Background: Schools have increasing responsibility to address healthy eating, but physical barriers influence their ability to adopt and sustain recommended strategies. We took advantage of a natural experiment to investigate the role of the physical environment in shaping healthy eating attitudes and practices among school staff members.
Methods: A school district consolidated its elementary schools and incorporated architectural features to support healthy eating into a building renovation. Surveys along with structured, in-depth interviews were administered prior to and at 12 months postoccupancy. Paired t-tests and McNemar's tests were used to analyze changes in survey indices and interview data were coded for themes.
Results: The school implemented new policies and programs, including staff wellness activities. There was a significant decrease in the percent of teachers with a high-fat diet (from 73.68% to 57.14%, p < .05). Many physical barriers were removed but new challenges emerged, and staff varied in their awareness and comfort with using the new healthy eating features.
Conclusions: We found promising evidence that school architecture can support a school to address healthy eating. To enhance influence of the physical environment, more research is merited to test complementary strategies such as improving ownership of space and increasing self-efficacy to manage space.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/josh.12347 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Research on the application effect of self-transcendence nursing model in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus: a randomised controlled trial.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth
January 2025
Editorial Board of Jiangsu Medical Journal, the First Affiliated Hospital With Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is hyperglycemia in special populations (pregnant women), however gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) not only affects maternal health, but also has profound effects on offspring health. The prevalence of gestational diabetes in my country is gradually increasing.
Objective: To study the application effect of self-transcendence nursing model in GDM patients.
A participatory needs assessment to map the system dynamics of overweight related behaviours of 10-14-year-old adolescents living in an underserved neighbourhood in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Public and Occupational Health, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Background: Developing interventions along with the population of interest using systems thinking is a promising method to address the underlying system dynamics of overweight. The purpose of this study is twofold: to gain insight into the perspectives of adolescents regarding: (1) the system dynamics of energy balance-related behaviours (EBRBs) (physical activity, screen use, sleep behaviour and dietary behaviour); and (2) underlying mechanisms and overarching drivers of unhealthy EBRBs.
Methods: We conducted Participatory Action Research (PAR) to map the system dynamics of EBRBs together with adolescents aged 10-14 years old living in a lower socioeconomic, ethnically diverse neighbourhood in Amsterdam East, the Netherlands.
Healthy lifestyle before and during pregnancy to prevent childhood obesity: study protocol for a parallel group randomised trial - the PRE-STORK trial.
BMJ Open
January 2025
Clinical and Translational Research, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Herlev, Denmark
Introduction: The global prevalence of people living with overweight has tripled since 1975 and more than 40% of Danish women enter pregnancy being overweight. With the increasing rates of obesity observed in children, adolescents and adults, there is an urgent need for preventive measures. Risk factors for childhood obesity include maternal overweight or obesity before conception and excessive weight gain during pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDietary patterns modify the association between body mass index and mortality in older adults.
Clin Nutr
January 2025
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Jockey Club Centre for Osteoporosis Care and Control, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address:
Background: The potential modifying roles of dietary patterns in the association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality in older adults remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the stratified and combined associations of dietary patterns and BMI with all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.
Methods: This prospective cohort study included 3982 Chinese community-dwelling older adults between 2001 and 2003.
Cashew nut consumption reduces waist circumference and oxidative stress in adolescents with obesity: A randomized clinical trial.
Nutr Res
January 2025
Health and Nutrition Postgraduate Program, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
Previous evidence suggests that certain types of nuts, when included in a healthy diet pattern, may provide health benefits. Therefore, we hypothesize that the consumption of cashew nuts associated with a healthy diet may enhance antioxidant defenses and improve anthropometric and body composition parameters in individuals with obesity. We conducted a 12-week randomized clinical trial, divided into 4 sessions, involving adolescents randomly assigned to receive either 30 g of roasted cashew nuts together with nutrition education (cashew nut group-CNG) or only nutrition education (control group-CG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!