Evaluation of the Salsa, Sabor y Salud Program

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Evaluation of the Salsa, Sabor y Salud Program
Denise Huang, Deborah La Torre, Christine Oh
California Educational Research
AssociationAnnual Meeting CERA Effective
Teaching and LearningRancho Las Palmas, CA
December 4, 2008
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The Problem

• There is an alarming trend towards obesity and
  inactivity among children
• The center for Disease control and Prevention
  predicted that one in 3 children born in 2000
  would become diabetic
• Minority and economically disadvantaged children
  are especially at risk
• One in two Latino children will become diabetic

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The Intervention

• Kraft Foods has partnered with the National
  Latino Childrens Insitute and developed a
  healthy lifestyle educational program for Latino
  families
• Salsa Sabor y Salud (Food, Fun, Fitness)
• Improve the awareness of habits leading to better
  nutrition and increased physical activities
• Family oriented
• Culturally relevant

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Early Evaluation

• Positive changes over time were found
• These positive results suggest that the immediate
  outcomes the program seeks to achieve are
  attainable
• The program has begun to transform the lives of
  those for which is intended.

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Adaptation of the SSS program

• Piloting programs
• Chicago- 2 programs
• Association House
• Centro Communitario Juan Diego (CCJD)
• Los Angeles- LAs BEST

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Purpose of the Study

• To conduct a process evaluation to describe how
  functional the SSS curriculum is after the
  adaptation from family-centered to
  student-centered
• To conduct an outcome evaluation in order to
  examine the effectiveness of the SSS program in
  influencing students knowledge, attitudes, and
  behaviors regarding a healthy lifestyle.

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Research Questions

• How well has the program been adapted for use in
  a child-focused setting?
• What adaptations worked?
• What adaptations did not work?
• Is the program being delivered as planned?
• Whether/how are the staff and students engaged in
  the program functioning?
• What impact has the program had on student and
  program staff participants?
• What is the reach of the program, as implemented
  with children only?

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The Chicago Programs

• CCJD was established in the 1990s by 8 Latino
  community members
• Its mission is to promote leadership and social
  change while serving those in need
• It provides the community with programs focused
  on social services, health care, education, and
  community organizing.
• In 2007, CCJD employed over 70 staff members

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The Association House

• The Association House is established in 1899 to
  serve as a resource to provide services that meet
  community needs.
• Its core mission is to offer services to
  economically disadvantaged individuals and
  families
• Its services include behavioral health, child
  welfare, and community services

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Program fidelity

• Context
• training
• resources
• Compliance
• Lessons delivered as planned
• Lessons delivered effectively
• Competence
• Staff efficacy
• Staff perceived value of the program

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Context-Training

• Both of the 2 staff members in CCJD responsible
  for the SSS curriculum received training and
  reported having experience in conducting the
  original version of the SSS curriculum
• The staff at the association House did not
  received first hand training but were able to
  obtain assistance from other experienced staff

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Context-Resources

• At CCJD- Conflicting opinions between the site
  coordinator and assistant coordinator
• Space
• Limited economic resources for fresh foods
• At association House
• More training
• More staff

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Compliance-Lesson delivered as planned

• Both organizations appeared to follow the
  structure of the lesson plans of the SSS
  curriculum
• Both mentioned students enjoyed the hands-on
  games, music activities, but sometime appeared
  bored during the lectures

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Compliance-Lesson delivered effectively

• Staff at both programs were able to use a variety
  of teaching strategies to engage students
  including cross-content integration and
  real-world connections
• Students at both programs displayed high levels
  of engagement, participating in discussions,
  demonstrating anticipation and excitement in
  learning about the origins of food

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Competency-Staff Efficacy

• Staff at both programs demonstrated high efficacy
  concerning their ability to implement the SSS
  curriculum
• These staff found ways to adapt their practices
  to keep students interested and engaged
• Students felt both physically and emotionally
  secured with the staff and were positiely
  supported by the staff during their participation

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Competency- Value of the Program

• All staff felt the program is important
• They were happy to be a role model concerning
  healthy lifestyles
• The staff were satisfied with the program and
  believed the students were as well

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Evidence of Impact-students

• Students at both organizations talked exclusively
  about increased knowledge and improved behavior
• The program coordinator at Association House of
  Chicago indicated that the students benefited in
  terms of attitudes and knowledge
• The staff at CCJD focused on gains in knowledge
  and behavior

