Impact of Youth Gardening Programs on Health

Brittany Smith

Introduction

The review of literature has assisted in gaining a further understanding of how youth gardening programs can impact participant health. Intake of produce among children is often inadequate and obesity rates are well above acceptable levels. Garden-based nutrition education programs may offer a viable strategy for increasing fruit and vegetable intake in children. With the current state of the food industry and many community’s desires to improve the health habits of youth, a plethora of youth focused garden programs have emerged across the United States. Despite this there is not an extensive amount of research done to measure program impact and evaluate program outputs. The literature review conducted looks at pilot program reviews, focus group studies and youth gardening program literature reviews.

Heim,S., Stang,J., & Ireland,M. (2009). A Garden Pilot Project Enhances Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1220-1226. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.04.009

Heim, Stang and Ireland pilot intervention was evaluated using a pre-post survey to determine participant satisfaction and the short-term impacts of the program. The process evaluation focused mainly on program satisfaction. The impact evaluation looked at produce exposure and preferences, self-efficacy, and accessibly of produce on the home front. The sample used for the study was a cconvenience sample of children from grades 4-6 recruited from a YMCA summer camp to participate in the garden intervention. In conclusion of the article it is suggested that future research be done to look at the long term impact gardening program participation has on the child’s food environment at home. It is also suggested that health professionals consider garden-based nutrition education programs that connect children with fresh produce through fun activities and games. The study’s findings are short term but positive. Findings support the practice of fun games and activities to teach gardening and good nutrition. These finding are supportive of the approach Calypso’s Farm’s summer program is taking.

Ganann ,R., Fitzpatrick-Lewis,D., Ciliska,D., & Peirson,L. (2012). Community-based interventions for enhancing access to or consumption of fruit and vegetables among five to 18-year olds: a scoping review. BMC Public Health, 12(711), 1-16. Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/711

Authors provided a scoping review of research identifying and mapping literature that has reviewed community interventions to increase access and/or consumption of produce for adolescence 5 to 18 years of age. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is one of the top ten global risk factors for mortality according to WHO. By increasing produce consumption this risk can be reduced and health can be improved. Authors pointed out the patterns in nutrition in adolescence are often predictive of nutritional habits in adulthood. Finding showed that most intervention programs started in school and reached participants 15 years old and younger. Authors believed there is a gap in research displaying the effectiveness of interventions to increase access to produce. This article is a great starting point for researching community based intervention improving access or consumption of produce. It is not specifically targeted at school initiative or summer programs but looks at the larger scope of possible interventions.

Lautenschlager,L., & Smith,C. (2007). Beliefs, knowledge, and values held by inner-city youth about gardening, nutrition, and cooking. Agriculture and Human Values, 24, 245–258. Retrieved from DOI 10.1007/s10460-006-9051-z

Lautenschlager and Smith used data collected from a focus group based methodology. The research participants were all from an urban environment. The study’s findings identified several differences between youth that were actively involved with a garden program and those that were not. Youth involved in a gardening program had a better understanding of the food system and a more heightened value for those from other cultures. All benefits sited in this article were short term, the author’s state that additional research would be needed to monitor the sustainability of their findings. This article brought an issue to light that I had not yet considered cultural tolerance. While this study was done in an urban environment it still brings a value and applicable viewpoint. Alaska is a diverse state with many different cultures working together. This could be another possible benefit of using gardening programs in Alaskan communities.

Robinson-O’Brien,R., Story,M., & Heim,S. (2009). Impact of Garden-Based Youth Nutrition Intervention Programs: A Review. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(2), 273-280. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.10.051

Robinson-O’Brien, Story, and Heim discuss the growing popularity of garden based nutrition education programs and conduct a review of scientific research articles pertaining to gardening programs and program outcomes. Youth age ranges often included in these studies was 5-15 years of age. The authors stated that cooperative partnerships linking together schools, afterschool programs, community organizations and community garden programs could allow for continual exposure and yearlong learning that many not otherwise be possible. When looking at a summer program that would reach out to work with schools and after school programs this is a particularity helpful insight.

