Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE)

Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE)
Principal Investigator: Sally M. Davis, Ph.D.
Start and End Dates: 02/01/06– 01/31/09
Source of Funding: National Institutes of Health

The Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE) is now underway at the Prevention Research Center. CHILE aims to develop, implement, and evaluate a multidisciplinary, trans-community obesity prevention program among American Indian and Hispanic children ages 3 to 5 enrolled in Head Start programs in rural New Mexico. Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for low-income families. The project, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), is being implemented in sixteen Head Start centers in rural communities throughout the state. Half of the Head Start centers are receiving the CHILE intervention now and the second half will get the intervention beginning in Fall 2010.

During the next three years, the CHILE project team will conduct measurement at all sixteen participating Head Start sites. CHILE project staff will measure and weigh children at three points during each school year. CHILE will also measure children’s activity level, ascertain how much time they spend watching television, and determine how much and what kinds of foods children are eating at Head Start and at home. These measures will allow the CHILE Project team to determine whether CHILE is effective at increasing children’s physical activity, decreasing time spent watching television, increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and decreasing consumption of high-fat and high-sugar foods.

The CHILE intervention includes six components:

nutrition and physical activity-based curriculum/classroom intervention for Head Start children;
professional development in-service training for Head Start teachers;
regular training and support for Head Start cooks and food service staff;
a home and Head Start-based program for families;
inclusion of local health care providers as change agents and role models; and
community grocery store program to increase the availability and promotion of healthier food options.

CHILE presentations at Head Start Family Nights began in October 2007, and include information about child development, take home activities and games for parents to play with their children, and door prizes. The team has also begun working with Head Start cooks and food service staff, with owners and managers at community grocery stores, and with Head Start teachers and teacher assistants.

CHILE also forged a partnership with the YWCA’s Cariño program, which provides training to early childhood teachers through New Mexico’s Office of Child Development. Through this partnership, teachers who attend CHILE professional development workshops will receive credit toward their individual required hours for maintaining state licensure.

This project is managed by Beverly Diamond, DSW and four new, full-time employees joined the CHILE project in 2007. Courtney FitzGerald, MSSW, Meghan Erdman, MS, Bridgid Junot, MPH, and Christopher Cushing, MS will lend their expertise and dedication to advancing the project.

UNM Health Sciences Center March Feature:
Healthy Choices, Healthy Children

CHILE Project Contacts:

For more information about this project, please contact
Principal Investigator: Sally M. Davis, PhD., 505-272-4462, SDavis@salud.unm.edu.

Research Coordinator: Beverly Diamond, DSW, 505-272-4462, BDiamond@salud.unm.edu.