A formative evaluation of the SWITCH® obesity prevention program: print versus online programming

Abstract

Background: SWITCH® is an evidence-based childhood obesity prevention program that works through schools to impact parenting practices. The present study was designed as a formative evaluation to test whether an online version of SWITCH® would work equivalently as the established print version.

Methods: Ten elementary schools were matched by socio-economic status and randomly assigned to receive either the print (n = 5) or online (n = 5) version. A total of 211 children from 22, 3(rd) grade classrooms were guided through the 4 month program by a team of program leaders working in cooperation with the classroom teachers. Children were tasked with completing weekly SWITCH® Trackers with their parents to monitor goal setting efforts in showing positive Do (≥60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity), View (≤2 hours of screen time), and Chew (≥5 servings of fruits and vegetables) behaviors on each day. A total of 91 parents completed a brief survey to assess project-specific interactions with their child and the impact on their behaviors.

Results: The majority of parents (93.2%) reported satisfactory experiences with either the online or print SWITCH® program. The return rate for the SWITCH® Trackers was higher (42.5% ± 11%) from the print schools compared to the online schools (27.4% ± 10.9%). District program managers rated the level of teacher engagement in regards to program facilitation and the results showed a higher Trackers return rate in the highly engaged schools (38.5% ± 13.3%) than the lowly engaged schools (28.6 ± 11.9%). No significant differences were observed in parent/child interactions or reported behavior change (ps > .05) suggesting the equivalence in intervention effect for print and online versions of the SWITCH® program.

Conclusions: The findings support the utility of the online SWITCH® platform but school-based modules are needed to facilitate broader school engagement by classroom teachers and PE teachers.

Keywords: Behavior; Childhood obesity; Intervention; School health.

Figure 1

Weekly (Week 1–16) Tracker return rate throughout the SWITCH® Intervention. Both print and online groups witnessed a weekly decline trend for Tracker return rate, but the online group had a greater decline.

Figure 2

School enrollment size (left Y-axis) and Tracker return rate (right Y-axis) between schools with lowly and highly engaged teachers. The higher level of teacher engagement was associated with higher student enrollment in the SWITCH® program and higher Tracker return rate.