Addressing Facilitators and Barriers Related to Early Childhood Obesity Prevention in Rural Appalachian Communities

Through a community-focused needs assessment conducted in rural Appalachia, we gauged perceptions of facilitators and barriers related to healthful eating and physical activity for young children and identified suggestions for improvement. Thirty-seven key informant interviews and three caregiver focus group sessions were coded and analyzed for key themes. Limited community resources emerged as a barrier to both healthful eating and physical activity. Suboptimal communication about existing opportunities was also identified. Community members reviewed the needs assessment data and implemented initiatives to address identified needs. The importance of Extension-facilitated needs assessments in rural settings to shape health initiatives to local contexts is highlighted

Opportunities for Impact: Health Promotion in Rural Early Care and Education Environments

Early care and education settings are essential partners in the battle against childhood obesity. We describe an Extension-facilitated early childhood obesity prevention intervention conducted in 25 rural early care and education settings. A total of 148 policy, systems, or environmental changes were achieved, reaching approximately 450 young children. Systems changes were the most prevalent outcome achieved. The experiences of Extension professionals in promoting policy, systems, and environmental changes are highlighted as are implications for other Extension systems and professionals promoting policy, systems, or environmental changes in early care and education settings

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention in Rural West Virginia Extension’s Role and Lessons Learned

The Cooperative Extension system is uniquely positioned to lead rural community efforts to prevent obesity in early childhood. This article explores best practices in promoting healthy weights among young children and shares examples and resources relevant to Extension programming. The West Virginia (WV) Healthy Children Project aims to improve community, home, and early care and education (ECE) environments by promoting healthy eating, physical activity, outdoor play, and reduced screen time. This project primarily focuses on interventions with ECE providers serving 2-5-year-old children in three rural counties. Comprehensive assessments informed the interventions and guided Community Advisory Committees. ECE providers were trained in “I Am Moving, I Am Learning” (IMIL) and “Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care” (Go NAP SACC) best practices and were supported with technical assistance and classroom resources. Garden-based learning, natural playscapes, painted playgrounds, and farm-to-ECE further enhanced the environments and experiences. Community leaders were engaged in advisory committees, transformative projects, and local family-focused activities. The efficacy of these practices was tracked using quantitative and qualitative evaluation strategies conducted throughout the project, including observations, ripple effects mapping, and questionnaires. This article describes the overall project strategies and reveals the lessons learned and the challenges encountered

The Five Love Languages Program: An Exploratory Investigation Points to Improvements in Relationship Functioning

The authors describe an exploratory investigation of a relationship education program based on the Five Love Languages (5 LL) (Chapman, 2007), implemented by Extension educators in seven rural counties. Relationship assessments measured participant changes related to the quality of the primary relationship, belief in the future of the relationship, and partner empathy. Confidence in using the 5 LLs was also assessed. Two groups were compared, a “no booster” group that participated in didactic and final sessions and a “booster” group that received a book, tips, and reminders to practice the 5 LLs. Focus groups revealed how participants benefited. The results showed significant gains in knowledge of and confidence in using the 5 LLs. All participants significantly improved on partner empathy and the “booster” group showed significantly more improvement than the “no booster” group. The value to the family life education mission of Cooperative Extension is discussed, and recommendations for future research are given

The Five Love Languages Program 40 Journal of Human Sciences and Extension Volume 6, Number 3, 2018 The Five Love Languages Program: An Exploratory Investigation Points to Improvements in Relationship Functioning

The authors describe an exploratory investigation of a relationship education program based on the Five Love Languages (5 LL) (Chapman, 2007), implemented by Extension educators in seven rural counties. Relationship assessments measured participant changes related to the quality of the primary relationship, belief in the future of the relationship, and partner empathy. Confidence in using the 5 LLs was also assessed. Two groups were compared, a “no booster” group that participated in didactic and final sessions and a “booster” group that received a book, tips, and reminders to practice the 5 LLs. Focus groups revealed how participants benefited. The results showed significant gains in knowledge of and confidence in using the 5 LLs. All participants significantly improved on partner empathy and the “booster” group showed significantly more improvement than the “no booster” group. The value to the family life education mission of Cooperative Extension is discussed, and recommendations for future research are given