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J Community Health (2012) 37:19 DOI 10.1007/s10900-011-9387-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
High Five to Healthy Living: A Health Intervention Program for Youth at an Inner City Community Center
Ayanna D. Baker Jasen Gilley Jessica James
Maureen Kimani
Published online: 16 March 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Providing developmental programs to inner-city youth is a key component to promoting healthy lifestyles in urban communities. In this study, 46 adolescents, predominately African American youth (age 1114), participated in the High Five for Healthy Living hygiene intervention program hosted at the NFL Youth Education Town of the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta. Windshield surveys, key informant interviews and focus groups were conducted in order to identify the needs of the surrounding community and subsequently plan and implement a 5 week developmental module to meet these needs. Weekly modules were conducted focusing on oral hygiene, hand washing, physical activity, male/female personal hygiene, and nutrition/food safety. Surveys administered showed that a large percentage of students exhibited behavioral change following the completion of each module: 42% for oral hygiene, 88% for hand washing, 75% for physical activity, 88% for personal hygiene and 50% for nutrition/
food safety. From these ndings, it is evident that that African American adolescents can benet from developmental programs targeted to address their specic community needs, and as a result implement personal lifestyle changes. Such interventions could potentially decrease in the prevalence of certain preventable diseases endemic to many low socioeconomic inner city communities.
Keywords Inner city youth Hygiene
Low socioeconomic status Lifestyle changes
Introduction/Background
As part of the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA),the NFL Youth Education Town (YET) began as an initiative to expand the NFLs involvement in economically distressed communities. Research suggests that the youth are most vulnerable to gangs, violence, drugs, and other high-risk behavior following school dismissal. Therefore, it is essential to provide enjoyable and productive activities to the youth during after school hours. Providing developmental programs to metro Atlanta youth from disadvantaged circumstances is critical to their maturation into successful productive adults. According to Flay et al., Implementing preventative programs targeting high-risk behavior in the urban American youth reduces the rate of the acquisition of high risk behaviors.1 Furthermore, urban youth are at a greater risk of participating...