Husky Reads Effectiveness in Increasing Produce Preference and Food Group Identification in Preschool Children

Plain-language summary

Since 1998, UCONN undergraduate students have volunteered as part of a service- learning course to deliver a program called Husky Reads. Inspired by the nationally accepted American Academy of Pediatrics' program "Reach Out and Read," Husky Reads was first designed for promotion of health, nutrition habits and literacy by reading health-oriented books to young children in pediatric and health clinics. The Husky Reads curriculum now includes a series of 10 lessons designed to introduce preschool-age children to MyPlate while improving fruit and vegetable literacy. Undergraduate students enrolled in the Husky Reads service- learning course at UConn or college students participating in the paid summer internship program deliver the preschool lessons. Each team of 2-3 undergraduate students is assigned 2-3 early care classrooms to visit and deliver Husky Reads lessons to on a weekly basis. This series targets children at an early age because early childhood is a pivotal time to influence the path towards healthy behaviors and away from obesity. The effectiveness of the Husky Reads curriculum on a preschool age child's correct identification and liking of fruits and vegetables has not been established. The proposed evaluation uses a pre-test/post- test control group design with paired data at the child level to explore whether children who participate in Husky Reads have increased odds of correctly identifying the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) "MyPlate" program (MyPlate) and food group concepts and trying or liking select fruits and vegetables.

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