Poster #105 - “Candy is not healthy”: Teachers’ Awareness of Using Food in the Classroom

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Children’s eating behaviors are shaped by numerous factors, and feeding practices have been identified as a major contributor. Previous research has explored parental feeding practices, but little research has examined the role of other adults in child feeding. Teachers spend many hours a day with children, allowing for opportunities to influence children’s eating behavior. Although teachers report that it is important to have a healthy school environment, their behaviors are not always consistent with that belief (Kubik et al., 2002). This study sought to explore whether teachers’ lack awareness and attention to food in the classroom as a possible explanation of this discrepancy.
Study population: Current teachers in the US (N = 93) who teach elementary (40%), middle (23%), high school (26%), or multiple grades (11%) completed an online survey. Teachers (Mage = 40.05 years, SD = 11.84, Range = 22-68) were mostly female (90%), White (90%), and taught public school (76%).
Method: Participants were recruited via email and Facebook to complete an online, confidential survey. Participants viewed a mock classroom newsletter including six food-related classroom activities. On a separate page, teachers gave their overall impression of the classroom environment, listed three positive or negative attributes, and then recalled any food-related items from the newsletter. Participants also read three vignettes describing common classroom scenarios and chose between a food-related or non-food classroom practice. Participants then provided reasons for their choices.
Results: Participants rated the newsletter favorably [M = 4.01, SD = 0.60; on a scale of 1 (highly unfavorable) to 5 (highly favorable)], recalled fewer than two of six food-related practices (M = 1.85, SD = 1.07), and remembered birthday treats the most frequently (68.8%; see Table 1 for descriptive statistics). Regarding the vignettes, more teachers chose a raffle (63.9%) over a bake sale, but chose extra credit (52.5%) and a piece of chocolate almost equally, and chose a popcorn party (52.9) and free choice/outside time almost equally. Health was only mentioned as a rationale for teachers’ choices six times out of 110 reasons (see Table 2).
Discussion: When prompted, teachers noticed few food-related activities in the classroom newsletter. Also, based on open-ended vignette responses, teachers’ food awareness might not concern the health of food or using healthy classroom practices. Teachers mentioned various reasons (e.g., allergies, cost, school policy) for their choices, but health was rarely mentioned. This suggests that teachers’ awareness of food in the classroom might be low and due to other salient personal, classroom, or school factors. These findings may be helpful to develop interventions to improve teachers’ food-related classroom practices. Although previous research has found that teachers feel it is important to have a healthy school environment (Kubik et al., 2002) and teachers’ individual classroom practices contribute to the overall school environment, teachers may not be aware of the effect of their classroom practices on student health. Therefore, helping teachers recognize the prevalence of food in the classroom and their contribution to student health is an important next step for future research.

Authors

• Lauren A. Dial, Bowling Green State University
  Presenting Author

• Lindsey Roberts, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lindsay Hamilton, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lynnel C. Goodman, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dara Musher-Eizenman, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author