Stephanie A. Vecchiarelli, MPH¹, Mike Prelip, DPA, MPH¹, Wendy Slusser, MD, MS², Charlotte Neumann, MD, MPH¹, Babette A. Brumback, PhD³, Linda O. Lange, DrPH¹, Heather Weightman, MPH, RD¹, Lai San Hong¹, and Dulcie Kermah¹. (1) Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities, UCLA School of Public Health, Box 951772, 36-078 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-267-2946, stephv@ucla.edu, (2) Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Schol of Public Health, Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, (3) NPI-Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, 10920 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90024

In October 2000, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) established the Nutrition Network (NutNet) through a United States Department of Agriculture grant to the California Department of Health Services. The goal of LAUSD NutNet is to encourage healthy eating choices by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity among its students through nutrition education. The LAUSD NutNet partnered with the UCLA School of Public Health to evaluate their program. The overall purpose of the evaluation is to provide the LAUSD NutNet and other stakeholders with outcome measures of the impact of the LAUSD NutNet. The hypothesis is that knowledge and attitudes about fruit and vegetables will be greater, preferences for a variety of fruit and vegetables will be broader, and frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption will be higher among students in participating NutNet schools. This hypothesis is being measured primarily through student and parent questionnaires at pre-intervention and post-intervention during a school year in a sample of NutNet participating and non-participating elementary schools. The goal of the session is to review the results of the evaluation. Participants will be briefly introduced to the LAUSD NutNet program and the outcome evaluation methodology. Presenters will highlight the results of student and parent questionnaires on fruit and vegetable knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. By the end of the session, participants will be able to: briefly describe LAUSD NutNet program evaluation; understand the outcomes measured by the questionnaires; and identify differences between intervention and control schools as measured by this evaluation.

Learning Objectives:

• Briefly describe the LAUSD Nutrition Network program evaluation.
• Articulate the outcomes measured by the questionnaires.
• Identify differences between intervention and control schools as measured by this evaluation.

Keywords: School-Based Programs, Evaluation

Related Web page: www.ph.ucla.edu/chs/nfsc

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Los Angeles Unified School District, UCLA
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.