Present and Prevent

Present and Prevent is a minimum intervention (MI) program that aims to prevent teen obesity. It utilizes a PowerPoint program presented in two 30-minute slots covering material on the causes of obesity, the importance of avoiding obesity, and how to change unhealthful habits. Present and Prevent intends to change attitudes toward health maintenance, emphasize the importance that friends and family place on maintaining a healthy body weight, and promote behavioral intentions of living a healthier lifestyle amongst teens. This program targets teens to promote healthy habits that last in efforts of reducing teen obesity and preventing adult obesity in the future.

The program facilitators were made up of thirty-three health teachers who were trained to use the Present and Prevent MI and administer the evaluation protocol. The intervention was implemented in Florida high school classrooms over the course of one week during regularly scheduled health classes. The PowerPoint presentations provided information to increase nutrition knowledge, create positive attitudes toward maintaining healthy body weight, discuss subjective norms, and change behavioral intentions to improve nutritional intake.

The purpose of Present and Prevent is to educate teens about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent obesity.

A randomized control trial was conducted at the school level to evaluate Present and Prevent. Fourteen demographically similar schools throughout Florida were selected; seven schools were randomly assigned to be in the experimental group, while the other seven were designated to be in the delayed treatment (control) group. The study population consisted of 880 teens—551 in the experimental group and 329 in the control group.

The program analyzed changes in nutrition knowledge, attitudes and intentions of maintaining healthy weight, and peer and family influences on health. A matched-pairs test was conducted to assess within-group changes and a 2-sample t-test was used for between-group changes. The study demonstrated that Present and Prevent had a positive effect on improvement in the mean percentage correct on the knowledge portion of the posttest compared to the pretest in the experimental group and the posttests between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.001). Participants in the experimental group also significantly improved in behavioral intentions to be healthier (p < 0.001). These p-values indicate that the program resulted in a significant increase in health knowledge and behavioral intentions within and between groups.

Results indicated that the program had no significant effect on attitudes, but the percentage of experimental participants that responded and said they were likely to change their eating habits or maintain healthy body weight for family and friends increased significantly (p < 0.001). From these results, we see that the program’s goals of educating teens about the importance of maintaining good health and improving attitudes about living healthier lifestyles were successful and that this program is indeed, a promising practice.