Get Fit With the Grizzlies: A Community-School-Home Initiative to Fight Childhood Obesity

• Published in: The Journal of school health 2010-07, Vol.80 (7), p.333-339
• Main Authors: Irwin, Carol C., Irwin, Richard L., Miller, Maureen E., Somes, Grant W., Richey, Phyllis A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Health Services - organization & administration; Behavior Change; Behavior Modification; Celebrities; Child; child and adolescent health; Child Welfare; Childhood obesity; Children; Childrens health; community health; Community health services; Community Health Services - organization & administration; Company business management; Curriculum; Data Collection; Educational evaluation; Effectiveness studies; evaluation; Evaluative research; Exercise; Grade 4; Grade 5; Health Behavior; Health behaviour; Health Education; Health information; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Promotion; Humans; Intervention; Management; Nursing; nutrition and diet; Nutritional Status; Obese children; Obesity; Obesity - prevention & control; Obesity in children; Odds Ratio; organization and administration of school health programs; Physical Activities; Physical Education; Physical education teachers; Physical Fitness; physical fitness and sport; Pilot Projects; Pretests Posttests; Prevention; Program Development; Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation; School Districts; School Health Services - organization & administration; Social Marketing; Social Welfare; Sports; Student health services; Surveys; Team Sports; Tennessee; Urban Schools
• ISSN: 0022-4391; 1746-1561
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00510.x

BACKGROUND: Professional sport organizations in the United States have notable celebrity status, and several teams have used this “star power” to collaborate with local school districts toward the goal of affecting children's health. Program effectiveness is unknown due to the absence of comprehensive evaluations for these initiatives. The Memphis Grizzlies, the city's National Basketball Association franchise, launched “Get Fit with the Grizzlies,” a 6‐week, curricular addition focusing on nutrition and physical activity for the fourth and fifth grades in Memphis City Schools (MCS). The health‐infused mini‐unit was delivered by physical education teachers during their classes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the “Get Fit” program effectiveness. METHODS: Survey research was employed which measured health knowledge acquisition and health behavior change using a matched pre/posttest design in randomly chosen schools (n = 11) from all elementary schools in the MCS system (N = 110). The total number of matched pre/posttests (n = 888) equaled approximately 5% of the total fourth‐/fifth‐grade population. McNemar's test for significance (p < .05) was applied. Odds ratios were calculated for each question. RESULTS: Analyses confirmed that there was significant health knowledge acquisition (7 of 8 questions) with odds ratios confirming moderate to strong associations. Seven out of 10 health behavior change questions significantly improved after intervention, whereas odds ratios indicated a low level of association after intervention. CONCLUSIONS: This community‐school‐home initiative using a professional team's celebrity platform within a certain locale is largely overlooked by school districts and should be considered as a positive strategy to confront childhood obesity.