal free breakfast.Efforts included development of Breakfast Learning Activities for Students and Teachers (BLAST), a nutrition education cirriculum for middle school students developed as part of the School Breakfast Policy Initiative integrated project designedtoincrease nutrition knowledge and behaviorsrelated tohealthy breakfast consumption.The BLAST curriculum and its associated products were shared with groups throughout Pennsylvania as part of the upcoming approval to include BLAST as part of the USDA SNAP-Ed programming. A four-part series was piloted in the Philadelphia School District in Fall 2017 in preparation for the evaluation that is taking place this Spring. Once the evaluation is completed, BLAST and the toolkit will be disseminated through both SNAP-Ed and non-SNAP-Edavenues throughout the U.S. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A total of130 teachersreceived professional development trainingby Food Services and study staff on how to serve breakfast in the classroom. A largeteam of students and study staff were trained on how to collect height and weight measurements using portable stadiometers and scales in the school setting. Two graduate students, one pursuing a PhD in Public Health and one pursuing a MS in Epidemiology and Statistics, received research training on the collection and analysis ofdata from the SBPI intervention to partially fulfill graduation requirements. One of those students won an award at The Obesity Week conference for her research and presentation of SBPI findings. In the fall of 2016, Lauren Clark Dale and Michelle Abel (The Food Trust staff) attended the American Public Health Association (APHA) conference in Denver, CO. The conference provided them with the opportunity to learn from experts in the field of nutrition education and bring back that knowledge to help train others and to inform the toolkit. Since the BLAST curriculum is now an emerging evaluation as part of PA SNAP-Ed, Food Trust staff involved in the SBPI study have trained SNAP-Ed staff on BLAST in preparation for the BLAST intervention and evaluation that is taking place in Spring 2018 as part of The Food Trust's FY18 SNAP-Ed scope of work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the SBPI intervention have been shared with school administrators in the Philadelphia school district. Results of the SBPI have also been disseminated topublic health and nutrition professionals at professional conferences including the annual meetings of The Obesity Society, the American Public Health Association, and the Society for Nutrition Education. In addition, the results of each year of the study were disseminated to USDA AFRI Child Obesity Project Directors and teams at annual meetings over the duration of the project. TheBLAST cirriculum to promote healthy breakfast, which came from the SBPI trial, has been shared with administrationers, teachers, and studentsin a large urban school districtservesmany low-income communities and offers its studentsuniversal free breakfast. The BLAST curriculum and its associated products have been shared with groups throughout Pennsylvania as part of the upcoming approval for the SNAP-Ed Program. A four-part series was piloted in the Philadelphia School District in Fall 2017 in preparation for the evaluation that is taking place this Spring. Once the evaluation is completed, BLAST and the toolkit will be disseminated through both SNAP-Ed and non-SNAP-Ed sources throughout the U.S. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Regular breakfast consumption has beneficial effects on children's cognition, academic performance, and dietary quality, and weight status.While policy makers have promoted school breakfast participation as a tool to help prevent childhood obesity, no randomized controlled trialsexist to rigorously evaluate the effects of theschool breakfast feeding program on obesity. The main goal of this integrated project was to prevent childhood obesity by promoting healthy breakfast consumption among urban4th to 6th grad students. The School Breakfast Policy Initiative (SBPI) was developed topromote one healthy breakfast by providing children breakfast in the classroom in addition to in-school nutrition education (BLAST cirriculum; see below), social marketing, and parent outreach.SBPIevaluated using alarge randomized controlled trial(RCT) conducted in 16 public schools in the Philadelphia School District to determine, a large urban district that serves many low-income communities as reflected in the provision ofuniversalfree breakfast to all children. Thus this integrated project was unique in that it evaluatedthe efficacy of a interventionpromoting healthy breakfastto reduce the incidence of overweight and obesityamong children in the real world of urban schools that make frequent use of the SNAP-Ed and the School Breakfast Program. The project was conducted in 3 phases.Phase I was used todevelop the intervention and producedamanual of procedures for the SBPI intervention. Phase II was used to evaluate the feasibility of SBPI and refine the intervention based on data collectedin 2 intervention and 2 control schools.Phase III was used to conduct a randomized clinical trial of SBPI in 16 public schools, comparing weight and breakfast participation outcomes in schools receiving SBPI involving breakfast