Eagle Adventure

Students in grades 1-3 are the primary audience for EA in elementary school settings. Parents, family members, and teachers are the secondary audience. Settings: Tribal Reservations, Schools  Age/Population Group: Elementary School Race:  American Indian or Alaska Native Ethnicity: All

Discussions with school partners begin several months before implementation. Pre/Post in-school surveys are ideally administered 2 weeks before the play and 2 weeks after lesson 4. Following the play, there are 4 in-class lessons intended to be implemented 2 weeks apart. At each lesson, the educator assistant monitors classroom components to identify fidelity to process. Between each lesson, school announcements, take-home activities and social media connections are promoted to encourage education beyond the classroom. When possible, radio, news announcements and convenience store signage should be placed in places identified as important to the audience. Teacher evaluation and parent evaluation should be disseminated on the last lesson day and picked up on the day of post-evaluation for students.  A medal is awarded to each child for participation.

Eagle Adventure Resources are available online here. Resources include a program manual (complete description of the program process and script); parent tip sheets (take home materials for caregivers of students); nestwork (family-based health homework); and evaluation instruments. A demonstration of the play is also available for viewing on the website. Eagle Books can be downloaded/ordered here .

Beginning with the pilot administration of EA as part of the Wave 1 study, the EA was one of two interventions that had statistically significant impact on children asking for or helping themselves to vegetables as a snack. External evaluation also noted promising trends (though results did not achieve statistical significance) in increased willingness to try new vegetables and greater at-home availability of fruits and vegetables. A major limitation of the external evaluation was reliance on parent reports of child average daily at-home consumption of fruits and vegetables of child participants given the severe limitations of parent recall as low-income students make most food and activity choices in school settings. As noted previously, the CDC Westat evaluation revealed promising and sustaining qualitative results. Further, our internal evaluation consistently reveals significance in food and PA choice behaviors among students and their families.   External process evaluators reported "caregiver survey results and focus group discussions revealed a relatively high level of use and satisfaction with the program materials." The Westat team completed in-depth interviews with current EA team members, a teacher from an EA school, among others. Focus groups were also held with seven parents and eight children at an elementary school where EA had been implemented. Parents believed, EA messages "were coming through 'loud and clear' for several reasons: the books were easy to read; the stories were presented through animals (which can have cultural meanings); the artwork was really appealing; and...being a school-based based program made the messages more meaningful." Improvements at p<.01 were seen from pre- to post-test in: (1) Student desire to consume healthy foods and drinks over less healthy foods and drinks, and (2) Student desire to engage in moving activities over sedentary activities. Traditional Foods in Native America-Part IV: A Compendium of Stories from the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movement in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities (2015).  For additional evidence please see the following paper: Fox, J., Jackson, T., Miracle, S., O'Hara, U., & Parker, S. (2020). Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Among Native Americans: The Eagle Adventure Program. American Journal of Health Studies, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.47779/ajhs.2020.197 Evidence Base: Research-tested

Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.   Readiness and Capacity - Short Term (ST) Changes - Medium Term (MT) Effectiveness and Maintenance - Long Term (LT) Population Results (R) Individual ST1 , ST3 MT1 , MT3     Environmental Settings   MT5 , MT6   Sectors of Influence ST8   LT19

Chickasaw Nation SNAP-Ed Coordinated Programming and Evaluation: https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/success-stories/chickasaw-nation-snap-ed-coordinated-programming-and-evaluation

Website: The EA website includes descriptions of the program (with videos), all program materials including handouts, and evaluation instruments. Contact Person: Stephany Parker Program Planning and Evaluation Partner OKTEP: Oklahoma Tribal Engagement Partners Email: stephanyparker@oktep.com Phone: 405-588-8866 ext. 22 Teresa Jackson Program Planning and Evaluation Director OKTEP: Oklahoma Tribal Engagement Partners Email: teresajackson@oktep.com Phone: 405-588-8866 ext. 24     *Updated as of August 28, 2023