Hip Hop to Health Jr.

Hip Hop to Health Jr. prioritizes African American/Black and Latino preschool students. The efficacy and effectiveness trials for Hip Hop to Health Jr. were conducted in Head Start programs in Chicago.

Settings: Pre-K & Childcare

Age/Population Group: Preschool 

Race: Black or African Americans

Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino Origin

Hip Hop to Health Jr. is a 14-week curriculum consisting of weekly lessons focused on themes such as fruits, vegetables, heart healthy exercise, and healthy snacks. Lessons feature food group puppets. An aerobic activity session is included in each lesson. Weekly parent newsletters include content covered in the children's curriculum and include a homework assignment. Parents also receive the CD that teachers use in the classroom so that concepts can be reinforced at home.

The curriculum features weekly lessons related to healthy eating and exercise, food group puppets, a CD with songs and raps and two fully scripted exercise routines, and parent newsletters.

Efficacy Trial (Lessons taught by specially trained early childhood educators)

• Children attending the intervention schools had significantly smaller increases in BMI compared with children attending the control schools at both one and two-year follow-up for predominately African American schools, but not predominately Latino schools.
• Saturated fat intake was significantly lower in children attending the intervention schools compared with children attending the control schools at 1-year follow-up.
• Publications include:
  • Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR, Dyer AR, Van Horn L, Kaufer Christoffel K. A community-based obesity prevention program for minority children: rationale and study design for Hip-Hop to Health Jr. Prev Med. 2002 Feb;34(2):289-97. doi: 10.1006/pmed.2001.0977. PMID: 11817926. 
  • Stolley MR, Fitzgibbon ML, Dyer A, Van Horn L, Kaufer Christoffel K, Schiffer L. Hip-Hop to Health Jr., an obesity prevention program for minority preschool children: baseline characteristics of participants. Prev Med. 2003 Mar;36(3):320-9. doi: 10.1016/s0091-7435(02)00068-3. PMID: 12634023.
  • Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR, Schiffer L, Van Horn L, Kaufer Christoffel K, Dyer A. Two-year follow-up results for Hip-Hop to Health Jr.: a randomized controlled trial for overweight prevention in preschool minority children. J Pediatr. 2005 May;146(5):618-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2004.12.019. PMID: 15870664.
  • Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR, Schiffer L, Van Horn L, KauferChristoffel K, Dyer A. Hip-Hop to Health Jr. for Latino preschool children. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 Sep;14(9):1616-25. doi: 10.1038/oby.2006.186. PMID: 17030973.

Effectiveness Trial (lessons taught by classroom teachers)

• Children attending the intervention schools had significantly higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels and less total screen time than children attending control schools post-intervention.
• Publications include:
  • Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR, Schiffer LA, Braunschweig CL, Gomez SL, Van Horn L, Dyer AR. Hip-Hop to Health Jr. Obesity Prevention Effectiveness Trial: postintervention results. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 May;19(5):994-1003. doi: 10.1038/oby.2010.314. Epub 2010 Dec 30. PMID: 21193852; PMCID: PMC3775499.

Evidence Base: Research-tested

Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.

Currently, no evaluation tools or materials are available.

Website: The Hip Hop to Health Jr. website includes Hip Hop to Health Music for purchase.

Contact Person(s):

Laura Blumstein

Email: lbb@uic.edu

Phone: 312-996-9028  

*Updated as of September 11, 2023