University of California Sustainable Community Project: 4-H Health Programs As Part of the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Community Projects

The University of California, Children, Youth, and Families At Risk (CYFAR) Sustainable Communities Project provided intensive engagement of at-risk youth, teens, families, afterschool program staff and other stakeholders in 4-H programming. Sites used innovative technology applications, hands-on activities, positive youth development practices, service learning, and youth-adult partnerships to address childhood obesity issues. CYFAR programs were implemented in two California counties at four community sites. Over four hundred youth, grades K-6th, participated in either a once per week program, a series of classes, or a camp. They were informally mentored by 20 teens and 1 adult volunteer whom delivered curriculum activities. The curricular focus was healthy living, specifically on topics pertaining to gardening and nutrition physical activity, and life skills related to healthy living. Teens and youth were actively engaged at each of the sites in nutrition and health programming using the garden as a focal point.

Over the five year program implementation, youth outcomes were evaluated using pre-and post-program survey, as well as participant interviews with teens. The following expected outcomes were evaluated: Youth will improve their knowledge about nutrition, gardening, agriculture, cooking, and health, and will improve their skill to act on this knowledge; youth will improve their physical fitness; and youth will develop a long-term plan for health.

There was a general increase seen for skills, behaviors, and knowledge in comparing frequencies of responses per question (paired samples). A higher percentage of youth were able to correctly identify “where food comes from” from pretest (49.6% correct) to post-test (69.4%; McNemar’s Test= 10.02, p<.01). Teen participants showed a higher mean on the nutrition scale at post-test (M=12.09, SD=3.34) than pre-test (M=11.57, SD=2.48). For dietary behaviors, teens reported eating more salad (pre-test=17.6%, post-test=20.8%), and eating more carrots pre-test=8.8%, post-test=12.5%). In general, participants report being more active and spending less time on computers. Participants reported getting more physical activity (at least 60-minutes per day) on the post-test (95%) than on the pre-test (89%) and less time playing video games from pre-test (76% report at least 60 minutes) to post-test (66% report at least 60 minutes).

To assess goal management related to health, a seven-item measure was developed and tested in 37 youth. A scale was created of these seven items. Higher scores indicated better goal management. While not significant, findings do indicate a trend of increasing goal management skills (pre-test M= 4.35, SD= .53; post-test M=4.40, SD=.65). Qualitative post interviews were conducted with teen participants. Responses from theses interviews indicate that teens learned about the importance of healthy decisions, how to encourage healthy lifestyles in others, and saw changes in themselves and others as a result of their experiences. These results show the potential of hands-on gardening programs on a range of youth and teen health outcomes.