Who should participate in Full of Ourselves?

What happens during a Full of Ourselves session?

How are younger girls involved?

What are the program’s goals?

How do you know if FOO is successful?

What is the research you are conducting on FOO?

Who should participate in Full of Ourselves?
FOO is for all girls! Participants need not be “at-risk” to join. The course is designed for a general population of girls. While the program aims to protect those who are “at risk” for issues related to food and body, its focus on health and leadership makes it helpful for all girls. It is important that participants commit to attending all sessions of the program— the curriculum is sequential and not designed as a drop-in program.

What happens during a Full of Ourselves Session?
FOO sessions include a variety of activities that aim to empower and educate girls on health and leadership. The most important feature of a FOO group is that it is a safe space for girls to share and “be real.” FOO sessions include many different activities including discussions, art activities, food preparation, role plays, yoga, and guided meditations. Through these activities, girls explore a variety of topics including the media’s portrayal of girls and women, healthy vs. unhealthy coping mechanisms, ways to keep the body and mind healthy including exercise and nutrition basics, “weightism” and weight-related bullying and teasing, being a leader and an activist, and creating and maintaining healthy relationships.

How are younger girls involved?
FOO participants get very excited about the second component of the curriculum, “Throwing Our Weight Around,” where they have the opportunity to teach younger girls (4th or 5th graders) what they have learned. This component of the curriculum usually involved several sessions of preparation and one or two teaching sessions. A manual is given to the FOO participants that outlines suggested activities for this part of the program.

What are the program’s goals?
The long-term goals of FOO include reducing bullying and teasing in schools, helping girls to thrive in school academically and socially, and preparing girls to be activists and leaders in their communities. We aim to achieve these goals by educating girls on weightism and the media, improving girls’ self-esteem and body-image, and helping girls develop skills and knowledge related to health and self- care.

How do you know if FOO is successful?
Research conducted through Harvard Medical School with 1000 students across five states demonstrated that FOO successfully creates changes in key areas of girls’ lives. The study included a six-month follow up and showed positive changes in girls' self esteem and body image, as well as their knowledge about health, nutrition, weightism and puberty. In order to assess the effectiveness of this program for the specific needs of the Santa Cruz population, we are conducting interviews with program participants.

What is the research you are conducting on FOO?
For her senior thesis at UCSC, Johanna Wise-Levine, is exploring how and why the FOO curriculum works by conducting qualitative interviews with participants. Our hope is that this research will illuminate which aspects of the curriculum are most effective and may help to create more effective intervention programs in the future.

Read more about the research on FOO Santa Cruz