Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Jul 16;9(4):669-681.
doi: 10.1093/tbm/iby082.

Using a social marketing approach to develop Healthy Me, Healthy We: a nutrition and physical activity intervention in early care and education

Amber E Vaughn  1 , Rachel Bartlett  1 , Courtney T Luecking  2 , Heidi Hennink-Kaminski  3 , Dianne S Ward  1   2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Using a social marketing approach to develop Healthy Me, Healthy We: a nutrition and physical activity intervention in early care and education

Amber E Vaughn et al. Transl Behav Med. .

Abstract

Although social marketing principles have been successfully employed in school-based interventions to prevent obesity, use in early care and education (ECE) settings has been limited. This paper describes the use of the social marketing approach to develop an ECE-based intervention that encourages an ECE provider-parent partnership to improve the quality of preschool children's diets and their level of physical activity. A six-step social marketing approach for public health interventions guided the development of this ECE-based intervention. These steps were as follows: (i) initial planning, (ii) formative research, (iii) strategy development, (iv) program development, (v) implementation, and (vi) monitoring and evaluation. During this process, we reviewed current literature, conducted focus groups with ECE providers and parents, developed a detailed conceptual model and content map, created and tested the campaign concept, and developed final campaign materials along with strategies for its implementation. The final intervention resulting from this process was an 8-month campaign known as Healthy Me, Healthy We. The campaign is delivered by the child care center and includes branded materials for use in the classroom and at home. The final campaign is being evaluated in a cluster-randomized trial. Healthy Me, Healthy We offers an innovative approach to promoting healthy eating and physical activity during early childhood, a key developmental period, that leverages partnership between ECE providers and parents to affect behavior change.

Keywords: Child care; Diet; Healthy behaviors; Physical activity; Social marketing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1 |
Fig 1 |
Conceptual model developed for the Healthy Me, Healthy We campaign including the target behaviors and behavioral determinants for children, providers, and parents.
Fig 2 |
Fig 2 |
Campaign positioning and campaign ecosystem created for Healthy Me, Healthy We.
Fig 3 |
Fig 3 |
Examples of the Activity Cue Cards, Our Turn Cards, and home activities from the Family Activity Guide linking the classroom and home.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Committee on Integrating the Science of Child Development. From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Child Development. Washington, DC:National Academies Press (US); 2000.
    1. Yanovski JA. Pediatric obesity. An introduction. Appetite. 2015;93:3–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hesketh K, Wake M, Waters E. Body mass index and parent-reported self-esteem in elementary school children: evidence for a causal relationship. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004;28(10):1233–1237. - PubMed
    1. Krukowski RA, West DS, Philyaw Perez A, Bursac Z, Phillips MM, Raczynski JM. Overweight children, weight-based teasing and academic performance. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2009;4(4):274–280. - PubMed
    1. Daniels SR, Arnett DK, Eckel RH, et al. . Overweight in children and adolescents: pathophysiology, consequences, prevention, and treatment. Circulation. 2005;111(15):1999–2012. - PubMed

Publication types