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HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM1
Healthy Days: Children’s Public Health Program
Tabitha Squires
Grand Canyon University: HCA 699
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM2
Table of Contents
Healthy Days
Part 1: Introduction
I. Abstract 3
II. Problem Description 4
Part 2: Problem Evidence and Solution
III. Literature Support 5
IV. Problem Solution 8
Part 3: Implementation of change
V. Change Model: Transtheoretical 10
VI. Implementation Plan 12
Part 4: Conclusion
VII. Data Evaluation of the Program 14
Part 5: References 16
Part 6: Appendices
A. Conceptual Model 19
B. Budget and Resource List 20
C. Timeline for Project Completion 21
D. Handout: Share with your family 23
E. Survey: Child 24
F. Survey: Parent/Guardian 25
G. Survey: Teacher 27
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM3
Abstract
Health education is lacking in America. Many adults could not tell you how long you
must wash your hands before they are truly clean; many could not tell you what a healthy food
choice may be over an unhealthy food choice. Educating adults can be very difficult; they have
busy life schedules and may be very stuck in what they believe already. Healthy Days is a
program in which nurses and university volunteers combine their efforts and education to
provide healthy education for elementary school children. To help with costs, many of these
volunteers donate not only their time, but their resources so that educational boards with respond
positively to the program and allow a greater expanse of health education for the children.
Research has shown that pediatric health education can have positive benefits not only on long
term health, but on current academics (Murray et al 2007). In alignment with goals from Healthy
People 2020, Healthy Days provides education on topics including: vaccinations and preventable
diseases, oral health, school violence, nutrition, exercise, mental health and general physical
cleanliness. All of this is done in a fun, hands on learning environment with tailored activities to
the children’s ages. Six stations are set up in color coding with one licensed nurse per station and
university volunteers to balance ratios of children to educator. By educating children, a new
generation of healthier, more public health minded individuals will be able to move forward in
America. In turn with creating a new generation of health minded children, it has also been
shown that children take their education home to those who give them health education (Brindal
et al 2012). The American children can create their own health campaign through health
education and turn to educating their parents and peers. This is marked by evaluations that are
given to the children, their parents and their teachers to not only remind them of what they
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM4
learned, but to capture the essence of what has been absorbed. This make the parents and
teachers more aware of how new, healthy behaviors are being formed with the child and more
aware of all healthy behaviors. With this program, future health costs can decrease as education,
awareness and self-reliance on healthcare increases.
Problem Description
In the last 30 years, childhood obesity has more than doubled and in all adolescents it has
increased four-fold (CDC 2014). The habits that are learned in childhood affect the way that a
person makes decisions later in life (Kuo et al 2012). Nutrition, oral health, vaccinations, mental
health and self-concept, physical exercise, sleep information and basic hygiene are all extremely
important factors of a healthy human being, but are under taught to children when they are
learning to make the habits that they will keep later in years. Many studies show that health
education during elementary school years make improvements to many factors of a child’s life,
but many educational directors do not count health education among the top needs for a child’s
well-being (Alkon et al 2008) even though “healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and
physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases” (CDC
2014). Programs like the Let’s Move! campaign work on solving the obesity epidemic in
children, but does not often hit where a child is the most often- school (Let’s Move! 2014) and
the program does not hit all areas of healthy living. Parents, educators, children, doctors and
entire communities can benefit from introducing health education to elementary school students
in a fun, engaging way that will help the information stick.
Through a program called Health Days, elementary school students get to see health
education in a fun light and outside of the classroom. Set up like a fair, multiple booths are
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM5
arranged with hands-on activities to help children take their knowledge into their own hands.
The program only takes one half day out of the teacher’s busy schedules and then one half day
for review of what the children learned. Nurses and health educators will be present as
volunteers to the program at no cost to the school and the research shows that the health
education helps to create better academic individuals for their educational environments (Murray
et al 2007). By introducing the education from these professionals in a comfortable and already
trusted environment, students may be more susceptible to taking in the information. Hands on
activities will help to engage the children instead of preaching more education to them and
teachers will be able to be involved, but not responsible for the program. After the half day of
exercises, a group discussion in the student’s classroom will help to create peer bonding over the
information that they hopefully find interesting and fun. A survey of what had been learned will
be passed out at this time to understand how well the children retained the information and where
the program may need to adjust. After two months, a survey will be administered to the teachers
and the parents of the children involved to measure if the child has made any change to their
behaviors. If the program follows the current literature, academics may increase in students and
healthier choices will be made in both the home and at school. Parents may also benefit from the
information that the children bring home, thus creating a healthier and happier community.
