Healthy Eating Habits of School Aged Children in Rural-Areas

Abstract

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. Despite the programs that have been implemented and the information that has been disseminated to prevent and stop this epidemic, childhood obesity is still very prevalent among society. The aim of this study is to determine why obesity is still such an epidemic, specifically in rural areas of the United States. This study also provides further understanding of interventions to impact healthy eating habits in children. During the intervention implemented, children received a short lesson on healthy eating habits and the “Healthy Food Plate Model.” After, they took a pre test and a post test to see how much their knowledge improved from the lesson. Both tests included ten multiple-choice questions, arranged in differing orders. Test means increased from pre-test to post-test (51.76 to 60.48). A paired samples t-test showed the results to be statistically significant (p < 0.002). The findings of this study supports providing elementary school aged children with nutritional education may impact their ability to make wiser, and healthier choices regarding food intake. The findings also show that further research is needed in this topic area, and children would greatly benefit from continuous, routine nutritional lessons during elementary school.