Bernestine McGee, Glenda Johnson, Dachuan Zhang, William Johnson
Objective: Overweight and obesity and the associated chronic conditions are a continuing health risk for children resulting in a need for novel childhood obesity prevention approaches. After school programs have great potential to provide opportunities for increasing knowledge and practice of healthy eating and physical activity behaviors of enrolled children. This pragmatic trial investigated the feasibility of the SPARK (Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids) PLUS intervention which can be a model for promoting healthy weight-related behaviors in under-resourced children attending after school programs.
Methods: 97 African American children aged 8-14 years participated in the trial using a randomized block design with blocks being afterschool sites; pre-post assessments.
Results: Diet quality and nutrition knowledge and physical activity-related behaviors (primary outcomes) and BMI-z scores (secondary outcome) assessed intervention effectiveness. Significant group differences in changes were detected in HEI total protein (P=0.04) and sodium (P=0.03) scores, consumption of 100% fruit juice (P=0.02) vegetables at dinner (P=0.01) and was more likely to be physically active 3-5 times a week (P=0.02).
Conclusion: Positive outcomes were observed suggesting feasibility of the intervention. Results contribute to limited evidence on obesity prevention models for African American children in after-school settings. SPARK PLUS is a promising model to promote healthful behavior among students since academic demands placed on traditional school-hours limit nutrition and physical education opportunities.
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