COVID-19 RAPID RESPONSE: UTILIZING FOOD STRATEGIES AND OBESITY PREVENTION MEASURES WITH UNDER-SERVED YOUTH

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Organization: Hampton Roads Academy for Research, Training and Services (HARTS)Focus: Demonstrating the feasibility of commercialized evidence based virtual modules toincrease nutrition, understand food science and obesity prevention in underserved youth.Topic Area 8.5: Food Science and Nutrition. Nutrition Education, Food Safety, Nutrition Science, and Food Quality Science. This project will be employed in two designated qualified opportunity zones.With schools closing in March due to COVID 19, students are at increased risk of practicing sedentary lifestyles. There is the added reality that numerous low income children in the US do not have access to home gym equipment, the internet and/or motivational videos linked to healthy activities. For these children, the sedentary lifestyle has increased due to COVID 19 and as we focus on the disease infection rates (as needed), relatively little is being done concerning how these changes in lifestyle are influencing eating habits, nutrition, ideas of health and health behavior relating to obesity prevention within our low income youth. Project objectives are:Build community capacity and mobilization by developing and disseminating community toolkits that contain healthy snacks and address attitudes, knowledge, beliefs of exposure and vulnerability linked to COVID 19 and behaviors associated with the understanding of healthy nutritional choices designed to combat obesity among youthDevelop interactive virtual reality modules (that will NOT require internet - with the ability to take to different locations) and/or learning environments linked to the toolkits focused on disease vulnerability and preparedness in general and increased understanding of the physical, chemical and biological properties of food, food quality and food safety.Evaluate the effectiveness of the virtual reality modules with the toolkits in improving knowledge about COVID 19 prevention measures, food science, attitudes, and behaviors including positive changes to dietary energy intake, increases in physical activity patterns, and improving community techniques to reduce obesity.It is hypothesized that these innovative virtual reality based modules will provide (i) a different perspective for educators to understand and conceptualize basic ideas in virtual reality module usage related to the educational environment, and (ii) the needed background and nexus for success in the commercialization of scientific and technological based virtual education systems to increase student understanding in health concepts and education related to food science. This will result in the private commercialization of virtual training in educational environments to include both public and private institutions; home-based learning; and community settings.