Healthy Buddies™ is a unique, child-centred health promotion program targeting attitudes and behaviours around physical activity, healthy eating, healthy beverage consumption, healthy growth and development and healthy body image. It is comprehensive and multi-factorial! There are 21weekly age-appropriate Classroom-based lessons and 2 x weekly gym-time Fitness Loop activities included in the Program Resources. These lessons and activites are designed to educate and enthuse elementary school children about healthy living. The program slogan is “Go Move!”, “Go Fuel”, & “Go Feel Good!”. Students are taught that being healthy means often moving vigorously, eating nutritious foods and feeling good about yourself and your body.
The peer-teaching model intrinsic to the Program brings older students and younger students together to learn about and practice healthy living. In the first half of the year, students learn how to be positive buddies and about the three components critical to a healthy life. In the second half of the year, students learn to identify the challenges to living a healthy life and learn strategies to overcome these challenges, increasing the likelihood of healthy living success. Lifestyle topics such as reducing screen time and developing media literacy, are also covered in the Program.
Healthy Buddies™ was originally developed and conducted as a pilot study on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. from 2002-2004, funded by the Sick Kids Foundation. Students at one school received the program and were compared to students at another school who did not. All students were evaluated at the beginning and end of the school year. Evaluations included measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, and heart rate. Questionnaires assessed students’ knowledge about foods/beverages and activities, frequency of foods consumption, active/non-active behavioural frequency and general healthy living habits. Stock S, Miranda C, Evans S, Plessis S, Ridley J, Yeh S, Chanoine J-P. 2007. Healthy Buddies: a novel peer-led health promotion program for the prevention of obesity and eating disorders in children in elementary school. Pediatrics, 120 (4) pp. e1059-e1068. An online version of this article is located at http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/120/4/e1059 (top)