in the classroom and other intervention components tooutcomes in control schoolsthat offered children universal free breakfast in the cafeteria without the other interventinon components. Results of the RCT demonstrated that SBPI was successful in increasing breakfast participation.Counter to expectations, there were no differences in the combined incidence of overweight and obesity among children in schools that participated in SBPI and those that did not. Further, the incidence of obesity in particular was higher among SBPI schools than control schools. These findings suggest thatwhile offering children breakfast in the classroomincreasesparticipation the school breakfast program, it may have unintended consequences of increasing obesity relative to serving school breakfast in the cafeteria before school. More research is needed to identify alternative models that provide the positive benefits ofschool breakfastwithout increasing obesity among children.Since the intervention, the BLAST nutrition education curriculum fromSBPIand its associated products were shared with groups throughout Pennsylvania as part of the upcoming approval to include BLAST as part of the USDA SNAP-Ed programming. A four-part series was piloted in the Philadelphia School District in Fall 2017 in preparation for the evaluation that is taking place this Spring. Once the evaluation is completed, BLAST and the toolkit will be disseminated through both SNAP-Ed and non-SNAP-Edavenues throughout the U.S. The main changes inknowledgeresulting from this project included understanding the relationship between breakfast locationand the quality of children's choices, as well as factors influcingparticipation in school breakfastincluding food insecurity. The main changes in action were improving school practices to promote participation in the school breakfast program and healthy choices among children. The main changes in condition have been policy relevant knowledge of the relationship between breakfast in the classroom and weight outcomes, as well as, better public education on breakfast and its role in health. Accomplishments related to each specific aim were: 1. To develop the SBPI intervention within the context of SNAP Ed and the National School Breakfast Program in the School District of Philadelphia. The main outcome of Phase I were the development of theSBPI intervention, including classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lesson plansas well as a manual of procedures for the intervention. 2. To conduct a pilot feasibility study among 4 schools (2 intervention and 2 control) to assess feasibility and acceptability. The main outcome of Phase II wasevaluating the feasibility of SBPI in a pilot study in three schools consisting of a 3 month baseline data collection, a 7 month intervention, and a 1 month post-intervention assessments. During the pilot study, SBPI intervention was refined based on feedback from informal focus groups with students, teachers, and parents. 3. To compare participants in the SBPI intervention (n=8) and comparison schools (n=8) on the incidence of overweight and obesity. 4. To compare participants in the SBPIintervention (n=8) and comparison schools (n=8) on eating one breakfast. The randomized control trial of the RCT began in January of 2014 and continued through June 2016. Between March-August 2013 sixteen schools were recruited and randomized with 8 receiving the SBPI intervention and 8 acting as control schools.School breakfast participation was approximately 3 times greater among schools in the SBPI intervention than in control schools. At the end of the 2.5 year intervention, therewere no differences in the incidence or prevalence of overweight and obesity among students in intervention versus control schools. The incidence of obesity was significantly higher among students in intervention versus control schools at the endpoint (11.6% vs. 4.4%; P < 0.001). TheOne Healthy Breakfast toolkit was finalized. The toolkit encompasses all aspects of the work in Philadelphia, including best practices from experts throughout the United States. The purpose of this toolkit is to help stakeholders - school administrators, teachers, food service workers, school staff, nutrition educators, health workers, and others - to implement a comprehensive One Healthy Breakfast program, specifically designed for elementary and middle school students. The toolkit focused on the importance of eating One Healthy Breakfast every day. Since it contains some evaluation data, the toolkit is being held for release until the study's final paper is published. The toolkit is also a product of the study. The student workbook, containing the 18 Breakfast Learning Activities for Students and Teachers (BLAST) lessons and challenges, was submitted to the Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed Program for approval in July 2016. Small changes were required, which were submitted as part of a formal amendment to The Food Trust's FY'17 SNAP-Ed plan in January, 2017. In FY'18, The Food trust is piloting and evaluating the lessons to create the evidence-based for the curriculum. The Food Trust will submit the BLAST curriculum and One Healthy Breakfast toolkit to the SNAP-Ed National Toolkit upon completion of the evaluation and when a call for submissions is open, which would allow the BLAST curriculum and One Healthy Breakfast toolkit to be utilized by both SNAP-Ed and non-SNAP-Ed groups throughout the country.