Evaluation of a Two-tiered Cross-age Teaching Model for Food Literacy-based Education
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Terminated
- Enrollment
- 24
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Self-Efficacy about Cooking Skills
Study Overview
Brief Summary
This project will serve adolescents from low-income and historically underserved communities through expansion of existing after-school programs. Adolescents from these communities tend to have slower academic progression and higher high school dropout rates. Extracurricular activities, including informal education through after-school programming, have been suggested to improve these rates and increase college enrollment by supporting traditional classroom-based education. The proposed project aims to educate high school-aged adolescents in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences through informal food literacy education. The project also includes a two-tiered cross-age teaching model, allowing for adolescents to be educated by college interns and to become educators for younger youth. Existing curricula, that encompass FANH sciences, will be utilized at each stage of the project. The purpose of the project is not only to educate adolescents in FANH sciences, but also to advance their motivation and efficacy for graduating high school, attending college, and majoring in FANH sciences. The project aims to accomplish these objectives through empowering adolescents to obtain knowledge, skills, and excitement for food literacy. As this model has not been utilized previously, this project will produce a best practices guide for implementing the existing curricula within a two-tiered cross-age teaching model. Additionally, the college internship and mentoring program created through this project will be continued at the initial sites and expanded to other communities. This will allow for a sustainable approach to educating adolescents in FANH sciences and providing mentorship that encourages future enrollment in college.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Non Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Other
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 9 Years to 18 Years (Child, Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •There are two groups of participants (adolescents and younger youth) that will be recruited for this study. Adolescent participants must be high school-aged, approximately 13-17 years. Younger youth must be upper elementary school-aged, approximately 9-12 years. Participants for both age groups will be recruited from existing afterschool programs within each participating school district. Comparison youth for both age groups will be recruited from other students within the same school districts.
- •For the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, the participating school districts will be in Pittsburg and Williams, California.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Youth from other school districts
Arms & Interventions
Pittsburg Implementation
Intervention: Science for Life (Behavioral)
Williams Implementation
Intervention: Science for Life (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Self-Efficacy about Cooking Skills
Time Frame: 1 school year
Motivation and cooking confidence will be measured using an adapted version of a questionnaire developed by University of Louisiana. This questionnaire assesses intrinsic motivation to cook and perceived competence using a retrospective, post-then-pre method.This assessment features a 5-point Likert scale.
Self-Efficacy about Teaching Nutrition
Time Frame: 5 months
Adapted questionnaire to assess teen self-efficacy about teaching nutrition using a retrospective, post-then-pre method. This assessment features a 5-point Likert scale.
Fruit and Vegetable Intake (Skin Carotenoids)
Time Frame: 1 year
Fruit and vegetable consumption will be collected using reflection spectroscopy through an instrument called "Veggie Meter." The Veggie Meter can be utilized to objectively estimate carotenoid-containing fruit and vegetable consumption through measurement of skin carotenoids in the fingertip. A handout about this tool will be provided to parents/guardians with the consent form. For the most reliable results, this measurement will be collected during the same time of year to limit false results due to seasonal changes in dietary pattern.
Dietary intake
Time Frame: 1 school year
A commonly used food frequency questionnaire will be utilized to measure dietary intake in adolescents and younger youth (Block Kids 2004). The tool has been determined to be appropriate for ages 7-17 years. To best assess the eating pattern of the target populations, the option for inclusion of food commonly eaten by Hispanic populations has been selected. This assessment tool will be provided in both English and Spanish so that parents/guardians can help participants complete the assessment at home. Additionally, serving size references will be sent home with the questionnaire. This assessment includes a variety of foods and asks participants how many days in the last week they consumed each food.
Nutrition Knowledge
Time Frame: 1 school year
Assessed using age-specific validated questionnaires. The score on this assessment is presented as a percentage of correct responses out of 30 questions. Higher percentages represent a better outcome.
Secondary Outcomes
- Household Food Security(1 school year)
- Self-esteem and locus of control(1 school year)
- Civic Responsibility(1 school year)
- Motivation for Educational Attainment(1 school year)
- Academic self-efficacy(1 school year)
- Disposition toward FANH sciences(1 school year)
- Anthropometrics (to calculate BMI)(1 school year)
- Social and emotional self-efficacy(1 school year)