Making a Difference in Migrant Summer School: Testing a Healthy Weight Intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the effectiveness of a healthy weight intervention designed for children of migrant farmworkers embedded in a 7-week summer Midwest Migrant Education Program (MEP) for changes in: weight; Body Mass Index (BMI); BMI-percentiles (BMI-p); muscle strength and muscle flexibility; nutrition knowledge; attitudes; and behaviors.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE: This is a two-group pre-post quasi-experimental study. Latino children of migrant farmworkers attending summer MEP in grades one through eight were enrolled (n = 171: comparison n = 33, intervention n = 138).

MEASURES: Weight, BMI, BMI-p, muscle strength and flexibility, knowledge, and healthy behaviors.

INTERVENTION: Classroom content included: food variety; increasing fruits and vegetables; healthy breakfasts; more family meals; increasing family time; decreasing TV and electronic game time; increasing physical activity; limiting sugar-sweetened drinks; portion sizes; and food labels.

RESULTS: Statistically significant were increase in comparison group mean weight, decrease in intervention group BMI-p, and improvements in muscle flexibility and healthy behavior attitudes. The intervention students showed trends toward healthy BMI. The number of MEP days attended was significantly correlated in four outcomes.

CONCLUSION: Study findings have the potential to decrease incidence of unhealthy weight in Latino migrant children, reduce rates of premature adult diseases in these children, and a potential to decrease future health care costs.