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Fisher, J.O., Polonsky, H.M., Bauer, K.W., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Foster, G.D. Increasing breakfast consumption and decreasing childhood obesity in low-income, ethnically diverse youth. Invited oral presentation. USDA Highlights from the NIFA Childhood Obesity Prevention Program, Annual Meeting of the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, Pittsburgh PA, July 28, 2015.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Polonsky, H. M., Davey, A., Bauer, K.W., Foster, G.D., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Dale, L.C., Fisher, J.O. (2016). Mode of transportation and school breakfast participation among school-aged children. Poster presentation at the 2016 Obesity Week Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA, October 31-November 4, 2016
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Polonsky, H. M., Bauer, K.W., Fisher, J.O., Davey, A., Ruth, K., Foster, G.D. (2017). Effects of a breakfast in the classroom initiative on weight outcomes among low-income youth. Oral presentation at ObesityWeek 2017, National Harbor, MD, October 31, 2017.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Polonsky, H.M., Davey, A., Bauer, K.W., Foster, G.D., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Dale, L.C., +Fisher J.O.. (2017). Breakfast Quality Varies by Location among Low-Income Ethnically Diverse Children in Public Urban Schools. J Nutr Educ Behav. E-pub ahead of print. [PMID:29107474]
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Dykstra, H., Davey. A., Fisher, J.O., Polonsky, H., Sherman, S.B., Abel, M., Dale, L.C., Foster, G.D., Bauer, K.W. Breakfast-skipping and selecting low nutritional-quality foods for breakfast is common among low-income urban children, regardless of food security status. Journal of Nutrition, Mar;146(3):630-6: 2016.
|
Progress 07/01/15 to 06/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached by our efforts during the pilot study conducted during this reporting period (year 1: 2012-2013 academic year) included 677 4th-6th grade students with a mean ±SD age of 10.70 ± 0.97 years from three Philadelphia public schools. All three of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 677 students, 61.1% were African American, 14.0% were Hispanic/Latino, 13.0% were Asian, 6.9% were White, and 4.9% were other. 51.6% of participants were female. At baseline, 55.3% of participants were healthy weight, 39.2% were overweight/obese, and 2.8% were underweight. The target audience reached by our efforts during the first year of the main randomized control trial conducted during this reporting period (year 2: 2013-2014 academic year) included 1413 4th-6th grade students with a mean age of 10.8 years from 16 Philadelphia public schools. All sixteen of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 1413 students, 65.9% were African American, 18.2% were Hispanic/Latino, 7.1% were White, 6.0% were Asian, and 2.8% were other; 51.4% of participants were female. At baseline 39.8% of participants were overweight/obese. Currently, we are collecting are the third and final round of data for the main randomized control trial (year 4: 2015-2016 academic year). Students are now 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Changes/Problems:There are no major problems/ changes for the current year. We proposed to conduct the Phase II feasibility pilot study in four schools (2012-2013 academic year). After the schools were randomized as an intervention (n=2) or assessment-only control (n=2) school, one school dropped out of the study due to an inability to commit to the parameters of the study. The feasibility pilot study continued on with two intervention schools and one assessment-only control school. There were no major problems or changes to report for year 1 or 2 of the randomized control trial (2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In total, approximately 130teachers were trained by Food Services and study staff on how to serve breakfast in the classroom throughout the duration of the study. A team ofstudents and study staff were trained on how to collect height and weight measurements using portable stadiometers andscales in the school setting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Over the next reporting period we plan to complete implementation of Phase III of the SBPI study. We will complete the remaining monthly challenges, newsletters, and nutrition education lessons in May and June 2016. Final follow-up assessment data will be collected between May-June 2016 when students are in 6th-8th grade. Study staff will work with principals, teachers, school staff, students, and parents in the 16 schools throughout Phase III to promote the program, as well as address programmatic issues and concerns as they arise. Following the completion of data collection, study staff will work on cleaning and analyzing the data in preparation to disseminate results via publications.