Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Animal and Nutritional Sciences

Abstract

Objective: The pilot study objective is to determine if blood pressure (BP) and perception of quality of life (QoL) in 9-10 y/o youth changes after a 12 week 6-session program focusing on culinary skills, family mealtime and physical activity. Methods: Pre-post treatment only assessments were collected at 0 and 4 months for child/adult dyads (n=49 dyads). Five states (ME, NE, SD, TN, WV) recruited and delivered 6 sessions every two weeks that focused on increasing cooking skills, family mealtime, and physical activity. During BP assessments, each child had an initial rest of 5 min with 2 min rest between measurements using a digital Omron BP machine with averages recorded. The Peds-QL tool assessed perceived QoL in youth related to their functioning physically, emotionally, and socially. Results: At baseline, 93% (n=45) of participants had normal BP and 6% (n=3) were pre-hypertensive. At 4-month post assessment (n=43), 91% (n=39) had normal BP and 7% (n=4) were pre-hypertensive. Significant differences were seen in QoL between pre and post-measurements (mean difference = -0.284; p<0.01), indicating the perception of QoL increased. No correlations were seen between QoL and BP at pre- or post-test. Conclusions and Implications: While BP varied little from pre to post, QoL increased over the 4 month pilot study. However, based on findings, there was no correlation between BP and QoL, and the increase in QoL was not reflected in BP. Increased QoL could have a positive effect on systemic responses such as BP, but since most youth had normal BP, little effect would be expected.

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