Literature Support
Much of what a person learns as habits and as lessons is learned while as a child (Kuo et
al 2012). Childhood obesity has now grown significantly in the last 30 years to nearly four times
what it was in the past (CDC 2014). This parallels the dramatic increase of adult obesity that is
seen in America If children are not taught healthy habits, then they do not carry these healthy
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM6
habits into adulthood. Literature supports that learning health habits and lessons while young
will positively change how the child grows and develops as long as there are support systems in
place for that child to have beneficial change. To be able to find literature to support this
program, “health education” and “elementary school” were key words in the Grand Canyon
University database that pulled a significant, if wide variety, of studies that listed studies on the
impact of health education, nutrition programs, educator’s perspectives and child perspectives on
education in relation to health. Each of these studies was peer-reviewed and had a combination
of quantitative and qualitative measures of analysis.
Introducing healthy behaviors and lessons through the school system is one of the easiest
and most effective ways to get the lesson out to children of varying backgrounds and
socioeconomic levels. Teachers are a large support system to a growing child. How a teacher
perceives health education is vital to how the healthy days program will work. A questionnaire
was given in Kuwait to more than 250 kindergarten teachers and asked them to describe their
views on health education (Al-amari 2012). Effectiveness and perception of importance were
laid out on a sliding scale for the teachers and a percentage, mean and standard deviation were
found of the scores that were written. The socioeconomic, experience and educational gaps in
the teachers’ own experiences related with how important they found health education to be for
the kindergarteners (Al-amari 2012). Teachers that were in urban areas, that had a bachelor’s
degree and that had more experience teaching found that health education was beneficial. The
sample size was small, did not include teachers of higher grade levels and was in a different
country than America, but the results did show that teachers that knew more about teaching
found a positive benefit in health education for their children.
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM7
Healthy behaviors in the Healthy Days program would not be limited to nutrition
programs, because that is not the only method of being healthy. A healthy self-image and levels
of anxiety are critical for positive childhood development. A study was aimed at examining
health education on these factors to 120 elementary aged students where they were given one
lesson a week for 10 weeks (Bektas et al 2008). The data that was collected used the Positive
Health Behaviors Scale, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory. Each of these scales had pretest and posttest numbers with a mean and
standard deviation and the numbers were posted alongside the control group. The education
given to the children showed statistically significant changes to healthy behaviors and anxiety
levels, but did not show a difference to their self-concept. This study was a longer mode of
education and in Turkey, but the developments of the study were sound and had statistical
significance.
Another longitudinal study based over four years follows the Children’s Health
Interventional Trial (the CHILT project) that combined physical activity and health education on
obesity for German children in 2008 (Graf et al 2008). Control schools were used and
anthropometric data were recorded to test physical performance and obesity in the schools with
the program. All data was adjusted for age, sex, baseline results and the child’s body mass index
after the final exam. Although in this study obesity was not effects, there was a statistical
improvement in physical performance with the children. The article does not go into depth on
what exactly was in the program to move the study along for the four years except to state that
there were “four years [of] comprised sessions aimed at promoting health and physical activity”
(Graf et al 2008). The tests of the physical activity go into great depth on how exactly the
children were measured to show any change from the program. It is specifically laid out the
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM8
multivariate analysis of covariance to compare the different characteristics of the children. The
study is over a much longer period of time than the Healthy Days program and is also set in a
different country than America.
Although there are no studies that show any significance of a one day immersive
program, there is significant evidence that health education for an elementary student will
positively benefit the child as they grow. Each of the literature chosen to support this was
validated by peers, chosen from multiple different countries and has different lengths. Both
educators and children were studied both quantitatively and qualitatively to measure the benefits
and all the literature that has been studied all point to a statistically significant rate of positive
change in a child’s development when health education is introduced to them at a young age.
