TITLE:
Healthy Children Arizona: Early Intervention for Prevention
AUTHORS:
Sabrina Plattner, Gayle McCartney, Cynthia Thomson, Andrea Balderama, David S. Alberts, Janet A. Foote
KEYWORDS:
Curriculum, Healthy Eating, Children, Cancer Prevention, Sun Safety
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.4 No.8,
August
29,
2014
ABSTRACT: The Healthy
Children Arizona (HCA) program was developed to promote early, positive
exposure to cancer-preventive diet, physical activity and sun safety behaviors.
Five lessons delivered weekly were evaluated by classroom teachers while pre-
and post-curriculum surveys examined increases in students’ understanding of
concepts and self-reported behavior. The first and second graders and their
teachers in ethnically diverse elementary schools (including Title 1) in Tucson
and Phoenix, Arizona participated in the curriculum assessment. All 5
interactive lessons were highly rated by teachers in qualitative assessments.
Aggregated analyses of pre- (n = 582) and post-
(n = 588) comparison tests indicated that the HCA curriculum significantly
increased students’ knowledge of each of six measured concepts (p