Newark School Nurse, Rutgers Partner On Childhood Obesity Study

NEWARK, NJ — It’s common knowledge that school nurses do much more for students than bandage scraped knees and take temperatures. But they may also play a key role in reducing childhood obesity, according to a Rutgers study.

Elaine Elliott, a school nurse in Newark, recently teamed up with two professors at Rutgers University School of Nursing in an effort to see if “family-centered, school-based intervention” can help teach kids healthy eating habits.

Here’s how it worked, Rutgers University administrators said:

“Parents and teachers from a public preschool in Newark with high rates of obesity were invited to participate in the program. Thirty-seven parents, teachers and classroom aides representing 37 children ages 3 to 5 took part in the study, which included weekly 45-minute sessions over four weeks … Modeled on a similar program in Maine called Let’s Go!, the course taught how to encourage children to eat at least five servings of vegetables; engage in, at most, two hours of screen time; do at least one hour of physical activity; and consume zero sugary drinks every day. For the second week of the program, participants were expected to implement what they learned by engaging children at home and in the classroom.”

Elliott, the school nurse, was available in person and online to provide additional support.

Did it work? Apparently so, researchers reported:

“Based on pre- and post-survey data, children’s fruit and vegetable consumption increased from an average of one to five servings a day. The number of days children shared dinner and breakfast with their family rose sharply from an average of two to five days a week. Moreover, children stopped eating takeout food on average two days a week.”

There also was a two-hour decline in the time children spent watching television or playing video games – from slightly more than three-and-a-half hours on average to one-and-a-half hours after the intervention, researchers said.

Elliott was able to reach the people involved in the study with language that wasn’t so stuffy and relate to them as a fellow Newark resident – which may have contributed to the study’s results.

“An important reason for the success of this program was the trust nurses have with parents and teachers,” said Elliott, who received her doctor of nursing practice degree from Rutgers in 2019.

“I’ve developed a close relationship with the community that only a school nurse can have,” Elliott said.

Despite the role school nurses play in establishing healthy habits, many schools are reducing nursing numbers, researchers noted. In 2017, a quarter of the country’s schools had no nurse, according to data from the National Association of School Nurses.

The COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated these deficiencies, according to Cheryl Holly, who worked on the study along with Elliott and fellow school of nursing professor, the late Sallie Porter.

The New Jersey administrative code (6A:13A-4.5) requires one nurse per 300 preschool students. Yet, in some communities, nurses – even those with significant early childhood experience – are being reassigned to larger elementary schools and high schools to fill gaps. Future research should look at whether these changes are negatively affecting health of preschoolers, Elliot said.

• See Related: NJ Nurses Say They're Overworked, Demand 'Safe Staffing' Law

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