Problem Solution
With the ongoing childhood epidemic of obesity and the lack of overall, holistic health
knowledge by a large population of the country, a solution needs to replace the problem. Ever
increasing evidence has been found for childhood education in health and one of the post popular
ways to engage children in education is to allow them to be involved. A hands-on, fun,
educational event could help to engage and teach children to understand the importance of public
health, but also bring home ideas to their families that can support the increase of health in the
community. This program would include some of the most important subjects that a child should
have knowledge about for a healthy lifestyle, including: increasing oral health, childhood
diabetes, sleep, vaccinations, children with asthma and multiple afflictions in childhood health
(Kuo et al 2012). Physical health would not be the only subject as mental health is not often
addressed at such a young age and in order to decrease socioeconomic and developmental gaps
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM9
throughout a child’s lifetime that more focus needs to be made to diagnose mental health
problems earlier in life (Salm & Schunk 2012). If there is significant interest in the public health
programs by the educational leadership, which is shown in educators with higher education and
more experience teaching (Al-amari 2012), then these programs can be integrated into the
teaching curriculum to increase exposure to public health. Even though one day exposure to
health programs does not have research behind it supporting a positive change, public health
programs for children are shown to increase academics, parental involvement (Murray et al
2007), and perspectives on what is health versus what is not healthy (Brindal et al 2012). A one
day event does not take much time out of an educational curriculum and with the support of
experienced educators and the Bellingham community’s strong health focused mind set (Gallup
and Healthways 2014), Healthy Days could bring a positive benefit to the elementary schools of
this community.
Not all of the project will be focused on educating children, but also very strongly about
educating educators. It will be difficult to win the support of educators if the program does focus
on their direct concerns, which include hygiene and hand washing, sanitation, supervision, and
the safety of indoor and outdoor equipment (Alkon et al 2008). A holistic and expansive program
that covers education needs just as much and education wants will be the only way to win over
the approval of directors, so integrating their wants in the program will be beneficial to allowing
the program to move forward. It will help that each of the booths (with each of their topics) will
be manned by public health volunteers who have already been confirmed. These volunteers
include pre-med focused college students from the nearby university and LPNs/RNs from some
of the local clinics who believe in the cause. Because there is no added strain to the educators,
the program should have fewer barriers than if there needed stronger educator involvement.
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM10
Each of the children will be focused upon in small groups at each education station so that the
maximum about of hands on experience can be given. If each child finds involvement and fun in
at least a few of the stations, it is hoped that the child will carry that knowledge forward and take
that knowledge home to share with that child’s family. The more families that learn from this
experience, the healthier the community may become and the healthier the community becomes,
the better overall quality of life and quality of health care will develop.
Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change
The transtheoretical model of behavioral change measures a person’s ability to work towards a
newer, better, more healthy behavior and goal (Prochaska et al 2008). The model provides
strategies of change to help the individual through each stage of the process. There are four
stages to the process that include: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action,
maintenance and termination. These steps can be applied to the children that will participate in
the Healthy Days program. Although it is an advanced change model, children could fit into
each of the stages by breaking down how each of the stages slowly change a person’s state of
development.
Precontemplation means that the child is not yet ready to change (Prochaska et al 1994). The
child is not ready to start or even intends to change the behavior that they are currently
exhibiting. This is where the child is before Healthy Days has even been brought to the school
board. There is no awareness yet that anything the child is currently doing may be exhibited as
unhealthy behavior and they are most likely working from behaviors that have been learned from
their parents.
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM11
Contemplation would start when Healthy Days has been introduced to the school board. The
children may know that an event will be coming at some point in time in the year and teachers
may start to talk about some of the topics that may be covered in the program. Usually in this
stage, the children start to understand what may or may not be considered healthy behavior-
possibly learned from school work or from television programs.
Preparation would start when the teachers are beginning to take action for the students. They are
encouraged to talk about healthy behaviors and topics that would not interfere with the student’s
lesson plans, but may help to better them in small ways- like washing their hands regularly.
Children may be able to see the kind of person that they could become if they were to change
some of their behaviors. It could be suggested that they could be a great athlete if they started
doing regular physical exercise. It would be tailored to the child’s understanding of goals.
Action includes Healthy Days. The behaviors of oral and other physical hygiene, athletics,
nutrition and other topics would be addressed during the program and would be taught in a way
that is action-oriented, hands-on and inclusive. They are encouraged to bring home their
knowledge to their friends and family and participate in fun, healthy activities at home.
Maintenance is a stage that is half a year out from the Healthy Days program. If the program
succeeds, it will shed light on situations that may allow the child to slide back into unhealthy
behaviors. This is why it is heavily encouraged that family members are involved in the process,
because awareness can open doors for children, but participation is how to maintain healthy
behaviors. This will be assessed by a qualitative review by child, teacher and parent on the
behaviors that have been positively affected by the Healthy Days program.
