Describing a Public-health Summer Camp for Underserved Children: Healthy 2B Me

Abstract

Healthy 2B Me aims to educate and empower underserved children ages seven to 11 years old to improve their health and well-being through a supportive, educational and entertaining public health-themed summer day camp. Qualitative data collected through camper exit slips, final posters/presentations, and parent surveys were analyzed to identify salient themes demonstrating the impact of camp participation on children's health. Both camper and parent responses suggested improvements in participant knowledge, attitude and behavior in relation to diet, physical activity, sun safety, hand washing, smoking and kindness. This article describes how the Healthy 2B Me camp contributes to our understanding of how to design and assess a health-themed, positive youth-development summer camp for underserved children.