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Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the prevalence of children who are obese has tripled during the past three decades. National estimates shows that children from minority populations are obese at a higher percentage compared to the rest of the population. While lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating have been the primary focus of public health research, practice, and policies, media has a significant influence on food choices, food consumption, and the health status of children today. Media literacy can be used as an effective and practical health communication strategy, offering the ability to serve as both a prevention and intervention toolThe purpose of this study is to examine if a media literacy intervention can increase media literacy knowledge and combat the persuasive nature of unhealthy food advertisements. Parents (n=12) and their children (n=15) were recruited from two local Boys and Girls clubs. They participated in an educational, intervention workshop. The parents completed a pretest before the workshop and a posttest after the workshop concluded. Volunteers from the workshop signed up to participate in focus groups. There were two focus groups with parents (n=5) and two focus groups with children (n=6). The quantitative results provided evidence that there were positive changes in parents media literacy knowledge after the workshop. Through the focus groups, it was found that children shared that they learned about the purpose of advertisements and how to be more critical of unhealthy food advertisements. Also, the focus group data revealed that there were positive changes for both parents and children in their intentions and behaviors in eating healthy. The discussion of this mixed methods study results include integrations of the quantitative and qualitative results, limitation, recommendations for practice, and further research.