Evaluating the Efficacy of Chief Tree Resources as an Early Childhood Intervention for Improving the Adoption of Healthier Eating Habits in Saint Lucia

This paper examines the efficacy of Chief Tree resources (reading book, teacher’s guide, jingle and video clip), developed by Saint Lucian Preschool Administrator Petra Auguste, in the adoption of healthier eating habits by pre-schoolers in Saint Lucia. Specifically, the paper validates the Chief Tree resource as a useful tool in encouraging the adoption of healthier eating behaviour and habits by positively influencing nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAPs) of children in Saint Lucia. This area of focus is motivated by the alarming increase in incidences of obesity and chronic, non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) among children in Saint Lucia. A survey of pre-school children and their parents was conducted sequentially in tangent with the introduction of Chief Tree resources to test for correlation with positive changes in KAPs. The survey findings give evidence that the introduction and use of Chief Tree resources at the pre-school stage contributes to: • Positive changes in students’ nutrition knowledge and attitude, and in nutrition attitude by parents; • Positive changes in the awareness of, as well as, diminished preference for unhealthy foods by students; and • An increase in the frequency of consumption of healthy foods at home. In effect, this paper sheds light on Chief Tree as a useful approach for promoting the adoption of healthy dietary practices among the young while also positively influencing parents’ behaviour (and ultimately decisions) in the home on nutrition.