Promoting school lunch fruit and vegetable intake through role modeling: a pilot study

• Main Authors: Stephanie S Machado, Michael Burton, Wes Loy, Kyle A Chapman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIMS Press 2020-01-01
• Series: AIMS Public Health
• Subjects: united states; role modeling; fruits and vegetables; schools; intervention
• Online Access: https://www.aimspress.com/article/10.3934/publichealth.2020002/fulltext.html

<em>Objectives:</em> Child fruit and vegetable consumption is a critical component of adult chronic disease prevention, yet fruit and vegetable intake remains low among elementary school children in the United States. This pilot study tested a role modeling intervention designed to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in a U.S elementary school cafeteria setting. <em>Methods:</em> This one-year, repeated cross-sectional study used digital photographs to assess fruit and vegetable waste at baseline (n = 566 trays) and follow-up (n = 231 trays) of kindergarten through fifth grade students in one elementary school. Differences in waste were assessed through Mann-Whitney statistical tests. Feedback on intervention acceptability was provided by the intervention team during implementation. <em>Results:</em> The proportion of students consuming all of their selected fruits and vegetables increased by 11.1% and 8.7% respectively (p &lt; 0.01). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of students not consuming any of their selected fruit (16.0%, p &lt; 0.001). Staff and students provided positive reports of intervention acceptance. <em>Conclusions and Implications:</em> Findings from this pilot study indicate that role modeling in a school cafeteria setting may be a promising health promotion strategy and provide groundwork for future research in the development of school cafeteria role modeling interventions. Further research is needed to assess intervention efficacy and acceptability at a larger scale.