Somerset,S., & Markwell,K. (2009). Impact of a school-based food garden on attitudes and identification skills regarding vegetables and fruit: a 12-month intervention trial. Public Health Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S1368980008003327

12 month intervention study using a control study focusing on participate ability to identify specific kinds of produce, and attitudes towards produce. This was done in a primary school setting in Australia with low socioeconomic development. Clear improvement was documented in produce identification and there was new added value of “garden grown” produce. Study noted that participate involvement with food preparation can increase the likelihood of consumption. The article discussion and flow was hard to follow at times but it did bring up relevant insight.

Health and Social Problems Addressed by Selected Program

Fruit and vegetable consumption is low throughout the majority of the United States and obesity is an ever present issue facing today’s children. In Alaska produce is often less accessible, physical activity levels are lower than average and state’s adolescent obesity rates that sit around 13% (Alaska DHSS, 2009). These are the issues that the program I am evaluating is addressing with their Summer Camp program and their School Garden Initiative (SGI) program.

Traditionally such programs have had success, though there is more research available on the short term results rather than that long term results. Programs seem to most often be started by schools and used as part of a curriculum. Coordinating and forming partnerships with schools, after school programs and other community organizations makes the likelihood of success increase as the participants will have less breaks in the intervention. Research shows that including families in participant progress and giving the participants opportunities to bring home fresh produce many increase their access to fresh produce over time.

SECTION 2: PROGRAM PROFILE

Agency Description

Calypso Farm and Ecology Center is a non-profit, educational farm based in Ester, Alaska. They provide hands-on education to Fairbanks school children and community members through their education programs. The farm operates as a CSA to feed a number of local families through the growing season and supply some local restaurants with fresh produce and flowers. The farms mission is to encourage local food production and environmental awareness through hands-on education in natural and farming ecosystems (Calypso Farm, 2013).

Program of Interest

The program of focus for this evaluation will be the Summer Camp Program. As part of the School Gardening Initiative (SGI) that started in the mid 2000’s, the summer program was initiated. The program started off being very intertwined with the school program and the main garden, making the program difficult to maintain and staff. Wanting to offer the community a higher quality summer program the staff decided to separate the program more in order to help in planning and budgeting. This year the Farm will offer a summer program that is more along the structuring of a summer camp. By separating the summer camp from the main farm and shortening the length of the summer camp a higher quality camp experience should be accomplished.

Funding

Funding for the Summer Program comes numerous different sources; individual donors, a legislative grant, corporate grants, foundation grants, community service organizations, local businesses, school donations. In addition Calypso is funded, in part, by earned income from farmer stands, program tuitions and Calypso operating funds. Out of all the funding sources the legislative grant accounts for about 33% of the program funding.

Figure 1 Program Budget

Program History

The program started out hand in hand with the summer program Engaging Alaskan Teens in Gardening (EATinG), a summer program of hiring middle school ages students to work in the garden .This program had mixed results and was difficult for both the staff and participants to maintain. The EATinG program was comprised of three, 5 week sessions for three hours a day at 5 to 7 gardens in the community.

Many of the problems that arose revolved around managing a high volume of people, budgeting for that many people, and not having enough time to engage the participants with adequate levels of educational material. Not all aspects of the program where problematic, the positives include getting kids in the garden, ownership with the extended time working it, selling fresh produce at the schools and in their neighborhoods.

Gardens planted were used to produce vegetables throughout the season assisting with the program and to give a big harvest at the end of the season that the school could have for a large harvest festival. Calypso gave numerous garden tours to classes in spring and fall, worked with teachers on lesson plans, sometimes they even taught the lean plans. The gardens, SGI (School Gardening Initiative) and the summer program were linked together. This year will be the first year all three programs will be run separately in order to figure out how to make all the programs sustainable.

The summer camp program will be the main area of focus for this evaluation. This year numerous changes will take place in the program and it will be more of a summer camp like structure. The program will work separately from the main garden and this should make the camp garden more manageable in size for the participates. The program will offer shorter camp sessions for all grades K-12. The older grades will have one to two week classes that last all day (6 hours) and the younger grades will have part day week long camps. Program material will be age appropriate and include working in the garden, eating in the garden, cooking in the garden, and will work in an educational component along with fun activities and games.

Goals and Objectives of the Program

Public Health Goal: To increase physical activity and promote fresh produce consumption while teaching the skill of gardening and environmental sustainability to Fairbanks area youth.

The Program Goals (in progress):

1. To increase the consumption of healthy fresh produce adolescents participating in the program grades K-12 eat by 75%.
2. To increase the physical activity of participants by 50%.
3. Increase the ability of participants to prepare and cook fresh produce in order to improve their eating habits by 50%.