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Evidence of impact-staff

• The staff members noted positive impact on their
  own lives as well as the lives of their families
• Their comments mostly focused on knowledge and
  behavior

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Evidence of Impact-reach

• Some of the students at both Association House of
  Chicago and CCJD reported talking with their
  parents about the program

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Summary

• Judy Nee (2006), president and CEO of the
  National After-School Association stated 5
  important practices in preventing obesity
• Purposeful and intentional curriculum and
  activities development
• Integration of nutrition and physical activity
  focusing on the whole child
• Provide meaningful experiences that integrate
  nutrition and physical activity
• Provide nutritional knowledge and model with
  healthy snacks
• Be health-centered rather than weight-centered
  and maintain cultural sensitivity

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• Students were able to connect healthy eating and
  physical activities with
• A healthy body
• Less frequency of illness
• Increased concentration in school

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Defining Culturally Relevant Teaching

• A pedagogy that empowers students
  intellectually, socially, emotionally, and
  politically by using cultural referents to impart
  knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• Gloria Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 17-18

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Session Themes

• Family Reunions
• The Perfect Pair
• Mid-day Snacks
• Seeds of the Americas

• The Harvest
• Salsa y Sabor
• At the Park
• The Celebration

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Culturally Relevant Practices for Latino Children

• Foster community (Nieto Rolon, 1997 Sanchez
  et al., 1992)
• Build on students history, culture, and language
  (Cummins, 1989 Gloria Ladson-Billings, 1994)
• Active learning and experiential learning
  (Ortega et al, 1993 Shannon, 1995)

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Five-Step Lesson Plans

• Each session, except the first, included
• An introduction
• A review of past concepts
• One or more hands-on nutrition activities
• At least one physical activity
• A discussion of the activities and what was
  learned during the session

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Teaching Strategies

• Staff used a variety of teaching strategies
• Staff reported using the teaching strategies
  recommended in the curriculum guides and at the
  trainings
• Student engagement varied at the sites

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• Cultural Capital Theory (Bourdieu Passeron,
  1977)
• Cultural capital refers to the accumulation of
  cultural knowledge, skills and abilities
  possessed and inherited by privileged groups in
  society (e.g., access and knowledge about the
  education system and how to navigate through
  school)
• Can be acquired from ones family and schooling
• The dominant groups within society are able to
  maintain power because access is limited to
  acquiring and learning strategies to use these
  forms of capital for social mobility

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• Critical Race Theory (Matsuda, 1991
  Delgado-Gaitan,
• 2001 Delgado Bernal, 2002)
• - Shifts the center focus from notions of
  White, middle class culture to the cultures of
• Communities of Color addresses the
  social construct of race by examining the
  ideology of
• racism and how that plays a part in
  educational institutions
• - the work of progressive legal scholars
  of color who are attempting to develop a
• jurisprudence that accounts for the
  role of racism in American law and that work
  toward
• the elimination of racism as part of
  a larger goal of eliminating all forms of
• subordination (p. 1331)

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• Community Cultural Wealth Model (Yosso, 2005)
• Shifts away from a deficit view of Communities of
  Color as places full of cultural poverty
  disadvantages, and instead focuses on
  marginalized groups that often go unrecognized
  and unacknowledged (Yosso, 2005)
• various forms of capital other than traditional
  forms of capital ? draws upon the knowledges of
  Students of Color, and what they bring with them
  from their homes and communities into the
  classroom (e.g., sense of collectivity,
  willingness to do community outreach, a high
  sense of responsibility to integrate the
  community, leadership skills, etc.)

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• Adaptation of Salsa Y Salud Program
• -background
• n 20 sites over 90 of the sites adapted the
  lessons from the original curriculum
• Reasons for Adaptation
• A. to moderate the content so that it was
  culturally appropriate for Latino students as
• well as non-Latino students participating
  in program
• B. to maintain the interest of their students
• C. ensure that the activities were
  age-appropriate

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• A. Cultural Appropriateness
• Sabor y Salud has things that they can really
  relate to since they are mostly Hispanic, so they
  have a lot of things in there like family
  gatherings and all of that, I think its more
  helpful for themthey remember all of the
  memories they have going to their family
  gatherings, and the food they eat.

