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Childhood obesity is a public health concern with the risk of chronic disease later in life. A healthy diet has been shown to improve student academics and overall health and well-being in children. Teachers are at the forefront of influencing positive, healthy habits early in life for children to help prevent future disease or complications from obesity. However, it was not known how equipped K–5 public school teachers in a metropolitan area on the East coast are at implementing evidence-based nutrition interventions while serving as role models for their students.
This mixed methods, nonexperimental study was conducted to examine how K–5 teachers in the metropolitan East Coast area can effectively build knowledge and implement practical healthy eating principles through the curriculum while serving as role models for their students. The researcher explored how teachers within elementary schools can be equipped to deliver a nutrition curriculum while enhancing nutrition teaching self-efficacy and assessed baseline educator knowledge in the topic area of nutrition, the types of educators teaching the topic, resources available, and the types of school-based interventions implemented. The study aimed to understand the application of nutrition curricula through teacher knowledge, perspectives, self-efficacy, and role modeling with K–5 students.
The researcher used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. The quantitative research approach was designed as nonexperimental cross-sectional descriptive quantitative research, while the qualitative approach had a phenomenological method. Data were collected from K–5 teachers through a mixed methods survey, as well as through semi-structured interviews held virtually. Data were analyzed using Intellectus Statistics for quantitative data, and Delve for qualitative data, and the development of codes and themes to guide the analysis.
The results showed that educators feel their actions are influential in promoting healthy eating behaviors with their students. Further, a significant positive relationship existed between the number of teaching hours per educator and educators’ influential actions in promoting healthy eating behaviors with students. The results of this study reinforced the need to bridge the gap between nutrition education and priority education subjects at the K–5 level. Prioritizing nutrition education within the curriculum used for standardized testing will extend the knowledge gathered by both teachers and students through increased hours of education. An increase in nutrition education across subjects will enhance both teacher and academic knowledge and support advanced academic achievements and healthier youth.