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM12
Termination includes a child never returning to a previous unhealthy behavior and will
not be able to be determined by this program as it is too far in the future to be able to be
measured. It is hoped that at least one unhealthy behavior would fall from a child’s daily life by
awareness, but at any time in the child’s growth, there are many factors that could lead a child
back to unhealthy behaviors. It is critical that there is involvement from parents, friends and
teachers so that the child feels supported in any choices that he or she may make to better their
health
Implementation Plan
To be able to fully implement Healthy Days into more than a beneficial concept, an
implementation plan must occur. Implementation includes the potential volunteers that would be
part of the Healthy Days program, how much time would be needed in order to complete this
project, what resources may be needed in order to move the project forward and how the
measurement of success can be developed in order to prove a positive change from this program.
With extensive literature review, volunteers including RNs, LPNs and health focused college
majors have already expressed interest in the involvement of Healthy Days. Changing childhood
lives for a better and healthier future as drawn interest from many parties after the literature
review shows positive benefits in academics (Murray et al 2007), physical fitness (Graf et al
2008) and mental health (Salm & Schunk 2012). Without volunteers being a barrier, the largest
barriers include the school system. Getting a foot in the door with the educational departments
to help their children will be the largest factor in Healthy Days’ ability to develop. A very small
budget will be necessary and the budget outline has been created. With a large volunteer base
and a willing school system that allows for a budge-free setting, the education will be of very
little cost to the educational directors involved.
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM13
The timeline for Healthy Days includes a two month long intervention including research
into any necessary qualifications to provide education to children, school accommodations,
research other programs that are introduced into elementary schools to find constraints of
attention and timing and proposals to the educational board. Volunteers have offered their time
and submitted in their passions that they would most like to be included in. Each group would
be trained in a particular field of interest including oral and physical hygiene, physical activity,
nutrition, mental health and stress management, sleep, vaccinations and safety. These include
the top health concerns with educational directors (Alkon et al 2008) and concerns of the
volunteers (including the medical professionals) who believed that children would most benefit
from this knowledge early in life. This relationship of top educational director concerns and
concerns of medical professionals should help to overcome barriers that may stand in the way of
Healthy Days’ success. Introducing these concerns with a volunteer based solution should help
to overcome fiscal challenges that may be addressed.
Due to the lack of sexual education and possibly deemed inappropriate topics for the
youth, permission slips will not be needed, but teacher and educational involvement is incredibly
important. Questionnaires including the Positive Health Behaviors Scale, the Piers-Harris
Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory will be given in a less
advanced form to the children to see the longitudinal benefit of the Healthy Days program and
will also be given to the parents and teachers who may observe more healthy behaviors. These,
mostly qualitative studies, will be able to be transformed into quantitative data that can be
presented to other schools to greater benefit the population of children. Because we are taking
very little from the educational plans that are created and have the ability to integrate already
created educational goals, the Healthy Days program is extremely feasible if it is able to be
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM14
presented to the educational board with the extensive literature benefits that it has shown. If no
benefit is found from the collected data, a more extensive program could be considered that
would include the integration of elementary school teachers to help benefit their children.
Data Evaluation
Elementary aged students are constantly growing and evolving. New information is
constantly introduced to their lives and new choices and behaviors are formed off of that new
information. In order to track what information is being transformed into behaviors, a qualitative
study is a better measurement of growth and growth potential. After the Healthy Days program,
the children will be given surveys on what they learned. This will help to understand what the
child pulled from the program and what they found interesting in an attempt to develop more
information around those topics. After one month, parents and teachers will be given a survey
that is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative measures that will focus on behaviors that the
parents and teachers may have observed in the students. There will be questions on if they have
noticed an increase of hand washing, or oral health, or choices of healthy foods in numerical
values of up to 5 with five being a dramatic increase and 1 being no change or a decrease. The
children will also be given a survey to ask what they remember from healthy days and if they
taught anyone else about what they learned. After 3 months, all the groups will be given another
survey to test the longevity of the study and see if the ideals from healthy days are sticking with
the children.
