EVALUATION OF A NUTRITION EDUCATION-PROGRAM FOR HEAD-START PARENTS

This study investigated the effects of a parent education program on the nutrition-related behavior of Head Start parents and the dietary intake of their preschool children. Six New York City and five Maryland Head Start centers were assigned to either the treatment (nutrition education) or control group. Treatment group mothers received 13 weekly nutrition newsletters and were encouraged to attend four nutrition workshops addressing child nutrition, meal planning, food preparation, and food shopping. A total of 89 mothers in the treatment group and 82 mothers in the control group completed pre- and post-program interviews examining their children's food consumption and their nutrition-related behaviors. One to two months after the nutrition education program, Maryland treatment group parents reported that their children were consuming a significantly more diverse and high quality diet, and were consuming significantly more servings of selected nutritious foods than were children in the control group. There were no significant differences in the food consumption of New York treatment and control group children following the program. Treatment group parents from both Maryland and New York reported making more positive changes in their meal planning, food shopping, food preparation, and cooking practices than did their control group counterparts. Findings indicate that nutrition education programs can have a positive effect on Head Start parents' nutrition-related behaviors and can lead to improvements in the diets of children who have been eating fewer than the recommended number of servings of nutritious foods.