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• Ways to keep the Program More Culturally-Relevant
• -integrate Spanish music w/ activities
• -discuss Spanish foods (e.g., frijoles, beans,
  salsa, etc.)
• -brought about a collectivity when doing
  activities ? relates back to
• Latino family and together-ness
• helping non-Latino students find significance
  within the program
• -Going into the community and establishing
  partnerships to integrate them into the
• program

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• B. Keeping the Interest of Students
• I think the way I chose how to have the
  children adapt to it was to have it be a little
  bit more fun, not so by the book (SSS
  curriculum). I definitely use the book, but some
  of the things you read and then do it your own
  way. Thats how I decided to do it with the
  children because I think if I went by the book
  theyd find it boring. For them, their attention
  span is not so great. Ive got to catch them
  quick or Ill lose themthat was my thing.

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• C. Age-appropriateness
• We dont always go with the book (SSS
  curriculum)it doesnt give us specific facts on
  how to break down the nutrition factorthe book
  doesnt teach us how to explain it to them (the
  students)When I start the entire activity I
  start with questions. How many of you know what
  this means? How many of you know what lard is?
  From there I move on. If the questions are too
  high (difficult), if Im going to be asking the
  first grader who knows what lard is, some of them
  have no clue. So, thats when I start breaking it
  down. I go from there and from whatever they
  know.

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• II. Maintaining Program Fidelity on Adaptations
• With my co-workers other SSS program staff
  they like some of the things Im doing. I ask
  them to let me know how they did so maybe later
  on they could do something close to what Im
  doing with their students to see if they like it.
  If their students like it they might like adding
  it to their class.

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• III. What Works With the Students?
• Content
• Student 1 My favorite activity in Salsa, Sabor
  y Salud was when we made an apple with peanut
  butter and pretzel sticks with raisins and
  granola. We make healthy fruits and it was fun
  and nutritious.
• Student 2 Like he sad, we made an apple.
  It was fun to make it. SSS program staff member
  said it was good for you. And we wrote the recipe
  for it so we could make it at home.

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• B. Physical Activities
• Student 1 I liked when we went to the obstacle
  course, because we were racing against each
  other. And it was fun, because we actually had to
  get in the cones and out of the cones, and we had
  to jump the hula hool, and we had to jump fives
  times.
• Student 2 That when, when we were going to do
  the, the second obstacle course I could see where
  it was. So I knew that it was going to be fun,
  because I saw a lot of cones there.

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• V. What Does not Work? Why do Students Feel
  Uncomfortable?
• -boredom from the lack of variability in
  activities (e.g., doing the
• same activities over and over again)
• -lack of variety in the SSS program location
  (e.g., constantly
• doing activities only within the classroom not
  going outside as
• much)

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Curriculum Emphasized Four Key Messages

• Eat foods from each of the food groups every day
• Be sensible about portion size
• Be physically active every day
• Take small steps for success

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Healthy Behavior Outcomes

• Surveys were administered
• Pre and Post
• Program students and matched control students
• Areas assessed
• Knowledge and Awareness
• Attitudes
• Unhealthy Behaviors
• Healthy Behaviors

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Knowledge and Awareness

• Healthy snacks
• The benefits of being active
• General guidelines for healthy nutrition
• What constitutes healthy activity

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Healthy Snacks
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The Benefits of Being Active
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General Guidelines for Healthy Nutrition
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What Constitutes Healthy Activity
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Program Effects on Student Knowledge
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Program Effects on Student Attitudes
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Attitudes

• Healthy food and junk food
• The taste of healthy food and junk food
• The ability to make healthy nutrition choices
• Physical activity

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Healthy Food and Junk Food
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Taste of Healthy Food and Junk Food
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Ability to Make Healthy Food Choices
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Physical Activity
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Unhealthy Student Behavior

• Intake of sweets and junk food
• Intake of caloric proteins
• Intake of less healthy fluids
• Sedentary behaviors

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Intake of Sweets and Junk Foods
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Intake of Caloric Proteins
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Intake of Less Healthy Fluids
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Sedentary Activity
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Program Effects on Unhealthy Student Behaviors
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Healthy Student Behavior

• Intake of fruits and vegetables
• Intake of healthy proteins
• Intake of healthy fluids
• Physical activity

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Intake of Fruits and Vegetables
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Intake of Healthy Proteins
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Intake of Healthy Fluids
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Physical Activity
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Program Effects on Healthy Student Behaviors
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