Because there is no previous data to compare to, most of the data will be pulled as
opinions and qualitative analysis. If a majority of parents and teachers see at least one trait
increase then it can be assumed that Healthy Days may have made an impact. It is difficult to
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM15
test the validity of this study as the data will be gathered through pure opinion and other outside
forces of health education may play in to the child’s knowledge. With specific hands on
programming it is predicted that the children will remember the specific activity and associate it
with a healthy, every day activity and this may be brought up in the child specific survey. The
repetition of the surveys will hope to test reliability of the information to see if the program has a
message that sticks with the children and also to see if both parents and teachers see a
progression in the behaviors that are associated with Healthy Days. If the program proves a
success, a more in depth program could arise and the information would be incredibly beneficial
to elementary schools that could use the information to help adapt their learning modules. If
parents and teachers prove that the education has made any impact in the child’s life in a positive
way, it is hoped that health education will become a much more sought after knowledge for the
elementary aged students.
If Healthy Days has no positive impact on any health based behaviors for the children, or
show to affect very few, then Healthy Days would need to adjust to a much larger program.
Other studies that have positive results have introduced education over weeks at a time (Bektas
et al 2008), (Graf et al 2008). This would be a more expensive endeavor and may be much more
difficult to sell to educational leaders. It would then help curb future research into understanding
how much information is needed to make a positive difference into a child’s life. If it was more
successful, it could also lead to more research focused on hands on activities and involving
children to teach their parents. Healthy Days has a lot of future research potential if it shows
positive or a lack of impact on a child’s life and could even be very beneficial to outside fields
including psychology and anthropology. With little risk involved and involvement from outside
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM16
forces, Healthy Days could be a very positive program that could open many more doors in
creating a healthier tomorrow.
References
Alkon, A., Kim, T., Mackie, J. F., Wolff, M., & Bernzweig, J. (2010). Health and Safety Needs
in Early Care and Education Programs: What do Directors, Child Health Records, and
National Standards Tell Us?. Public Health Nursing, 27(1), 3-16. doi:10.1111/j.1525-
1446.2009.00821.
Al-amari, H. (2012). Perception of teachers on health education & nutrition for kindergarten
students in kuwait. College Student Journal, 46(3), 543-549.
Bektas, M., & Ozturk, C. (2008). Effect of health promotion education on presence of positive
health behaviors, level of anxiety and self-concept. Social Behavior & Personality: An
International Journal, 36(5), 681-690.
Brindal, E., Hendrie, G., Thompson, K., & Blunden, S. (2012). How Do Australian Junior
Primary School Children Perceive the Concepts of "Healthy" and "Unhealthy?". Health
Education, 112(5), 406-420.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) Childhood Obesity Facts. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
Cooper, A. (2011). Lunch Lessons. Educational Leadership, 68(8), 75-78.
Gallup, Healthways (2014) State of American Well-Being. Retreieved from http://cdn2.
hubspot.net/hub/162029/file-610480715-pdf/WBI2013/Gallup-
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM17
Healthways_State_of _American_Well Being_Full_Report_2013.pdf?
&__hssc=242697629.2.13958389
82310&__hstc=242697629.4e63991564d3d75ca45008aafeaa0d2e.1392902886319.
1392902886319.1395838982310.2&hsCtaTracking=a706f830-bf12-4782-8a6e-
51fc2e144974|19bf7b53-67e4-425c-8245-3192cae5cf6d
Graf, C., Koch, B., Falkowski, G., Jouck, S., Christ, H., Staudenmaier, K., & ... Dordel, S.
(2008). School-based prevention: Effects on obesity and physical performance after 4
years. Journal Of Sports Sciences, 26(10), 987-994
Kuo, A. A., Etzel, R. A., Chilton, L. A., Watson, C., & Gorski, P. A. (2012). Primary Care
Pediatrics and Public Health: Meeting the Needs of Today's Children. American Journal
Of Public Health, 102(12), e17-e23.
Miller, J., Graham, L., & Pennington, J. (2013). The nexus of knowledge and behavior for
school-aged children: implementation of Health Education Programs and a Nutritional
Symbol System. Asia-Pacific Journal Of Health, Sport & Physical Education,
4(3), 217- 234.
Murray, N. G., Low, B. J., Hollis, C., Cross, A. W., & Davis, S. M. (2007). Coordinated School
Health Programs and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
Journal Of School Health, 77(9), 589-600.
Prochaska, Butterworth, Redding, Burden, Perrin, Leo, Flaherty-Robb.( 2008) Initial efficacy of
MI, TTM tailoring and HRI's with multiple behaviors for employee health promotion.
