SMART Food for Thought: A Program and Evaluation Plan of a SMART Board Nutrition Curriculum
Creators: name: Adebanjo, Tolu
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Introduction: Among children aged 6-11 years old, obesity rates have increased from 6.6% to 19.6% between 1976-1980 and 2007-2008. Although childhood obesity has become a priority on a national, state, and local level, there is no simple solution to solving this issue. Decreasing the incidence of obesity among children requires targeting their diet and activity levels, and given that children spend most of their waking hours in the school system, school-based interventions serve as a potential outlet for prevention. SMART Food for Thought is a partnership with Healthy Carolinians of Orange County within the Orange County Health Department and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District in North Carolina to create a SMART Board based nutrition curriculum to improve the nutrition and physical activity knowledge of children in the school district. Literature Review: A literature review was conducted in order to identify and evaluate existing curriculum- based programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity similar to SMART Food for Thought. The MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, and the Education Resources information Center were searched for original research articles. The review demonstrated that most programs were successful interventions over the short term for improving nutrition knowledge; however, the long-term efficacy is questionable. Program Plan: The program plan provides a detailed description of the SMART Food for Thought program. SMART Food for Thought is grounded in behavior change theory, and it focuses on the Health Belief Model, the Social Cognitive Theory, and the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. The main activities in the creation of the program include the development of SMART Board lessons for grades kindergarten through fifth grade, stakeholder presentations, a trial launch of the program during National Nutrition Month, the creation of a teacher training presentation, and full implementation of the curriculum this upcoming school year. Evaluation Plan: In order to ensure the sustainability and dissemination of SMART Food for Thought, an evaluation plan for the program is described. The program would likely benefit from an internal evaluator. Qualitative methods, such as, interviews and focus groups, and quantitative methods, such as surveys, will be used to obtain data. The implementation evaluation will be conducted with an observational study design while the outcomes evaluation will use a quasi-experimental design with a one group, pre-test/post-test method to assess changes in nutrition knowledge. The findings will be disseminated through a final report, conference presentations, and publications in relevant journals. Discussion: The future of SMART Food for Thought is promising based on its accessibility, convenience, and alignment with the state standard course of study. The developers of SMART Food for Thought may look at integrating a family component as parents largely influence a child’s health behavior choices. By forming partnerships with other school districts and working to find SMART Board resources for lower-income areas, the dissemination of the program across the state is possible. Overall, curriculum is only one piece of the puzzle, and to achieve a lasting effect, schools will likely need to adopt a holistic approach and change the school infrastructure to one that supports healthy eating.