Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students

The school nutrition context is comprised of supportive environmental features, programs, policies, and social relationships that shape students’ healthy dietary choices and patterns. When engaging students as change agents, advocates, and partners in making healthy nutrition choices easier, environ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Deborah H. John, Beret Halverson, Tia H. Ho
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mississippi State University 2019-10-01
Series:Journal of Human Sciences and Extension
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol7/iss3/13/
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author Deborah H. John
Beret Halverson
Tia H. Ho
author_facet Deborah H. John
Beret Halverson
Tia H. Ho
author_sort Deborah H. John
collection DOAJ
description The school nutrition context is comprised of supportive environmental features, programs, policies, and social relationships that shape students’ healthy dietary choices and patterns. When engaging students as change agents, advocates, and partners in making healthy nutrition choices easier, environmental assessment tools developed for adults may be too complex or inappropriately tailored for youth. Adolescents need practical, user-tailored tools that reliably measure the food and beverage environments they encounter in school to inform youth-led changes to the school nutrition context. To meet this need, an evidence-based school environmental assessment was adapted for use in high schools by students as evaluators. Cooperative Extension educators engaged students in experiential learning to adapt the nutrition component of an environmental tool (SPAN-ET) designed for elementary school contexts to high school applications. The resulting tool is a comprehensive nutrition-specific adaptation that incorporates considerations of food security, structures for youth-driven data collection, and data-identified areas for action. The tool was adapted in one high school setting and piloted in three additional high schools. Student-generated data were used to prioritize and plan policy, systems, and environmental strategies aimed at increasing healthy food/beverage access and supporting healthy eating/drinking behaviors to reduce hunger and obesity risk factors in schools.
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spelling doaj.art-95ab5e613f4e47f4925f426bdabfa4c62022-12-22T04:14:42ZengMississippi State UniversityJournal of Human Sciences and Extension2325-52262019-10-0173117https://doi.org/10.54718/GYIF2485Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and StudentsDeborah H. John0Beret Halverson1Tia H. Ho2Oregon State UniversityUniversity of VermontPortland State UniversityThe school nutrition context is comprised of supportive environmental features, programs, policies, and social relationships that shape students’ healthy dietary choices and patterns. When engaging students as change agents, advocates, and partners in making healthy nutrition choices easier, environmental assessment tools developed for adults may be too complex or inappropriately tailored for youth. Adolescents need practical, user-tailored tools that reliably measure the food and beverage environments they encounter in school to inform youth-led changes to the school nutrition context. To meet this need, an evidence-based school environmental assessment was adapted for use in high schools by students as evaluators. Cooperative Extension educators engaged students in experiential learning to adapt the nutrition component of an environmental tool (SPAN-ET) designed for elementary school contexts to high school applications. The resulting tool is a comprehensive nutrition-specific adaptation that incorporates considerations of food security, structures for youth-driven data collection, and data-identified areas for action. The tool was adapted in one high school setting and piloted in three additional high schools. Student-generated data were used to prioritize and plan policy, systems, and environmental strategies aimed at increasing healthy food/beverage access and supporting healthy eating/drinking behaviors to reduce hunger and obesity risk factors in schools.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol7/iss3/13/school contextnutritionobesitywellnesspolicyadolescents
spellingShingle Deborah H. John
Beret Halverson
Tia H. Ho
Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
Journal of Human Sciences and Extension
school context
nutrition
obesity
wellness
policy
adolescents
title Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
title_full Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
title_fullStr Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
title_full_unstemmed Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
title_short Adapting an Elementary School Nutrition Context Assessment for High School Settings and Students
title_sort adapting an elementary school nutrition context assessment for high school settings and students
topic school context
nutrition
obesity
wellness
policy
adolescents
url https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol7/iss3/13/
work_keys_str_mv AT deborahhjohn adaptinganelementaryschoolnutritioncontextassessmentforhighschoolsettingsandstudents
AT berethalverson adaptinganelementaryschoolnutritioncontextassessmentforhighschoolsettingsandstudents
AT tiahho adaptinganelementaryschoolnutritioncontextassessmentforhighschoolsettingsandstudents