Outcome Measures of a Family-Based Education Approach with Mexican Immigrants in the Yakima Valley

Abstract

With the continued incidence of obesity and health related issues in the United States and especially in the Hispanic population, it is important to provide useful healthy lifestyle education to this population. One of the barriers to providing this information is the lack of culture sensitivity in the content and presentation of current programs. In this pilot study, pre and post tests were used to measure the effectiveness of Salsa, Sabor, y Salud, a culturally sensitive program designed for Latinos. Outcome measures included dietary changes, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, heart rate, reported physical activity, and healthy lifestyle score. Diet was evaluated by 24-hour diet recall for both adults and children. Difference in outcome measures was assessed using a dependent t test. Significant decreases in weight, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, kilocalories, and grams of carbohydrates were observed. Adults reported an increase in total minutes of physical activity and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. This culturally sensitive education program, Salsa, Sabor, y Salud, has a positive effect on health related outcome measures

Effectiveness of Salsa, Sabor y Salud Program and the Impact of a Salsa, Sabor y Salud Maintenance Program on Outcome Measures

“…A previous study by Bennett et al regarding the SSS program found that there was an increase in servings of fruit and vegetables, but the increase was not significantly significant (2011). In comparing findings between this study and a previous one (Bennett et al, 2011), both studies had a significant increase in participants' knowledge that eating healthy foods increases energy. There was a significant decrease in milk servings in general for the previous study, but with this study there was an increase in lower fat milk products.…”

“…One of the questionnaires, Salsa, Sabor y Salud Healthy Lifestyle Test, obtained from the National Latino Children's Institute (Bennett et al, 2011;Barrera et al, 2002), was used to assess knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes surrounding nutrition and physical activity. The other questionnaire, Washington State University (WSU) Food Behavior Checklist (Blackburn et al, 2006;Murphy, Kaiser, Townsend, & Allen, 2001;Townsend, Kaiser, Allen, Joy, & Murphy, 2003;Townsend, Sylva, Martin, Metz, & Wooten-Swanson, 2008), is a multiple choice questionnaire assessing food group preference, food frequency, food label knowledge, food security, and physical activity.…”

“…One program in particular that has had a lot of positive feedback is the culturally sensitive Hispanic healthy lifestyle program called Salsa, Sabor y Salud (SSS) that was created by National Latino Children's Institute (Ayala et al, 2008). There has been one study that measured objective outcomes of this program and found statistically significant positive health indicators upon completion, which included dietary changes, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, heart rate, reported physical activity, and healthy lifestyle scores (Bennett et al, 2011). Health maintenance programs are essential for people to retain information and to continue the practice of skills needed to live healthy lifestyles (Wilfley et al, 2007;Carels et al, 2008;Lean, 2011).…”

“…In 2008, 34% children and adolescents of all ethnic groups were considered overweight with a body mass index (BMI) above the 85th percentile and 17% were obese with a BMI above the 95th percentile (Centrella-Nigro, 2009). BMI is an estimation of body fat based on the calculation using the height and weight of a person (Bennett & Sundsmo-Switzer, 2011). There is an increased risk for Hispanic children and adolescents to become overweight or obese (Centrella-Nigro, 2009).…”