Prev Med 2008 Mar;46(3):226–31
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM18
Prochaska, Norcross, DiClemente, (1994) Changing for good: the revolutionary program that
explains the six stages of change and teaches you how to free yourself from bad habits.
Salm, M., & Schunk, D. (2012). The relationship between child health, developmental gaps, and
parental education: evidence from administrative data. Journal Of The European
Economic Association, 10(6), 1425-1449. doi:10.1111/j.1542-
4774.2012.01089
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM19
Appendix A: Conceptual Model
Healthy Days is set up for a kindergarten through second grade program to take up half of a
school day at about three hours. The program is broken up into six stations of 20 minute
presentations and hands-on activities that are each manned by a license nurse who has
volunteered their time and education for the program. Each station also has two university
volunteers from the pre-medical and education programs to help with the ratios of children. The
kids will be broken into six equal groups and will be assigned a starting color. At the end of
each presentation and activity, they will move to the next group, with a three minute transition
Nutrition (Alicia, LPN)
Oral and Physical Hygiene
(Nadine, RN)
Physical Exercise
(Megan, RN)
Mental Health and Stress Awareness (Juliann, RN
MPH)
Disease Management (Heather LPN)
Safety (Julie, RN)
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM20
and settling time. The stations will be set in the elementary school’s gymnasium which is set to
have enough room for all six grades of elementary aged students. This will allow plenty of room
for the fluid movement of three of the grades. In their given hand out, the child will write or
draw a picture of something they learned in each section.
Appendix B: Budget and Resource List
Healthy Days is heavily based on volunteer work and will need no salaries for each of the
volunteers. Many of the volunteers have already pledged to donate many of the supplies for the
program to make it more enticing for the educational boards.
Six RNs and LPNs for each of the stations: Volunteer
Twelve Pre-Medical and Education students from the University: Volunteer
Resources for Nutrition section (including bread, cereal boxes, etc): Donated by Alicia, LPN
Resources for Oral and Physical Hygiene (soap, toothbrushes, floss, etc): Donated by Family
Care Network and Smile Bright
Resources for Physical Exercise (hoola-hoops, jump ropes, weight ball, etc): Borrowed from
Physical Education department in elementary school
Resources for Mental Health and Stress Awareness (squeeze ball, coloring crayons, etc):
Donated from Western Washington University’s Wellness Outreach Center
Resources for Disease Management (syringe with no needle, soccer ball, etc): Donated by
Family Care Network and borrowed from physical education department of school
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM21
Resource for Safety (cones, vests, flashlights, stop sign): Borrowed from fifth grade crossing
guard program and donated by Julie, RN
The only budget necessary would be for paper and ink to make charts, posters, surveys and
handouts and that budget is approximately $100.00.
Appendix C: Timeline
Time line on starting up the project:
Task Name DurationHealthy Days 72 daysPhase 1 – Strategic Plan 30 daysCreate the idea FinishedResearch Information on health education in elementary schools 10 daysDefine the need FinishedResearch clinics that will offer healthcare and vaccines 1 dayInterview teachers and their opinions on the need 5 daysIdentify needed resources 2 daysResearch free immunization programs 1 dayEvaluate Educational Approach FinishedNarrow down focus for each station 1 dayWrite a summary on all current research on children’s health education 1 daySummarize project plan into an executive summary 1 dayEvaluate Potential Risks FinishedSpeak to educational administrators about the legalities and restrictions of health education 2 days
Research into any necessary qualifications to provide education to children 1 dayResearch laws of educational standards to know what information would be prohibited from sharing 1 day
Research other programs that are introduced into elementary schools to find constraints of attention and timing 2 days
Determine financial requirements 2 daysReview and modify the strategic plan 1 dayPhase 2 – Creating the project 20 daysDefine the Areas of Focus FinishedSummarize all fields of focus for stations 1 dayTalk to teachers about what is currently in curriculum 2 days
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM22
Create child friendly pamphlets on each focus station 5 daysSummarize hands on activities for each focus station 2 daysIdentify Needed Materials and Personnel FinishedIdentify staffing requirements 1 dayContact WWU education department about clubs and those who wish to volunteer 3 days