Objectives (in progress):

1. Increased access to fresh produce.
2. Increase physical activity by playing and actively teaching the participants how to garden.
3. Teach children how to prepare fresh snacks and use produce in basic cooking.
4. Give the participants a sense of ownership by teaching them the skills to market their fresh produce at produce stands.
5. Contact/reach new participants through communications with various groups, school and the community.

Personal

The SGI program was started by the now-Assistant Director of Calypso Farm; currently she oversees the production of the school gardens. The SGI program coordinator is a recent addition to the amazing team at Calypso Farm. Working with them will be a Garden Manager, that has not yet been hired, and a few VISTA volunteers. This will be the main staff support for the summer camp program.

Cost of Implementation

Exact cost of program implementation is not known at this point. This will be the first year that the program has been separated from the other aspects of the business. Previously Calypso offered many scholarships to the EATinG program, but it was not really budgeted for and just came out the organizations operating budget. This year the new coordinator still hopes to offer scholarship, have them budgeted for, and actively fundraising for them. It has been stated that it is a high priority for the program to serve and reach low income families/children.

It is tentatively planned that the 2 week camps will cost $400.00, the older age group one week camps will cost $250.00 and the younger age group one week camps will cost $125.00 (half days).It is the programs goal to be able to offer half the potential income in scholarships. So if all classes are full that would be projected revenue of $18,000 of which it is hoped to get $9,000 dollars will be covered by scholarships.

Program Implementation Information

Calypso farm was founded in 2000 and the SGI program was started in the mid- 2000’s. The program has been implemented for several years but has been developing as time goes on with feedback from stakeholders, such as, long term Calypso staff, teachers, school district staff, school board members, surveys, and community members. In order to assure sustainability the program is undergoing some changes this year with the summer program.

Evaluation History

The SGI and the summer camp program have not yet had a formal program evaluation though it is my understanding that some other programs at the farm have had program evaluations. It does appear that both the SGI and the summer camp program could greatly benefit from an evaluation in order to best serve the community and to help with budgeting, both money and staff time/resource.

Program Stakeholders

Program stakeholders would be children, parents, teachers, schools, school district staff, school board members, other groups/organizations (Boy/Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, and YMCA), and community members. The stakeholders have shown interest in having the type of curriculum taught during the summer camps. Recently the program conducted a survey asking questions about curriculum, program length, what stakeholders think is important, age of potential participants and the survey gives a place for general comments. These are all important questions when trying to measure the needs of stakeholders. I think that the primary audience for this survey is parents and guardians. From these questions the staff will gain a better understanding of how to structure the program and the curriculum to best meet the needs of their community. I would like to consider the responses of this survey in the evaluation.

Logic Model

Calypso Farm Summer Camp Program Logic Model

Figure 2 Logic Model

References

Alaska DHSS (2009). Childhood Obesity in Alaska. Retrieved from http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Documents/Obesity/pubs/Childhood_Obesity.pdf

Calypso Farm (2013). SGI | Calypso Farm. RetrievedFebruary2014, from http://www.calypsofarm.org/education/SGI/

Ganann ,R., Fitzpatrick-Lewis,D., Ciliska,D., & Peirson,L. (2012). Community-based interventions for enhancing access to or consumption of fruit and vegetables among five to 18-year olds: a scoping review. BMC Public Health, 12(711), 1-16. Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/711

Heim,S., Stang,J., & Ireland,M. (2009). A Garden Pilot Project Enhances Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Children. Journal of The American Dietetic Association, 1220-1226. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.04.009

Lautenschlager,L., & Smith,C. (2007). Beliefs, knowledge, and values held by inner-city youth about gardening, nutrition, and cooking. Agriculture and Human Values, 24, 245–258. Retrieved from DOI 10.1007/s10460-006-9051-z

Robinson-O’Brien,R., Story,M., & Heim,S. (2009). Impact of Garden-Based Youth Nutrition Intervention Programs: A Review. Journal of The American Dietetic Association, 109(2), 273-280. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.10.051

Somerset,S., & Markwell,K. (2009). Impact of a school-based food garden on attitudes and identification skills regarding vegetables and fruit: a 12-month intervention trial. Public Health Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S1368980008003327