O31 Evaluating Success of Paraprofessional Educators in a Pilot Adolescent Classroom Intervention: Rev It Up

• Published in: Journal of nutrition education and behavior 2020-07, Vol.52 (7), p.S15-S15
• Main Authors: Bastian, Graham E., Desai-Shah, Het, Palmer-Keenan, Debra M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1499-4046; 1878-2620
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2020.04.043

To evaluate Rev It Up!, a pilot nutrition education curriculum for teens, when it is taught by either paraprofessional or professional educators. Research shows teens consume low levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods; and excessive levels of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast foods. Further, they do not meet physical activity (PA) recommendations. Rev It Up!, which was informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, addresses these issues with teens, an audience at the inception of controlling their own food choices. Urban teens (N=118) in high school health classes participating in the NJ Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Eighty-five were taught by professional staff (2018-2019 school year); the other 33 were taught by paraprofessionals (2019-2020 school year). Rev It Up! is a 10-lesson curriculum that employs gamification to provide nutrition and PA education. The curriculum was assessed using the EFNEP 9-12th Grade Nutrition Education Survey, pre- and post-education. Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests revealed that, pre- to post-intervention, students taught by professionals reported improvements in fruit consumption (P