Supporting Rhode Island children in a healthy relationship with food, body, and health-promoting behaviors

 

What?

It's a new world, and it's time for an updated approach in meeting the complex health needs of children and teens today. When we raise children with body confidence and in spaces where their unique bodies, food cultures, health needs, and socioeconomic statuses are respected and supported, we allow our students to establish optimized health behaviors that will last a lifetime. Children are so much more than a number, and the RI HOPE Collaborative wants to teach them that.

 

Why?

77% of Adolescents today experience body image distress (Milton et. al 2021). 50% of Adolescents exhibit eating disordered behavior, food restriction (dieting), binge eating, purging, laxative abuse, taking diet pills and muscle building supplements, and over-exercising (Yoon et. al 2020). Teens are on their phones up to 8.5 hours per day, consuming thousands of pictures of “perfect” looking people each day (Rideout, 2019).

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Body Dissatisfaction is a risk factor for eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, isolation, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, unsafe sexual behaviors, and lack of self-care. These mental health issues became more acute after the COVD-19 pandemic (MacLean et. al 2022, Perkins & Brausch 2019, Bornioli et al. 2021).

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People with Body Confidence like their body, accept their “flaws” and don’t focus on their weight. They experience higher self-esteem because they value who they are, not what they look like. They are more likely to take care of themselves and engage in health-promoting behaviors (Tylak et al 2015).

 

How?

RI HOPE (Health Optimization in Pediatric Education) Collaborative is working to create a local, active, and engaging resource available to all Rhode Island schools. This resource plans to provide cost-effective and/or free research-based, expert-reviewed nutrition, health, and body image curriculums to schools.

 

As local pediatric experts and healthcare providers, invested in the health of Rhode Island children, the RI HOPE Collaborative may also serve as an on-call resource to area schools and organizations. We aim to provide professional development to the adults in children’s lives, reviewing curriculum and fielding questions on how to best support Rhode Island children in a healthy relationship with food, body, and health-promoting behaviors.

 

Who?

RI HOPE Collaborative is a compassionate local group of pediatric healthcare providers volunteering their expertise to support schools and community organizations. Working with the children of RI every day to treat a range of medical and mental health conditions, the RI HOPE Collaborative is inspired to support the Ocean State in building a foundation of preventative measures to keep RI children healthy, happy, and engaged in their well being.