Abstract
iCook 4-H is a lifestyle intervention to improve diet, physical activity and mealtime behavior. Control and treatment dyads (adult primary meal preparer and a 9–10-year-old youth) completed surveys at baseline and 4, 12, and 24 months. A Health Disparity (HD) score composite was developed utilizing a series of 12 questions (maximum score = 12 with a higher score indicating a more severe health disparity). Questions came from the USDA short form U.S. Household Food Security Survey (5), participation in food assistance programs (1), food behavior (2), level of adult education completed (1), marital status (1), and race (1 adult and 1 child). There were 228 dyads (control n = 77; treatment n = 151) enrolled in the iCook 4-H study. Baseline HD scores were 3.00 ± 2.56 among control dyads and 2.97 ± 2.91 among treatment dyads, p = 0.6632. There was a significant decline in the HD score of the treatment group from baseline to 12 months (p = 0.0047) and baseline to 24 months (p = 0.0354). A treatment by 12-month time interaction was found (baseline mean 2.97 ± 2.91 vs. 12-month mean 1.78 ± 2.31; p = 0.0406). This study shows that behavioral change interventions for youth and adults can help improve factors that impact health equity; although, further research is needed to validate this HD score as a measure of health disparities across time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 51 |
| Journal | Healthcare (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Funding
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2012-68001-19605. The third author of this work was supported by a National Institute of General Medical Sciences T32 grant (GM081741). Other funding is from the West Virginia University Hatch WVA00641 and the state experiment stations for the South Dakota State University, the University of Maine and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Author’s thank USDA Extension 4-H partners and participants, our multistate collaborators (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Tennessee, South Dakota State University, West Virginia University, University of Maine), and the participants who enrolled in the research project. Also, a thank you to Jon Moyer for his statistical support. Funding: This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2012-68001-19605. The third author of this work was supported by a National Institute of General Medical Sciences T32 grant (GM081741). Other funding is from the West Virginia University Hatch WVA00641 and the state experiment stations for the South Dakota State University, the University of Maine and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Tennessee | |
| West Virginia University Hatch | WVA00641 |
| National Institute of General Medical Sciences | GM081741 |
| U.S. Department of Agriculture | 2012-68001-19605 |
| US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative | |
| University of Nebraska–Lincoln | |
| South Dakota State University | |
| West Virginia University | |
| University of Southern Maine |
Keywords
- Behavior
- Family mealtime
- Health disparities
- Nutrition
- Physical activity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Leadership and Management
- Health Policy
- Health Informatics
- Health Information Management
