Water First for Thirst: Youth Advocacy in Promoting Healthy Beverage Consumption

IMPACT. 1: Youth can understand the potential for impacting behavior change at various levels, including individual knowledge, social norms, organizational practices, and community-level policies, and can serve as agents of community change. -- 2. A facilitator guide with activities about promoting availability and consumption of more water and fewer sugar-sweetened beverages will be created in formats which are appealing, engaging, and impactful to youth. -- 3. Empowering youth to engage in community-level health promotion has created a foundation for extended and sustained youth advocacy through the creation of a statewide 4-H Healthy Living Ambassador program.OSU PARTNERS: OSU Extension - Family and Consumer Sciences; OSU Extension - 4-H Youth Development; College of Public Health Prevention Research CenterCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: Columbus Public Health; Molina Healthcare of OhioPRIMARY CONTACT: Carol Smathers (smathers.14@osu.edu)Water First for Thirst through Youth Advocacy focuses on reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and promoting drinking water. This effort addresses obesity prevention and health promotion by educating and empowering youth to be advocates for the availability and consumption of healthier beverages in their homes, clubs, organizations, and communities. Research identifying that sugar-sweetened beverages are the single largest source of added sugars in adolescents' diets, juxtaposed with the socio-ecological prevention framework, was the impetus for this project