Franklin County CES

Title:

Making Better Choices for Healthier Lifestyles

MAP:

Developing Healthier Lifestyles through Education

Agents Involved:

K. Perry; A. Leonberger; T. Thomas

MAJOR PROGRAM 1:

4-H Leadership Core Curriculum

MAJOR PROGRAM 2:

4-H Communications and Expressive Arts Core Curriculum

MAJOR PROGRAM 3:

Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)

MAJOR PROGRAM 4:

Food Preparation

Situation:

Franklin County has three primary adult behavioral risk factors that significantly impact our community’s health outcomes: obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking. Closely related to many of Franklin County’s leading causes of death is an adult obesity rate of 30% compared to a Kentucky rate of 32% and a U.S. rate of 34.9%. Childhood Obesity Action Network reported that in 2007 37.1% of Kentucky children aged 10-17 were overweight or obese exceeding the national rate of 31.6%. Locally collected data from a study conducted by the Franklin County Health Department discovered that out of 416 4th and 5th grade Franklin County students 41% of them were obese. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance data was collected for high school students and showed that 33.2% were overweight or obese in Kentucky compared to 27.8% in the nation.

Obese individuals are at increased risk for many chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancers. The obesity rate in Kentucky increased 90% over the last 15 years. Thirty percent of individuals in the Commonwealth report no leisure-time physical activity. Increased consumption of unhealthy food, stress, and built environments that promote physical inactivity are responsible for the obesity epidemic. As a result, Kentuckians are dying from heart disease and cancer at higher rates than all Americans and they have a lower life expectancy, 75.5 years, compared to 78 years for Americans. The obesity epidemic, as well as the other behavioral risk factors, threatens the quality and years of the life of Franklin County citizens.

Another factor linked to obesity is sedentary lifestyles. It was found that 29.6% of adults in the Franklin County area did not participate in any physical activity in the past 30 days compared to 30.5% of Kentucky. Again these rates exceed the national rate of 24.8%. YRBS data indicate no physical activity for 17% of Kentucky and 23.1% of U.S. high school students.

The third contributing factor to poor health is smoking. Research data shows a local rate of 22.6% for Franklin County, Kentucky rate of 25.2% and national adult smoking rate of 18.3% (KDPH, 2008). Although both the Kentucky and Franklin County rates are still higher than the national percentages, this data does reflect a decrease in recent years. Similarly, the Kentucky youth smoking rate is 26.1%, and the U.S. rate is 19.5%.

Long-Term Outcomes:

• A decrease in the number of obese and overweight children, youth, adults and elderly.

• Increase in the practice and promotion of physical activity and healthy eating daily.

• Manage and prevent the risk, debilitation, and premature death related to diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and hypertension.

Intermediate Outcomes:

• Increased adoption and mastery of healthy behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle that include making healthy lifestyle choices.

• Practice healthy food choices, physical activity, and strengthen individuals’ ability to build healthy eating plans and patterns.

• Strengthen community coalitions or partnerships to address obesity, physical inactivity and chronic disease.

Initial Outcomes:

• Youth and adults will learn the importance of healthy lifestyle choices.

• Youth and adults understand the benefits of making proactive healthy choices.

• Youth and adults will gain an understanding in healthy lifestyles and the necessary skills for a healthy lifestyle.

Evaluation:

Initial Outcome: Increase in the practice and promotion of physical activity and healthy eating daily.
Indicator: Reported increase in physical activity and healthy eating
Method: Pre- and post-surveys
Timeline: Before and after programs

Intermediate Outcome: Strengthen community coalitions or partnerships to address obesity, physical activity, and chronic disease.
Indicator: Increase in coalitions and partnerships
Method: Extension records and observation
Timeline: After programs and coalition building

Long-term Outcome: Youth and adults understand the benefits of making proactive healthy choices.
Indicator: Reported understanding of benefits
Method: Pre- and post-surveys
Timeline: Before and after programs

Learning Opportunities:

Audience: Youth & Adults
Project or Activity: Afterschool Clubs, Project Days, Camp Classes, FCS Cooking classes,
Content or Curriculum: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices, Plate It Up, You're the Chef, Food, Culture, and Reading curriculum, Cooking 101-401 Curriculum
Inputs: CES Staff, CES Agents, Specialists, CES publications, community partners
Date: September - August

Audience: Youth & Adults
Project or Activity: 4-H Cooking Club; Recipe of the Month
Content or Curriculum: Food Preservation, Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices, Plate It Up, You're the Chef, Food, Culture, and Reading curriculum, Cooking 101-401 Curriculum, SNAP Curriculum
Inputs: CES Agent and Staff, Specialists, CES publications, community partners, SNAP Program Assistants
Date: September - August

Audience: Youth
Project or Activity: Reality Store
Content or Curriculum: Health Rocks, Exploring the Treasures of 4-H,
My Financial Future, Step Up to Leadership, Moneywise, MITT, STEPS to a Healthy Teen
Inputs: CES Agents, Chamber of Commerce, volunteers, facilities, outside funding
Date: November every year

Audience: Youth
Project or Activity: In-School Club
Content or Curriculum: Health Rocks, Exploring the Treasures of 4-H, My Financial Future, Step Up to Leadership, Moneywise, MITT, STEPS to a Healthy Teen
Inputs: Paid staff, volunteers, facilities, outside funding
Date: September – May

Audience: Community
Project or Activity: Home Gardening Class
Content or Curriculum: Gardening classes from Master Gardeners
Inputs: Master Gardeners volunteers, Farmer's Market
Date: January - December

Audience: Community
Project or Activity: Healthy Cooking, Food Preservation, HM Leader Lessons
Content or Curriculum: FCS Agents, SNAP Assistants, Specialist
Inputs: FCS Agents, Homemakers, Related Publications
Date: September - August

Success Stories