Project overview

REAL Kids Alberta: Raising healthy Eating and Active Living Kids in Alberta aims to evaluate the Alberta Health and Wellness’, Healthy Weights for Children and Youth initiative in order to learn whether or not it is effective in promoting the health of children and youth in Alberta.

This evaluation will help us answer questions such as:

How aware are parents and students of healthy eating and active living initiatives supported by Alberta Health and Wellness?
What do Alberta children know about the importance of healthy living?
What are the eating habits and lifestyles of Grade 5 children in Alberta?
What can we do to improve the health of children and youth in Alberta?
What can schools do to improve the health and learning of children in Alberta?

What and how will we measure

The evaluation includes school based data collection that is scheduled for the spring of 2008 and repeated in 2010 on a new group of grade five students. This will be accomplished by:

Administering surveys to 3000 grade five students across Alberta and measuring their heights and weights. The survey administration and height and weight measurement will be performed by trained evaluation assistants and a Regional Health Promotion Coordinator from the local health authority. Student’s weights will be gathered using a scale that sends their weight to a remote read that the student will not be able to see. Students will not be given their weight or height measurement information to ensure that no comparison of weights will be possible by participants. The classroom teacher and two evaluation workers will be present at all times while the measurements are taken. Measurements will not be shared with the child, parents or other school personnel.
The parent/guardian(s) of participating students will complete a self administered survey about the home environment.
The principals of participating schools will complete a self administered survey on school programs and environment.

Consent and confidentiality

Participation in this evaluation is voluntary. All participants must consent to participate by signing a consent form. Students will only be asked to participate if their parent/guardian has given them written consent to participate. All consent forms will be removed from the surveys to ensure confidentiality. All information collected will be anonymous and kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone including the child’s school personnel. Individual schools will not be identified when the findings are produced.

Who is involved in the evaluation?

The principle investigator of this evaluation is Dr. Paul Veugelers, Professor, School of Public Health, at the University of Alberta. Dr. Veugelers main areas of research are related to the importance of nutrition, healthy lifestyle, socio-economic factors, intervention programs and policies in relation to overweight and chronic disease prevention. Dr. Veugelers has extensive experience with school based evaluation. His Nova Scotia-based research revealed the success of a comprehensive school health approach in the Annapolis Valley through the ‘Make the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice’ intervention. Students from these schools had substantially healthier diets with more fruits and vegetables and fewer calories from dietary fat and were 59% less likely to be overweight and 72% less likely to be obese.

Further information

The findings from this evaluation will provide valuable information to support Ministry wellness initiatives for children and youth. For further information please contact , the principal investigator, or , the Project Coordinator.