Cultural Institutions in Health Promotion

Emily Kuross

Former BCM Health and Fitness Program Educator,

FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Children’s Fellow

Boston Children’s Museum’s GoKids! in Boston

Neighborhoods Program

The Boston Children’s Museum (BCM)

• Mission: “The Boston Children’s Museum exists to help children understand and enjoy the world in which they live”

• Founded in 1913• Pioneered the idea of hands on learning

in 1960’s• Developed urban mission in late 1990’s

“Engaging families and building communities.”

For 5 desired outcomes, aka “the pinwheel”:

Families

Communities

Green Kids

Global Kids

Creative Kids

Curious Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

• 2006 expansion included Kid Power exhibit

• GoKids! programming• Festivals• Weekly programs• Kindergarten

program• Head Start programs

GoKids! in Boston Neighborhoods

• Grant from Institute of Museum and Library Services

• 4 BHA housing developments: Washington Beech in Roslindale, Old Colony in South Boston, Gallivan in Mattapan, Charlestown*

• Unique project: • Population generally underserved by museums• Still fairly new for children’s museums to take

interest in health• Not aware of any other programs that combine these

two

* Not a BHA housing development, organizing occurring with the neighborhood instead

Project Goals

• Engage community residents to come as families (children and their caretakers) for free museum programs

• Engage participants in healthy activities, designed with attention to participant feedback about their interests and concerns

• Bring families to the museum - 1st visit for many• Create welcoming environment• Demystify museum experience• Present BCM as a family/community resource for

continued learning ($1 Fridays, for example)

Who

BCM Staff:• Manager of Community

Programs and Partnerships

• Community Programs Educator

• Teen Ambassadors• Health and Fitness

Educator

Community contacts (varied by location):

• Tenant task forces• Tenant health advocate• BCYFF staff• After school leaders• Resident families

Partner-ships

Cultural

liaisons

Content

Program timelines

Weeks 1-3 Weeks 4-9 Week 10

Kick-off!

Planning Activity Days (about 6) Museum visit

A Sampling of the Activities

• Balancing Act the Musical• Snack Iron Chef• Super Hero Breakfast• The Power Balance Challenge (shake off a shake, eg.)

• Dip-ology• Build A Gym• Human Dominoes• Music and Movement• Water bottle weight lifting• Family Dinners

Evaluation

Study Questions:

• Did participants have fun?

• Do participants think the activities or information would be useful to them at home?

• Which activities do they find most memorable?

Methods

• Questionnaires: both adult and child• Recruitment: anyone who would agree to take

a minute to answer a questionnaire• Done at at least one activity day and at the

free museum visit finale• Observations of randomly selected families

• Enjoyment• Adult-child interaction• Understanding

Results

Results from adult survey administered at the kick-off event for WB # respondents 5 Response rate 71% # of visits to BCM 0: 3

1: 1 2-3: 0 >3: 1

Level of fun AVG (StDev)*

7.2 (3.9)

Learned something new from activity 100% Learned something useful from activity

75%

Believe health can be fun 100% * Measured on a scale of 1-10 with 1 indicating no fun and 10 indicating the most fun

Results

Results from child survey administered at the kick-off event for WB # of respondents 10 Response rate 39% Age 7-12 years old

Level of fun Fun: 100%

Neutral or no fun: 0%

ResultsResults from adult survey administered at the final event for WB # of respondents 16 Response rate 88% # of previous BCM visits 0: 19%

1: 37% 2-3: 25% >3: 19%

Would return 100% yes Level of fun* AVG (StDev)

8.4 (2)

# Activity Days AVG (StDev)

2.6 (1.4)

Remembered activities from activity days

87% yes 13% no

Learned something new from activity days

63% yes 6% no 31% not sure

Learned something useful from activity days

75% yes 19% no 6% not sure

Believe health can be fun 100% yes

Results

. Results from child survey administered at the final event for WB # of respondents 23 Response rate 88% Mean Age (SD) 7.3 (2.5)

Level of fun Fun: 87%

Neutral: 13% Not fun: 0%

Remembered 1 or more activities from activity days, children

76%

ResultsMost memorable: • The interactive musical, active games

(kickball, jump rope), dancing, snacks with bananas

Most effectively engaged adults and children together:

• The interactive musical, food preparation (active games were least effective)

Best Practices:• Family dinners, semi-rigid structure,

connecting neighbors, more staff

Limitations

• Very small sample sizes - some skepticism from participants about ‘los papeles’

• Not completely same groups for activity survey and final survey

• Very simple, unvalidated, survey

• Response bias, desire to please

Other Challenges

• Trying to collect data while running programs

• Only partial buy-in from museum colleagues

• Limited funding and staffing• Limited draw - trade off between depth

vs. breadth• Different facility quality at different

developments

Conclusions• Museum style health and fitness

programming was well received by this population, which is not generally familiar with this type of programming

• Museum outreach programs were able to engage families together and connect families to one another

• Children’s museums represent a potential partner for working with communities and providing nutrition and physical activity information or programs