Food knowledge, preference and intake behaviors among hispanic and black preschoolers from low-income families before and after the All 4 Kids© program
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Zhang, Youjie.
Food knowledge, preference and intake behaviors among hispanic and black preschoolers from low-income families before and after the All 4 Kids© program. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3P55Q4D
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TitleFood knowledge, preference and intake behaviors among hispanic and black preschoolers from low-income families before and after the All 4 Kids© program
Date Created2014
Other Date2014-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (xi, 74 p. : ill.)
DescriptionObjectives: To evaluate the potential influence of the All 4 Kids©: Healthy, Happy, Active, Fit program (hereafter referred to as the All 4 Kids© program) on preschoolers’ snack food knowledge, stated healthy snack preference, snack food intake, and fruit and vegetable availability at home.
Design: Pre- and post-intervention comparison.
Setting: Preschool classrooms.
Participants: A total of 45 three to five year-old Hispanic and Black preschoolers and their caregivers from low-income families.
Intervention: The All 4 Kids© was a healthy eating and active living program that consisted of 24 interactive classroom lessons (lasting 30- to 45-minutes each), which were taught three times per week for eight weeks. The program also included weekly information packets for the families and three family events.
Measurements: Demographic (age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, federal assistance program participation) and anthropometric (height, weight, body fat percent) characteristics; preschoolers’ snack food knowledge (ability to identify 18 snack foods and to distinguish healthy and unhealthy snack foods); stated healthy snack preference among nine snack pairs; fruit and vegetable availability and preschoolers’ caregiver-reported snack food intake frequency at home.
Analyses: Spearman correlation analysis; independent and paired sample t-, McNemar’s, Wilcoxon signed-rank, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, Fisher’s exact, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests.
Results: After participating in the program, preschoolers showed improvements in snack food identification, healthy snack identification and stated healthy snack preference (p<0.001). The snack food identification and healthy snack identification sum scores varied by race/ethnicity and age. Healthy snack identification and stated healthy snack preference sum scores were positively correlated before and after the intervention (p<0.05). Most caregivers reported high levels of fruit and vegetable availability and intake frequencies at home before and after the intervention. More than half of the caregivers reported that their preschoolers ate candy or chips at least 1 to 2 times per day before and after the intervention.
Conclusion: The All 4 Kids© program was linked to positive outcomes on preschoolers’ snack food knowledge and stated healthy snack preference but was not related to changes in the availability of fruits and vegetables and preschoolers’ food intake at home.
NoteM.S.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Youjie Zhang
Genretheses, ETD graduate
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.