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Thus far, we have completed Phase I and Phase II, as well as started Phase III of the School Breakfast Policy Initiative (SBPI) study. In Phase I we developed the SBPI intervention, including classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lesson plans. We also created a manual of procedures for data collection (administering questionnaires, measuring heights and weights, and collecting school meal participation data from school computers) and for the intervention (training teachers on classroom feeding, classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lessons). During Phase II we successfully completed our feasibility pilot study in three schools. Two schools were randomized to receive the SBPI intervention and one school was randomized to receive the assessment-only control. The baseline data collection (questionnaires and height/weight measurements) period took three months to complete and was followed by a seven month intervention period and one month post-intervention data collection period. For the post-intervention assessments, we piloted the use of electronic tablets for data collection. During the pilot study, study staff conducted informal focus groups with students, teachers, and parents and used the feedback collected to modify and improve the intervention materials (classroom breakfast, challenges, newsletters, nutrition education lessons, etc.) for Phase III. The initial stages of Phase III of the study began in the Spring of 2013. Between March-August 2013 sixteen schools were recruited and randomized for the randomized control trial portion of the study (Phase III); principals from all 16 schools signed consent forms and confirmed their schools' randomization status as intervention (n=8) or assessment-only control (n=8). In the Fall of 2014 study staff consented participants and conducted baseline data collection, including heights, weights, and questionnaires. The intervention portion of the randomized control trial, including breakfast in the classroom, nutrition education, social marketing, and parent outreach began in January 2014 and will continue through June 2016. To date, we are about 80% through Phase III of the study. Following baseline data collection we started the intervention component of the SBPI study in January 2014. We are currently in the process of final data collection (Spring 2016); the intervention will continue through June 2016. Throughout the study, staff have worked closely with school principals, teachers, and food service workers to promote the program to students and families, administer breakfast in the classroom, and disseminate the breakfast challenges and nutrition education lessons.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Polonsky, H.M., Davey, A., Bauer, K.W., Foster, G.D., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Fisher, J.O. (2015). Breakfast food choices are associated with location among urban school-aged youth. Poster presented at the Obesity Week, Los Angeles, CA.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Dykstra, H., Davey, A., Fisher, J. O., Polonsky, H., Sherman, S., Abel, M. L., Dale, L.C., & Bauer, K. W. (2016). Breakfast-skipping and selecting low-nutritional-quality foods for breakfast are common among low-income urban children, regardless of food security status. The Journal of Nutrition.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Polonsky, H.M., Davey, A., Bauer, K.W., Foster, G.D., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Fisher, J.O. (under review). Breakfast quality varies by location among low-income ethnically diverse children in public urban schools.
|
Progress 07/01/14 to 06/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience reached by our efforts during the pilot study conducted during this reporting period (year 1: 2012-2013 academic year) included 677 4th-6th grade students with a mean ±SD age of 10.70 ± 0.97 years from three Philadelphia public schools. All three of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 677 students, 61.1% were African American, 14.0% were Hispanic/Latino, 13.0% were Asian, 6.9% were White, and 4.9% were other. 51.6% of participants were female. At baseline, 55.3% of participants were healthy weight, 39.2% were overweight/obese, and 2.8% were underweight. The target audience reached by our efforts during the first year of the main randomized control trial conducted during this reporting period (year 2: 2013-2014 academic year) included 1413 4th-6th grade students with a mean age of 10.8 years from 16 Philadelphia public schools. All sixteen of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 1413 students, 65.9% were African American, 18.2% were Hispanic/Latino, 7.1% were White, 6.0% were Asian, and 2.8% were other; 51.4% of participants were female. At baseline 39.8% of participants were overweight/obese. Currently, we are collecting are mid-point data for the second year of the main randomized control trial (year 3: 2014-2015 academic year). Students are now 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students. Changes/Problems: We proposed to conduct the Phase II feasibility pilot study in four schools (2012-2013 academic year). After the schools were randomized as an intervention (n=2) or assessment-only control (n=2) school, one school dropped out of the study due to an inability to commit to the parameters of the study. The feasibility pilot study continued on with two intervention schools and one assessment-only