IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i17p6696-d1230436.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Teacher and Caregiver Perspectives on Water Is K’é: An Early Child Education Program to Promote Healthy Beverages among Navajo Children

Author

Listed:
  • Carmella B. Kahn

    (College of Population Health, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA)

  • Brianna John

    (Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
    Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Gallup, NM 87301, USA)

  • Sonya S. Shin

    (Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
    Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Gallup, NM 87301, USA)

  • Rachel Whitman

    (Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
    Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Gallup, NM 87301, USA)

  • Asia Soleil Yazzie

    (Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Gallup, NM 87301, USA)

  • Renee Goldtooth-Halwood

    (Notah Begay III Foundation, Albuquerque, NM 87004, USA)

  • Ken Hecht

    (Nutrition Policy Institute, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Oakland, CA 94607, USA)

  • Christina Hecht

    (Nutrition Policy Institute, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Oakland, CA 94607, USA)

  • Laura Vollmer

    (Nutrition Policy Institute, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Oakland, CA 94607, USA
    Cooperative Extension, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USA)

  • Malyssa Egge

    (Community Member, Bluff, UT 87512, USA)

  • Nora Nelson

    (DigDeep, Los Angeles, CA 90021, USA)

  • Kerlissa Bitah

    (T’iis Nazbas Community School, Teec Nos Pos, AZ 86514, USA)

  • Carmen George

    (Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
    Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Gallup, NM 87301, USA)

Abstract

The Water is K’é program was developed to increase water consumption and decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for young children and caregivers. The pilot program was successfully delivered by three Family and Child Education (FACE) programs on the Navajo Nation using a culturally centered curriculum between 2020 to 2022. The purpose of this research was to understand teacher and caregiver perspectives of program feasibility, acceptability, impact, and other factors influencing beverage behaviors due to the pilot program. Nine caregivers and teachers were interviewed between June 2022 and December 2022, and a study team of four, including three who self-identified as Navajo, analyzed the data using inductive thematic analysis and consensus building to agree on codes. Five themes emerged, including feasibility, acceptability, impact, suggestions for future use of the program, and external factors that influenced water consumption. The analysis showed stakeholders’ strong approval for continuing the program based on impact and acceptability, and identified factors that promote the program and barriers that can be addressed to make the program sustainable. Overall, the Water is K’é program and staff overcame many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic to support healthy behavior change that had a rippled influence among children, caregivers, teachers, and many others.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmella B. Kahn & Brianna John & Sonya S. Shin & Rachel Whitman & Asia Soleil Yazzie & Renee Goldtooth-Halwood & Ken Hecht & Christina Hecht & Laura Vollmer & Malyssa Egge & Nora Nelson & Kerlissa Bi, 2023. "Teacher and Caregiver Perspectives on Water Is K’é: An Early Child Education Program to Promote Healthy Beverages among Navajo Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6696-:d:1230436
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6696/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6696/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Brian Woodbury & Scott Ketchum & Vanessa Y. Hiratsuka & Paul Spicer, 2019. "Health-Related Participatory Research in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-26, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orly Stampfer & Gillian Mittelstaedt & Victoria Breckwich Vásquez & Catherine J. Karr, 2019. "Guidance for Genuine Collaboration: Insights from Academic, Tribal, and Community Partner Interviews on a New Research Partnership," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Neha A. John-Henderson & Benjamin J. Oosterhoff & Lester R. Johnson & Mary Ellen Lafromboise & Melveena Malatare & Emily Salois, 2022. "COVID-19 and food insecurity in the Blackfeet Tribal Community," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1337-1346, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6696-:d:1230436. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.