TY - JOUR
T1 - Creating a school nutrition environment index and pilot testing it in elementary and middle schools in urban South Korea
AU - Park, Sohyun
AU - Kwon, Kwang Il
AU - Kweon, Soon Ju
AU - Wang, Youfa
AU - Gittelsohn, Joel
N1 - Funding Information:
1Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Hallym University, Life Science Building Room 8519, 1 Hallymdaehak-gil, Chuncheon, Gangwon 24251, Korea 2Dietary and Nutritional Safety Policy Division, Food and Consumer Safety Bureau, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Osong Health Technology Administration Complex, Chungbuk 28159, Korea 3Physical Education and Health Division, Lifelong and Vocational Education Bureau, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Seoul 03178, Korea 4Global Health Institute, School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Shaanxi 710061, PR China 5Center for Human Nutrition, Global Center on Childhood Obesity, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 North Wolfe Street Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Sohyun Park’s efforts in the study was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF-2017R1C1B5017335). §Corresponding Author: Sohyun Park, Tel. 82-33-248-2134, Fax. 82-33-256-3420, Email. [email protected] Received: February 15, 2017, Revised: August 21, 2017, Accepted: August 30, 2017 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Korean Nutrition Society and the Korean Society of Community Nutrition.
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The role of a school’s nutrition environment in explaining students’ eating behaviors and weight status has not been examined in an Asian setting. The purpose of this study was to create a school nutrition environment index and to pilot test the index in elementary and middle schools in urban South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used a mixed-methods approach. Environment assessment tools were developed based on formative research, which comprised literature reviews, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. Key elements from the formative research were included in the assessment tool, which consisted of a structured survey questionnaire for school dietitians. Fifteen school dietitians from 7 elementary and 8 middle schools in Seoul completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The formative research revealed four main sections that guided a summary index to assess a school’s nutrition environment: resource availability, education and programs, dietitians’ perceptions and characteristics, and school lunch menu. Based on the literature reviews and interviews, an index scoring system was developed. The total possible score from the combined four index sections was 40 points. From the 15 schools participating in the pilot survey, the mean school nutrition-environment index was 22.5 (standard deviation ± 3.2; range 17-28). The majority of the schools did not offer classroom-based nutrition education or nutrition counseling for students and parents. The popular modes of nutrition education were school websites, posters, and newsletters. CONCLUSIONS: This paper illustrates the process used to develop an instrument to assess a school’s nutrition environment. Moreover, it presents the steps used to develop a scoring system for creation of a school nutrition environment index. As pilot testing indicated the total index score has some variation across schools, we suggest applying this instrument in future studies involving a larger number of schools. Future studies with larger samples will allow investigation of the validity and reliability of this newly developed tool.
AB - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The role of a school’s nutrition environment in explaining students’ eating behaviors and weight status has not been examined in an Asian setting. The purpose of this study was to create a school nutrition environment index and to pilot test the index in elementary and middle schools in urban South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used a mixed-methods approach. Environment assessment tools were developed based on formative research, which comprised literature reviews, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. Key elements from the formative research were included in the assessment tool, which consisted of a structured survey questionnaire for school dietitians. Fifteen school dietitians from 7 elementary and 8 middle schools in Seoul completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The formative research revealed four main sections that guided a summary index to assess a school’s nutrition environment: resource availability, education and programs, dietitians’ perceptions and characteristics, and school lunch menu. Based on the literature reviews and interviews, an index scoring system was developed. The total possible score from the combined four index sections was 40 points. From the 15 schools participating in the pilot survey, the mean school nutrition-environment index was 22.5 (standard deviation ± 3.2; range 17-28). The majority of the schools did not offer classroom-based nutrition education or nutrition counseling for students and parents. The popular modes of nutrition education were school websites, posters, and newsletters. CONCLUSIONS: This paper illustrates the process used to develop an instrument to assess a school’s nutrition environment. Moreover, it presents the steps used to develop a scoring system for creation of a school nutrition environment index. As pilot testing indicated the total index score has some variation across schools, we suggest applying this instrument in future studies involving a larger number of schools. Future studies with larger samples will allow investigation of the validity and reliability of this newly developed tool.
KW - Environment
KW - Republic of Korea
KW - Schools
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U2 - 10.4162/nrp.2017.11.5.402
DO - 10.4162/nrp.2017.11.5.402
M3 - Review article
C2 - 28989577
AN - SCOPUS:85030846207
SN - 1976-1457
VL - 11
SP - 402
EP - 411
JO - Nutrition Research and Practice
JF - Nutrition Research and Practice
IS - 5
ER -