control school. There were no major problems or changes to report for year 1 or 2 of the randomized control trial (2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In total, 79 teachers were trained by Food Services and study staff on how to serve breakfast in the classroom. A team of students and study staff were trained on how to collect height and weight measurements using portable stadiometers and scales in the school setting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Over the next reporting period we plan to continue implementing Phase III of the SBPI study. We will continue to develop monthly challenges, newsletters, and nutrition education curricula to use through the rest of the two-year intervention period. Final follow-up assessment data will be collected between March-June 2016 when students are in 6th-8th grade. Study staff will work with principals, teachers, school staff, students, and parents in the 16 schools throughout Phase III to promote the program, as well as address programmatic issues and concerns as they arise.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Thus far, we have completed Phase I and Phase II, as well as started Phase III of the School Breakfast Policy Initiative (SBPI) study. In Phase I we developed the SBPI intervention, including classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lesson plans. We also created a manual of procedures for data collection (administering questionnaires, measuring heights and weights, and collecting school meal participation data from school computers) and for the intervention (training teachers on classroom feeding, classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lessons). During Phase II we successfully completed our feasibility pilot study in three schools. Two schools were randomized to receive the SBPI intervention and one school was randomized to receive the assessment-only control. The baseline data collection (questionnaires and height/weight measurements) period took three months to complete and was followed by a seven month intervention period and one month post-intervention data collection period. For the post-intervention assessments, we piloted the use of electronic tablets for data collection. During the pilot study, study staff conducted informal focus groups with students, teachers, and parents and used the feedback collected to modify and improve the intervention materials (classroom breakfast, challenges, newsletters, nutrition education lessons, etc.) for Phase III. The initial stages of Phase III of the study began in the Spring of 2013. Between March-August 2013 sixteen schools were recruited and randomized for the randomized control trial portion of the study (Phase III); principals from all 16 schools signed consent forms and confirmed their schools' randomization status as intervention (n=8) or assessment-only control (n=8). In the Fall of 2014 study staff consented participants and conducted baseline data collection, including heights, weights, and questionnaires. The intervention portion of the randomized control trial, including breakfast in the classroom, nutrition education, social marketing, and parent outreach began in January 2014 and will continue through June 2016. To date, we are about 60% through Phase III of the study. Following baseline data collection we started the intervention component of the SBPI study in January 2014. We are currently in the process of midpoint data collection (Spring 2015) and the intervention will continue through June 2016. Throughout the study, staff have worked closely with school principals, teachers, and food service workers to promote the program to students and families, administer breakfast in the classroom, and disseminate the breakfast challenges and nutrition education lessons.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Abel, M., Polonsky, H. M., Bauer, K. W., Sherman, S., Pool, A., Vander Veur, S., . . . Foster, G. D. (2014). Effects of a school breakfast policy initiative on BMI and breakfast patterns among low income, urban students. Paper presented at the Obesity Week, Boston, MA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bauer, K. W., Khetarpal, R., Pool, A., Polonsky, H. M., Vander Veur, S., Davey, A., . . . Fisher, J. O. (2014). Academic achievement and weight: Insight from Philadelphia grade-school students Paper presented at the Obesity Week, Boston, MA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Lawman, H. G., Polonsky, H. M., Vander Veur, S. S., Abel, M. L., Sherman, S., Bauer, K. W., . . . Foster, G. D. (2014). Breakfast patterns among low-income, ethnically-diverse 4th-6th grade children in an urban area. Bmc Public Health, 14, 604. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-604
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Khetarpal, R., Bauer, K. W., & Fisher, J. O. (2015). Weight status and academics: Insight from Philadelphia grade-school students Paper presented at the Temple University College of Public Health Research Day, Philadelphia, PA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Khetarpal, R., Bauer, K. W., & Fisher, J. O. (2015). Weight status and academics: Insight from Philadelphia grade-school students Paper presented at the College of Physicians: Public Health and Preventive Medicines Student Poster Day, Philadelphia, PA.