Write a speech and presentation to recruit volunteers 2 daysIdentify needs for Nurses/ Clinical Staff 1 dayAsk for nursing volunteers at work 3 daysIdentify needed raw materials 1 dayIdentify needed utilities 1 daySummarize operating expenses and financial projections 1 dayEvaluate Potential Risks FinishedWrite up and evaluate parental permission slips Not NeededAssess needed resources availability through the elementary school 2 daysCreate financial plan for resources not provided by the school 2 daysReview and modify the project with adviser 2 daysPhase 3 – Getting necessary resources 16 daysGrant Proposal for paper funds 10 daysDescribe the vision and strategy 1 dayResearch grant writing 1 dayDescribe the need and summarize previous interviews with educators 1 dayWrite a grant proposal for the project 1 dayWrite a financial summary on how health education can decrease future healthcare costs 1 day
Write up program summary with financial summary for the school board 1 dayDescribe risks and opportunities 2 daysPhase 4 – Proceed With Startup Plan 12 daysChoose a school 1 dayAction Plan 15 daysTraining 1 dayWrite up volunteer training 1 dayTrain volunteers 2 daysWrite up educator training 1 dayTrain the educators 2 daysLogistics 3 daysCreate a proposed floor plan layout 1 dayWrite up logistics on student numbers FinishedAssign each volunteer a station FinishedWrite up a timeline for each individual station 1 day
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM23
Create the activity for each station 4 daysCreate time restriction for each station FinishedAssign volunteers to crowd control and maneuverability 1 dayProvide Materials Needed 7 daysGive hard materials to each volunteer specifically 1 daySet up day of set-up crew of volunteers 1 dayEstablish necessary timeline 1 dayHave a great time educating kids! 1 day
Appendix D: Handout
Today I learned to be HEALTHY!
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM24
Appendix E: Child Survey
HEALTHY DAYS TAUGHT ME:
My favorite thing:
Nutrition:
Hygiene:
Exercise:
Stress:
Diseases:
Safety:
Let me teach you what I learned!
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM25
MY FAVORITE PART OF HEALTHY DAYS WAS:
I TAUGHT MY _______________ TO DO THIS:
I THINK THAT I AM HEALTHY:
Appendix F: Parent Survey
Your child attended our Health Days seminar and learned great ways of being heathy; it would
be great if you could tell us how you believe that Healthy Days may have helped them!
Please circle 1 through 5. 1 being “definitely not” and 5 being “absolutely!”
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM26
Nutrition:
My child helps to choose healthy foods 1 2 3 4 5
My child knows what foods are healthy 1 2 3 4 5
I have seen an increase of knowledge about eating healthy food
1 2 3 4 5
Oral Health and Hygiene:
My child washes their hands often 1 2 3 4 5
My child makes sure to brush and floss every day 1 2 3 4 5
I have seen an increase of knowledge about hygiene 1 2 3 4 5
Physical exercise:
My child plays a physical activity every day 1 2 3 4 5
My child knows that physical activity is healthy 1 2 3 4 5
I have seen an increase of physical activity in my child 1 2 3 4 5
Stress Management:
My child understands when their emotions are difficult 1 2 3 4 5
My child tries to explain how they are feeling 1 2 3 4 5
I have seen an increase of stress management in my child 1 2 3 4 5
Diseases:
My child understands how you can get sick 1 2 3 4 5
My child knows what diseases can be prevented 1 2 3 4 5
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM27
I have seen an increase in knowledge about diseases in my child
1 2 3 4 5
Safety:
My child knows to not run too far away from supervision 1 2 3 4 5
My child knows not to talk to strangers 1 2 3 4 5
I have seen an increase of safe behaviors from my child 1 2 3 4 5
My child taught me:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Please return this survey to your child’s teacher by ____________________________________
Appendix G: Teacher Survey
As an ongoing help to understand how we can best benefit your students, please fill out this
survey addressing how Healthy Days may have helped students in your classroom.
Please circle 1 through 5. 1 being “definitely not” and 5 being “absolutely!”
HEALTHY DAYS: CHILDREN’S PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM28
I found Healthy Days to be informative to my students: 1 2 3 4 5
My students talked about the activities that they liked during Healthy Days:
1 2 3 4 5
I have been able to see improvement in healthy behaviors: 1 2 3 4 5
My students tried to teach me something that they learned from Healthy Days:
1 2 3 4
5
I believe that the most beneficial lesson was:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I have seen the most increase in these healthy behaviors:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I feel that being healthy is positive for my students in all aspects of life:
1 2 3 4 5
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