None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Children’s vegetable intake is below recommendations in Australia, with low acceptance of vegetables’ sensory properties being a main reason. Vegetable liking can be learned, and childhood is a critical time in the development of these preferences. Increasing acceptance and willingness to try vegetables has important benefits on students’ health and wellbeing in the short and long term, since preferences and dietary behaviours track from childhood into adulthood. The school environment provides good opportunities to promote healthy eating among children, and thereby contribute to setting lifelong healthy eating habits. A teacher-led vegetable education program (VERTICAL- Vegetable Education Resource To Increase Children’s Acceptance and Liking) was developed by CSIRO scientists and educators which aimed to meet three main objectives: 1) to be effective in achieving change amongst children in factors known to be associated positively with vegetable consumption; 2) fulfilling curriculum objectives, and 3) facilitate ease of use by teachers in the classroom. The theoretical framework of the program is based on sensory education and scientific insights on children’s development of vegetable acceptance, with a large emphasis on experiential learning and vegetable tastings. A previous pilot study indicated that the program positively predisposed children towards vegetable consumption. This study aimed to evaluate: 1) the effectiveness of the program on a larger scale and, 2) two forms of teacher training on the effectiveness of the program. The main research questions were: • Does the vegetable educational program lead to a change in student outcomes positively associated with vegetable consumption? • Does the type of teacher training preceding implementation of the program effect the student outcomes?
Interventions
This study is a cluster randomised controlled trial amongst primary school students with two intervention arms (and one control arm). The intervention arms are the same teacher-led school-based vegetable education program VERTICAL (Vegetable Education Resource To Increase Children’s Acceptance and Liking), preceded by differing teacher training intensity, as follows:
Arm 1: Intervention low: VERTICAL vegetable education intervention with low intensity teacher training (online and written materia
This study is a cluster randomised controlled trial amongst primary school students with two intervention arms (and one control arm). The intervention arms are the same teacher-led school-based vegetable education program VERTICAL (Vegetable Education Resource To Increase Children’s Acceptance and Liking), preceded by differing teacher training intensity, as follows: Arm 1: Intervention low: VERTICAL vegetable education intervention with low intensity teacher training (online and written materials) Arm 2: Intervention high: VERTICAL vegetable education intervention with high intensity teacher training (as for ‘intervention low’ but with face-to-face training). The VERTICAL resource is a new resource. An earlier version of the resource has been evaluated in a pilot study (Poelman et al, JNEB, 2017, 2019). The VERTICAL intervention to students consists of 5 x 1 hour lessons, delivered once a week for 5 weeks. It is a classroom based program developed by sensory and consumer scientists, behavioural nutritionists and educators, and aims to positively prime children to consume vegetables. It is based on a scientific framework of food preference development and has elements of sensory education programs. It is curriculum aligned. Fun, enjoyment and experiential learning are critical elements of the program, with vegetables tasted in each of the lessons. There are three units of work for different stages of primary school (Foundation-Year 2, Year 3-4 and Year 5-6). There are two forms of teacher training to prepare teachers to teach the vegetable education intervention, low and high intensity: 1) Low intensity training: teachers provided with lesson materials (fully written lessons plans), a written implementation manual, as well as an online training module taking around 20 minutes to complete. Teachers can undertake training in their own time at a time that suits. 2) High intensity training: teachers provided with the same materials as in the low intensity training (including the online training module), but additional interactive face-to-face (F2F) training (45 min) by research staff involved in the study. F2F training delivery 2-4 weeks prior to the intervention. Delivers information on the same elements as delivered through the written and online materials. In addition, school-specific implementation plans are discussed with staff and a hands-on exercise, illustrative of the program, conducted with teachers. All teachers implementing the program are provided with a unique login for the online module. Adherence to the online training is monitored through an LMS platform. Adherence to the intervention through phone contact with the 'champion' for the study in each school and through reimbursement of costs for materials to implement the program. In addition, a teacher survey undertaken among teachers in the intervention arms evaluating the program and materials (results outside scope of current study).
Sponsors
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
6 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria for schools • Government primary school • School located in one of ten selected areas in Greater Sydney or Greater Adelaide • A minimum of two teachers of each Stage willing to take part in the student validation study Inclusion criteria for students: • Student in year 2-6 of participating classroom within participating school
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria for schools: • Schools that cannot accommodate computerised data collection • Schools that have previously been involved in trialling the vegetable education resource
Outcome results
None listed