Modifying Beverage Choices of Preadolescents Through School-Based Nutrition Education

The study reported here implemented and evaluated a school-based, classroom intervention to improve beverage choices of 3rd-5th grade children. Extension Nutrition Education Assistants provided six weekly classroom lessons and pre-post surveys to assess effectiveness. Fewer students reported usually consuming fruit drinks at breakfast, lunch, and in friends\u27 homes and carbonated soft drinks at dinner after the intervention, while overall consumption of fruit drinks and carbonated soft drinks decreased. Reported availability of fruit drinks and carbonated soft drinks in the home was not changed. Further exploration of family and environmental barriers is necessary to influence healthful beverage selection

Changing Relationships through Interactions: Preliminary Accounts of Parent-Child Interactions after Undertaking Individual Parent Training

Purpose: Parent and child interaction training has been increasingly investigated over recent years. However, the mechanisms of change within individual training programmes are not well understood. To explore the factors that can facilitate or inhibit meaningful changes in interactions and ultimately relationships, the current study employed semi-structured interviews to obtain first person accounts from parents who had undertaken an individualised parent-training programme. Method: Three participants provided accounts of the training programme and their perceived impact upon interactions with their children were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: The analysis resulted in three themes, which illustrate how participants adjusted their interactional style with their child to varying degrees through enhanced personal awareness, increased understanding of their child’s emotional and interactional needs, and accepting the reciprocity of interactional accountability. Discussion: Changes in interactional style enabled participants to alter their perceptions of their own behaviours, their child’s behaviours, and how they influenced one another through interactions. Recommendations for future research and therapeutic practice are discussed in the context of the findings and the existing evidence base

Go Wild with Fruits and Veggies: Engaging Children in Nutrition Education and Physical Activity with Animal Characters

The Go Wild with Fruits and Veggies! curriculum incorporates wild animal characters to motivate 3rd-5th grade children to increase fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity. Positive findings from a rural setting regarding a self-reported increase in intake of vegetables (n=1,285) were verified by more intensive evaluation of vegetable intake in an urban setting (n=140) that compared treatment and control groups. No differences in changes in physical activity were noted between groups. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the curriculum based on the use of animal characters to role model positive behaviors and different evaluation methods to corroborate findings