The Great Beginnings program: impact of a nutrition curriculum on nutrition knowledge, diet quality, and birth outcomes in pregnant and parenting teens.

摘要

A study was conducted to determine the impact of a nutrition curriculum for pregnant and parenting teens on nutrition knowledge, diet quality and birth outcomes using the Great Beginnings (GB) curriculum in USA. A total of 136 subjects in the experimental group receiving GB lessons and enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) were compared with three control groups. The first control group (C1) comprised of 65 pregnant adolescent WIC participantswho were not exposed to GB. The 2nd control group (C2) consisted of 50 nonpregnant high school students who received the GB curriculum. The 3rd control group (C3) was made up of 50 nonpregnant high school students who had no exposure to the curriculum atall. All subjects were below 20 years old at the time of the study. Findings revealed that the experimental group demonstrated significantly better outcomes in nutrition knowledge, maintenance of diet quality adequate for pregnancy, mean maternal weightgain and mean infant birth weight. When compared with the C1 group, the experimental group demonstrated a significantly better outcome in low birth weight incidence, nutrition knowledge and maintenance of diet quality adequate for pregnancy. Pregnant adolescents receiving the GB curriculum achieved healthier birth outcomes than those not receiving the curriculum.