By Tammy Gray
Children are the future.
What will the future be for the one-third of our children who are overweight or obese? What effect will their weight have on chronic diseases, self-esteem, job opportunities, cost of living and other quality of life factors?
Each of us can make a difference in our children’s future by “Choosing to Change.” Everyone has an influence on children’s health and weight, whether you are a parent, healthcare provider, business owner, teacher or neighbor. How? We can create environments where children learn about healthy choices and have opportunities for healthy food and physical activity. In Kanawha and Monongalia counties, we have an opportunity to take action.
West Virginia University, in collaboration with West Virginia Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten, Monongalia and Kanawha County Public Schools and Choosy Kids, LLC, is implementing a five-year project to examine environmental and behavioral determinants of early childhood obesity. The knowledge generated by this research will be used to construct, implement and assess multilevel childhood obesity prevention initiatives and empower parents, teachers, students and community members to make home, school and community environments healthy. The project is called Choose to Change.
The study involves families with children in school- and center-based head start/pre-kindergarten settings. Home and school interventions will be based on results of the multilevel assessment process, and interventions will be delivered through “I Am Moving, I Am Learning” (IMIL) and Family Fun Nights. Physical activity and eating behavior changes in children and families will be assessed after the interventions and compared to previous behaviors. The goal of the project is to develop and disseminate effective, sustainable childhood obesity prevention strategies.
Year one of the project focused on community environment assessments and partnership development. Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys were completed on more than 1,000 food retail outlets in the two counties. Focus groups were held with parents, school staff and community leaders, and advisory boards were created to review the assessments and create plans of action.
Currently in year two, the focus is on school and family engagement. The Choose to Change team’s mascot is a health hero named Choosy, which stands for “Choose Healthy Options Often Starting Young.” Choosy is helping Pre-K staff in selected classrooms to increase the amount of fun physical activity and integrate nutrition education throughout the curriculum.
The Choose to Change team is also seeking parent or legal guardians of children enrolled in the selected Pre-K classrooms in both Kanawha and Monongalia counties to enroll and participate in activities over the coming years of the project. A portion of the classrooms selected are considered control classrooms, and the others are intervention classrooms. The amount and types of activities the child and family will be asked to participate in will be based on whether the child is enrolled in a control or intervention classroom. Parents are compensated for their time, and families of intervention classrooms have Family Fun Nights periodically that feature parent and child activities, education and skill building opportunities and a healthy family meal.
Over the coming years, the team will gather information on physical activity levels, nutrition knowledge, health status and history, home gardening experience and family food habits. The project team is also working with community advisory boards to further address barriers to healthy lifestyles.
Choose to Change will continue efforts over the coming three years to engage communities and leaders to “Choose to Change” and partner in developing sustainable, multilevel childhood obesity prevention strategies.
This research was supported by the National Research Initiative of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant #2011-68001-30049. For more information about this project, visit www.choosetochange.me.
About the Author
Tammy Gray is the program coordinator for West Virginia University’s Early Childhood Obesity Prevention program for Kanawha County. A lifelong resident of West Virginia, Gray holds a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education, certification in ACE personal training and a green belt in Lean and Six Sigma training. Gray has more than 20 years of leadership and business management experience across various industries. She may be reached by e-mail at tamara.gray@mail.wvu.edu.