|
Progress 07/01/13 to 06/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience reached by our efforts during the pilot study conducted during this reporting period (year 1: 2012-2013 academic year) included 677 4th-6th grade students with a mean ±SD age of 10.70 ± 0.97 years from three Philadelphia public schools. All three of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 677 students, 61.1% were African American, 14.0% were Hispanic/Latino, 13.0% were Asian, 6.9% were White, and 4.9% were other. 51.6% of participants were female. At baseline, 55.3% of participants were healthy weight, 39.2% were overweight/obese, and 2.8% were underweight. The target audience reached by our efforts during the first year of the main randomized control trial conducted during this reporting period (year 2: 2013-2014 academic year) included 1413 4th-6th grade students with a mean age of 10.8 years from 16 Philadelphia public schools. All sixteen of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 1413 students, 65.9% were African American, 18.2% were Hispanic/Latino, 7.1% were White, 6.0% were Asian, and 2.8% were other; 51.4% of participants were female. At baseline 39.8% of participants were overweight/obese. Changes/Problems: We proposed to conduct the Phase II feasibility pilot study in four schools (2012-2013 academic year). After the schools were randomized as an intervention (n=2) or assessment-only control (n=2) school, one school dropped out of the study due to an inability to commit to the parameters of the study. The feasibility pilot study continued on with two intervention schools and one assessment-only control school. There were no major problems or changes to report for year 1 of the randomized control trial (2013-2014 academic year). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In total, 79 teachers were trained by Food Services and study staff on how to serve breakfast in the classroom. A team of students and study staff were trained on how to collect height and weight measurements using portable stadiometers and scales in the school setting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Over the next reporting period we plan to continue implementing Phase III of the SBPI study. We will continue to develop monthly challenges, newsletters, and nutrition education curricula to use through the rest of the two-year intervention period. Midpoint assessment data will be collected between March-June 2015 when students are in 5th-7th grade. Post assessment data will be collected between March-June 2016 when students are in 6th-8th grade. Study staff will work with principals, teachers, school staff, students, and parents in the 16 schools throughout Phase III to promote the program, as well as address programmatic issues and concerns as they arise.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Thus far, we have completed Phase I and Phase II, as well as started Phase III of the School Breakfast Policy Initiative (SBPI) study. In Phase I we developed the SBPI intervention, including classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lesson plans. We also created a manual of procedures for data collection (administering questionnaires, measuring heights and weights, and collecting school meal participation data from school computers) and for the intervention (training teachers on classroom feeding, classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lessons). During Phase II we successfully completed our feasibility pilot study in three schools. Two schools were randomized to receive the SBPI intervention and one school was randomized to receive the assessment-only control. The baseline data collection (questionnaires and height/weight measurements) period took three months to complete and was followed by a seven month intervention period and one month post-intervention data collection period. For the post-intervention assessments, we piloted the use of electronic tablets for data collection. During the pilot study, study staff conducted informal focus groups with students, teachers, and parents and used the feedback collected to modify and improve the intervention materials (classroom breakfast, challenges, newsletters, nutrition education lessons, etc.)for Phase III. The initial stages of Phase III of the study began in the Spring of 2013. Between March-August 2013 sixteen schools were recruited and randomized for the randomized control trial portion of the study (Phase III); principals from all 16 schools signed consent forms and confirmed their schools' randomization status as intervention (n=8) or assessment-only control (n=8). In the Fall of 2014 study staff consented participants and conducted baseline data collection, including heights, weights, and questionnaires. The intervention portion of the randomized control trial, including breakfast in the classroom, nutrition education, social marketing, and parent outreach began in January 2014 and will continue through June 2016. Throughout the study, staff have worked closely with school principals, teachers, and food service workers to promote the program to students and families, administer breakfast in the classroom, and disseminate the breakfast challenges and nutrition education lessons.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dykstra, H., Fisher, J. O., Polonsky, H., Veur, S. V., Abel, M. L., Sherman, S., . . . Foster, G. D. (2014). Breakfast patterns and their association with food security among urban school children. Paper presented at the Temple University College of Health Professions and Social Work Research Day, Philadelphia, PA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dykstra, H., Fisher, J. O., Polonsky, H. M., Veur, S. V., Abel, M. L., Sherman, S., . . . Bauer, K. W. (2014). Breakfast patterns and their association with food security among urban school children. Paper presented at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Research Day, Philadelphia, PA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Fisher, J. O., Polonsky, H., Lawman, H. G., Sherman, S., Abel, M. L., Veur, S. V., . . . Foster, G. D. (2014). Increasing breakfast consumption and decreasing childhood obesity in low-income, ethnically diverse youth Paper presented at the Nutrition Education Impact: Local to Global, Milwaukee, WI.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Lawman, H. G., Veur, S. V., Polonsky, H., Sanders, T., Baily-Davis, L., Ng, J., & Foster, G. D. (2013). Breakfast patterns among low-income, ethnically diverse elementary school children in an urban area. Paper presented at the Obesity Week, Atlanta, Georgia.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Lawman, H. G., Polonsky, H., Veur, S. V., Abel, M. L., Sherman, S., Bauer, K. W., . . . Foster, G. D. (under review). Breakfast patterns among low-income, ethnically-diverse 4th-6th grade children in an urban area. under review.
