Great Sensations: A Program to Encourage Heart Healthy Snacking by High School Students

Abstract

The Great Sensations program consisted of three interrelated educational strategies--classroom instruction, parent outreach, and media campaign. These strategies were designed to teach inner-city high school students about salt and high blood pressure, and to encourage them to eat more low-salt snacks and fewer high-salt snacks. Eight classes at the experimental school were randomly assigned to class instruction or parent outreach in a factoral design. All students in the experimental school were exposed to the media campaign. Students at a nearby high school served as the comparison group. All but a few of the 490 students at the two schools were black. Students who received the classroom instruction reported lower Salty Snack selection and higher Target Snack selection at posttest and eight-week follow-up. Students receiving media only reported lower Salty Snack selection at posttest but this condition returned to baseline by eight weeks. The control group reported little change in snack selection at posttest and eight weeks. After six months, program effects were no longer evident for either experimental group.