Hello, everyone. My name is Marisol Hernandez, and I'm a fourth-year medical student at A.T. Steele University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, and I'm going to be presenting our project titled Empowering Families with Children Who May Be at Risk for Obesity through a Nutritional Education Program. For our background, according to the CDC, approximately 1 in 5 children and adolescents in the U.S. have obesity. In 2017, 74% of children in San Diego County ate less than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, and data from 2018 showed that nearly 1 out of 3 children were overweight or obese. 43% of Hispanic students who are overweight or obese compared to white students who had an obesity prevalence of 24%. To address these health needs, we partnered with a community health center in San Diego County to conduct a quality improvement project aimed at providing nutrition education to families with children who may be at risk for obesity and explore the impact of educational intervention on improving their health literacy, habits, and anthropometrics. This project also focused on empowering participants to care for their overall health through incorporating sustainable lifestyle changes. Our objectives included to explore the impact of a nutritional education program geared towards low-income communities, to identify challenges faced by participants when trying to improve health habits during a six-week nutrition and health education program, and to increase awareness on healthy eating habits and empower individuals to care for their overall health. For our methods, eligible participants were identified, and our inclusion criteria included recruiting up to 4 to 5 families who are patients of the San Diego County CHC that live in select low-income zip codes of San Diego County and have children between the ages of 5 to 11. For our intervention, we had a six-session weekly nutritional education class that was an hour and a half for each class and included topics on disease prevention such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Osteopathic medical students attended and facilitated the sessions alongside a health educator. Child anthropometrics were taken in sessions 1 and 6, and for our assessment, various surveys were completed. At session 1, parents were asked to complete a pre-course survey about demographic information, social determinants of health, health habits, and behaviors. Children completed a pre-course survey at session 1 and a post-course survey at session 6 regarding health habits. Additionally, at each session, parents completed a survey before and after the session that focused on evaluating their perceived knowledge and confidence levels about that session's objectives, and these surveys included creating a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goal, also known as a SMART goal, involving that session topic. Achievement and barriers to this goal were assessed the subsequent week via the next session survey, and we also had parents complete a post-course survey during the last session that reassessed questions from the pre-course survey and measured their participants' perceived ability to adopt and retain healthier habits. We also had a follow-up phone survey that was conducted four weeks after program completion. So, for our results, we had a total of three families that participated in the project, for a total of eight participants, three parents, and five children with ages ranging from 9 to 11. All participants identified as Latinx, and there was a 100% retention and survey response rate. For our follow-up survey, all families reported feeling healthier and believed that the healthier habits developed during the program will be long-lasting. For our social determinants of health, one of three families reported difficulty obtaining healthy foods and worrying about where their next meal will come from. All three families expressed interest in learning about or applying for the CalFresh program. And then on the right, you'll see children health habits over six weeks. At the end of the six weeks, three of five children improved at least one health habit. There was a decrease in sugary drink consumption by 22% and an increase in fruit intake by 17% increase in daily vegetable intake by 10% and an increase in daily exercise by 7%. For our most useful lessons learned, we had a participant that noted by participating, daughters learned and understood why they need to eat healthy. And for our program outcomes, 100% of families agreed that they were more prepared to improve their family's health after the classes. All families agreed that they adopted healthier habits after participating in the classes and that they would recommend the classes to other people. And all of the families noted interest in continuing in the opportunity to continue these classes. So overall, a weekly nutrition education program was able to promote health literacy by increasing participants' interest in health education and self-confidence and making proactive lifestyle changes. We were able to provide one-on-one support in their goals for establishing healthy, sustainable eating habits. And we were able to achieve 100% attendance across six weeks. And this adherence rate to a weekly program shows active engagement that may yield sustained changes in health behaviors. And this program's success can serve as a model for large groups of participants over a longer time frame. And future studies should include a larger sample size and longitudinally track the anthropometric data to explore the implications of health education on long-term reduction in obesity rates and other chronic disease states in similar CHC populations. These are my references. Thank you so much for your time and attention.

child obesity

nutritional education

Latinx populations

San Diego County

health habits