H-PACE Program for the Improvement of Lifestyle Behaviors Among Children

OUTLINE:

Children attend the H-PACE program comprising educational lessons over 30 minutes, PA over 30 minutes, and healthy snacks twice a week (BIW) for 12 weeks. The educational component includes 30-minute lessons on PA, fruits and vegetables, and sleep, followed by fun and entertaining games and activities. The PA component (30-minutes) comprises a variety of enjoyable activities including warm-up, main activities (e.g., walk/run/jog and aerobic fun games), and cool-down. The snack component introduces children to tasty and healthy foods and teaches children the skills to enable them to select and prepare healthy snack foods at school and at home. Snack education lessons emphasize the benefits of fruit and vegetable intake, and include a discussion of food composition (e.g., fat content, sugar, sodium). Children prepare healthy snack foods at home with parents once a week (QW) by taking home fruit and vegetable boxes with recipes for family-based engaging activities. Children also wear an accelerometer to monitor activity for 7 days at baseline and during week 11-12. Parents may participate in an optional virtual peer support group on study.

Inclusion criteria

• Children in 3rd - 5th grade, 8-11 years of age, attending the afterschool program at the selected elementary schools.
• Parents/Guardians of the eligible child, who are ≥ 18 years old.
• Fluency in English or Spanish.

Exclusion criteria

• Children who are not in 3rd - 5th grade.
• Children not attending the afterschool program at the selected elementary schools.
• Parents/Guardians of the eligible child, who are < 18 years old.