Objectives: The Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project is a multi-strategic, school-based intervention, aimed at preventing the substantial decline in fruit and vegetable intake that typically starts during primary school. This paper reports project implementation and its impact on a range of knowledge, attitudinal and behavioural indicators amongst the children, their parents and teachers.Methods: During 1999 and 2000, TFV was implemented in 10 volunteer primary schools across the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Surveys were conducted, in late 2000, with children, parents, teachers and principals across nine intervention and three matched control schools.Intervention schools' management teams also completed Strategy Implementation Indexes indicating how often, how well and with how many people each major strategy was implemented.Results: Completed surveys from 613 parents (59%), 392 older children (65%), 50 teachers (81%) and all 10 intervention principals and school management teams showed the project was well implemented, achieved high reach and was very positively received. The project enhanced the quality, diversity and frequency of classroom fruit and vegetable promoting activities, substantially increasing children's involvement and enjoyment levels. It significantly improved children's fruit and vegetable knowledge, attitudes, access and preparation skills; parents' knowledge and involvement in fruit and vegetable promoting activities in schools and beyond; and teachers' perceived support for doing school-based fruit and vegetable promotions.Conclusion: Despite some methodological limitations, which may limit confidence in our findings, survey results across all target groups consistently indicated that primary schools can be supported to establish, implement and sustain highly acceptable and effective fruit and vegetable promoting programs.Implications: TFV is a resource-efficient investment for health services to improve children's access to, and motivation to eat more, fruits and vegetables, with long-term implications for many major diseases.
Objectives: The Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project was a multi-strategic, school-based intervention aimed at preventing the large decline in fruit and vegetable intake that typically starts during primary school.
Issue addressed This study describes volunteer participation in a multi‐strategic fruit and vegetable promotion in primary schools in northern New South Wales. Methods Parents at 10 intervention and six control schools, and principals from the intervention schools, were surveyed after a two‐year intervention. We investigated the strategies implemented by parent volunteers, why they volunteered and the conditions they needed to be effective and satisfied. Results A quarter to a fifth of intervention school parents volunteered in some capacity, assisting with implementing a wide range of strategies in all schools. They felt their work was highly satisfying and useful. Principals reflected these views and felt that volunteers responded more positively to this project than other school activities. Conclusions Volunteers can be significant contributors to whole‐of‐school nutrition programs if they are adequately resourced, trained and supported and are offered fun, hands‐on strategies to implement.
Issues addressed To explore the accuracy of reported fruit and vegetable contents of primary school children's lunchboxes compared with observed lunchbox contents as an indicator of overall accuracy of completion of a 24‐hour food record developed for the Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project. Method Parents or older children completed the TFV food records, including a section about foods packed in children's lunchboxes. As children arrived at school the next day, trained observers compared lunchboxes' actual fruit and vegetable contents against reported information. Comparisons were made for 241 children (76% response rate). Pearsons correlations tested agreement between amounts of fruits and vegetables reported on TFV food records and those observed in corresponding lunchboxes. Paired t‐tests assessed differences between the two methods. As many children had no fruits and/or vegetables in their lunchboxes, analyses were conducted: 1) for all children; and 2) for only those with fruits and vegetables. Results Amounts of fruits and vegetables observed in children's lunchboxes were very similar to those reported in TFV food records, with non‐significant mean differences of less than 0.005 serves for both. Lunchbox observations remained highly correlated with TFV food records even when only children with fruits or vegetables were included. Conclusion The TFV food record accurately measured fruits and vegetables in children's lunchboxes. While offering reasonable confidence in overall reported fruit intakes, further research is needed to confirm the accuracy of overall reported vegetable intakes.
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