|
Progress 07/01/12 to 06/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience reached by our efforts included 677 4th-6th grade students with a mean ±SD age of 10.70 ± 0.97 years from three Philadelphia public schools. All three of the participating schools had over 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced meals. Of the 677 students, 61.1% were African American, 14.0% were Hispanic/Latino, 13.0% were Asian, 6.9% were White, and 4.9% were other. 51.6% of participants were female. At baseline, 55.3% of participants were healthy weight, 39.2% were overweight/obese, and 2.8% were underweight. Changes/Problems: We proposed to conduct the Phase II feasiblity pilot study in four schools. After the schools were randomized as an intervention (n=2) or assessment-only control (n=2) school, one school dropped out of the study due to an inability to commit to the parameters of the study. The feasiblity pilot study continued on with two intervention schools and one assessment-only control school. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Twenty eight teachers were trained by Food Services and study staff on how to serve breakfast in the classroom. A team of students and study staff were trained on how to collect height and weight measurements using portable stadiometers and scales in the school setting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Over the next reporting period we plan to continue implementing Phase III of the SBPI study. We will begin by consenting students in the 16 schools and collecting questionnaires and height and weight measurements on consented students. We will also continue to develop monthly challenges, newsletters, and nutrition education currciula to use during the two-year intervention period. Pre-assessment data collection will last from September-December 2013. Phase III's intervention period will begin in January 2014 and last until June 2016, as we will be following 4th-6th grade students until they are 6th-8th grade students. Midpoint assessment data will be collected between March-June 2015 when students are in 5th-7th grade. Post assessment data will be collected between March-June 2016 when students are in 6th-8th grade. Study staff will work with principals, teachers, school staff, students, and parents in the 16 schools throughout Phase III to promote the program, as well as address programmatic issues and concerns as they arise.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Thus far, we have completed Phase I and Phase II, as well as started Phase III of the School Breakfast Policy Initiative (SBPI) study. In Phase I we developed the SBPI intervention, including classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lesson plans. We also created a manual of procedures for data collection (administering questionnaires, measuring heights and weights, and collecting school meal participation data from school computers) and for the intervention (training teachers on classroom feeding, classroom challenges, monthly newsletters, and nutrition education lessons). During Phase II we successfully completed our feasibility pilot study in three schools. Two schools were randomized to receive the SBPI intervention and one school was randomized to receive the assessment-only control. The baseline data collection (questionnaires and height/weight measurements) period took three months to complete and was followed by a seven month intervention period and one month post-intervention data collection period. For the post-intervention assessments, we piloted the use of electronic tablets for data collection. The process worked well and increased the quality of the data. We will use the tablets for all questionnaire data collection in Phase III. Throughout the data collection and intervention periods study staff worked closely with school principals, teachers, and food service workers to promote the program to students and families, administer breakfast in the classroom, and disseminate the breakfast challenges and nutrition education lessons. Study staff also conducted informal focus groups with students, teachers, and parents and are now using the feedback collected to modify and improve the intervention materials (classroom breakfast, challenges, newsletters, nutrition education lessons, etc.) for Phase III. Additionally, we have also recruited and randomized the 16 schools necessary for Phase III of the study. Principals from all 16 schools have signed consent forms and have confirmed their schools' randomization status as intervention (n=8) or assessment-only control (n=8).
Publications
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