Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences
Specialization
Nutrition
Department
Nutrition and Food Sciences
First Advisor
Sarah Amin
Abstract
Background: Youth from low-income, racially and ethnically diverse families are at increased risk for academic challenges and nutritionally inadequate diets. Summer programs offer an opportunity to foster interest and engage students in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education while addressing summer learning loss. Nutrition education early in life can help youth develop healthy dietary behaviors that they carry into adulthood. Project stRIde: Science and Technology Reinforced by Innovative Dietary Education was a summer program for 4-6th grade youth from racially and ethnically diverse and low-income families. The goal of the program was to engage youth in nutrition-centered STEAM education to mitigate summer learning loss and promote healthy dietary behaviors.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to 1) describe curriculum development, revisions, and preliminary pilot findings in the two developmental years of Project stRIde, 2) describe Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) using examples from Project stRIde for use as a guide for other practitioners, and 3) examine the effectiveness of Project stRIde including interest and choice in STEAM, intended behavior changes, program acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and overall program impact.
Methods: Project stRIde was delivered over three summers to community partner summer camp sites in urban, low-income areas of Rhode Island. DBIR was leveraged throughout the program to develop the curriculum and make collaborative edits after each year. A team of community partners, youth participants, program staff, and researchers were consulted for this study. In the first two developmental years, participant post-lesson knowledge (PLK) questions, interviews with camp staff, dose delivered, reach, and fidelity were used as process measures. Exploratory outcomes included pre/post participant attitudes towards STEAM (S-STEM Survey) and self-efficacy for asking for fruits and vegetables (ASKFV-SE) through previously validated surveys. The pre/post scores from both surveys were compared using paired t-tests with a significance value of p<0.05. In the third year of programming, a pre/post-test design was used to measure student interest and choice in STEAM (SIC-STEM Survey). Camp staff completed an acceptability of intervention, intervention appropriateness, and feasibility of intervention measure (AIM, IAM, FIM) post-intervention. Interviews were conducted post-intervention with youth participants and staff to assess STEAM and nutrition knowledge gained, intended behavior changes, acceptability, and overall program impact.
Results: Project stRIde successfully reached a racially and ethnically diverse population, had high fidelity (>80%), and over 60% of participants attended 4 or more out of six total lessons each year. In the developmental years, low scoring lessons as indicated from the PLK questions were edited or omitted from the final program model. Main ideas summarized from interviews included appropriateness of content, program acceptability, student engagement, and sustainability. There were no changes in pre/post attitudes towards STEAM or self-efficacy for asking for fruits and vegetables. The team decided to add more hands-on activities, simplified lesson concepts and activities, and creative evaluation strategies with youth. In the third year, the final program model was delivered. Themes from camp and program staff interviews include program acceptability, positive impact on STEAM and nutrition knowledge, program model was simplified and guided by youth choice, summer camp setting was a barrier, and perceived impact on participant engagement and enjoyment. There were no significant changes in pre- to post-SIC-STEM survey scores. Camp staff rated Project stRIde as acceptable, appropriate, and feasible.
Conclusions: Youth PLK questions, dose, fidelity, reach, and interviews with camp staff served as valuable process measures when evaluating Project stRIde’s developmental years. In its final program model, Project stRIde was rated as acceptable, engaging, and shows promise in mitigating learning loss among at-risk youth. Overall, DBIR served as a valuable model for creating yearly edits to the curriculum and landing on a final program model. It was a useful strategy for identifying problems, developing the curriculum, and organizing the iterative process. Similar outreach programs should consider DBIR when designing and implementing programs. Future directions for Project stRIde include adapting this program for other settings and working with community partners to promote program sustainability.
Recommended Citation
Potvin, Jacquelyn, "IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF A NUTRITON-FOCUSED STEAM SUMMER PROGRAM FOR URBAN YOUTH" (2024). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1657.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1657