Purpose: Examine the effectiveness of the "Eat Healthy, Stay Active!" pilot program, a multisite, 6-month educational intervention to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity among Head Start staff, parents, and children.
Design: Comparison of within-group preintervention and postintervention knowledge and behavior, along with anthropomorphic measurements.
Setting: The study was conducted in a convenience sample of six large Head Start agencies in five states.
Subjects: Participants included 496 staff, 438 parents, and 112 preschool children.
Intervention: The 6-month intervention consisted of core trainings and reinforcing activities for staff and parents that aligned with children's curricula.
Measures: Pre-post questionnaires and anthropometric measurements examined changes in body mass index (BMI), knowledge, and behaviors related to nutrition and physical activity.
Analysis: Paired t-tests to compare preintervention and postintervention weights and BMI; multiple regression analyses to examine associations between weight changes and other covariates, including knowledge and behavior changes, controlling for sociodemographic variables.
Results: Each group of participants demonstrated significant reductions in BMI (mean = 30.1 to 29.2; p < .001 in adults and 17.0 to 16.6; p < 0.001 in children) and in the proportion of obese children (30% to 21%; p < .001) and adults (45% to 40%; p < .001). Child weight changes correlated with parent weight changes.
Conclusion: This intervention showed promising initial results, with potential effectiveness as an intervention to promote healthier behaviors among adults and children in Head Start settings.