Joseph A Ladapo1, Laura M Bogart2, David J Klein3, Burton O Cowgill4, Kimberly Uyeda5, David G Binkle6, Elizabeth R Stevens7, Mark A Schuster8. 1. Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY; Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. Electronic address: joseph.ladapo@nyumc.org. 2. Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. 3. Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. 4. Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, Calif. 5. Student Medical Services, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, Calif. 6. Food Services Branch, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, Calif. 7. Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. 8. Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the cost and cost-effectiveness of implementing Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX), a 5-week middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education. METHODS:Five intervention and 5 control middle schools (mean enrollment, 1520 students) from the Los Angeles Unified School District participated in a randomized controlled trial of SNaX. Acquisition costs for materials and time and wage data for employees involved in implementing the program were used to estimate fixed and variable costs. Cost-effectiveness was determined using the ratio of variable costs to program efficacy outcomes. RESULTS: The costs of implementing the program over 5 weeks were $5433.26 per school in fixed costs and $2.11 per student in variable costs, equaling a total cost of $8637.17 per school, or $0.23 per student per day. This investment yielded significant increases in the proportion of students served fruit and lunch and a significant decrease in the proportion of students buying snacks. The cost-effectiveness of the program, per student over 5 weeks, was $1.20 per additional fruit served during meals, $8.43 per additional full-priced lunch served, $2.11 per additional reduced-price/free lunch served, and $1.69 per reduction in snacks sold. CONCLUSIONS:SNaX demonstrated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education. Its cost is modest and unlikely to be a significant barrier to adoption for many schools considering its implementation.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: To examine the cost and cost-effectiveness of implementing Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX), a 5-week middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education. METHODS: Five intervention and 5 control middle schools (mean enrollment, 1520 students) from the Los Angeles Unified School District participated in a randomized controlled trial of SNaX. Acquisition costs for materials and time and wage data for employees involved in implementing the program were used to estimate fixed and variable costs. Cost-effectiveness was determined using the ratio of variable costs to program efficacy outcomes. RESULTS: The costs of implementing the program over 5 weeks were $5433.26 per school in fixed costs and $2.11 per student in variable costs, equaling a total cost of $8637.17 per school, or $0.23 per student per day. This investment yielded significant increases in the proportion of students served fruit and lunch and a significant decrease in the proportion of students buying snacks. The cost-effectiveness of the program, per student over 5 weeks, was $1.20 per additional fruit served during meals, $8.43 per additional full-priced lunch served, $2.11 per additional reduced-price/free lunch served, and $1.69 per reduction in snacks sold. CONCLUSIONS:SNaX demonstrated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a middle school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education. Its cost is modest and unlikely to be a significant barrier to adoption for many schools considering its implementation.
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