Community-based interventions for enhancing access to or consumption of fruit and vegetables among five to 18-year olds: a scoping review

Abstract

BackgroundLow fruit and vegetable ( FV) consumption is a key risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Consumption of FV is limited by a lack of access to FV. Enhanced understanding of interventions and their impact on both access to and consumption of FV can provide guidance to public health decision-makers. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and map literature that has evaluated effects of community-based interventions designed to increase FV access or consumption among five to 18-year olds.MethodsThe search included 21 electronic bibliographic databases, grey literature, targeted organization websites, and 15 key journals for relevant studies published up to May 2011. Retrieved citations were screened in duplicate for relevance. Data extracted from included studies covered: year, country, study design, target audience, intervention setting, intervention strategies, interventionists, and reported outcomes.ResultsThe search located 19,607 unique citations. Full text relevance screening was conducted on 1,908 studies. The final 289 unique studies included 30 knowledge syntheses, 27 randomized controlled trials, 55 quasi-experimental studies, 113 cluster controlled studies, 60 before-after studies, one mixed method study, and three controlled time series studies. Of these studies, 46 included access outcomes and 278 included consumption outcomes. In terms of target population, 110 studies focused on five to seven year olds, 175 targeted eight to 10 year olds, 192 targeted 11 to 14 year olds, 73 targeted 15 to 18 year olds, 55 targeted parents, and 30 targeted teachers, other service providers, or the general public. The most common intervention locations included schools, communities or community centres, and homes. Most studies implemented multi-faceted intervention strategies to increase FV access or consumption.ConclusionsWhile consumption measures were commonly reported, this review identified a small yet important subset of literature examining access to FV. This is a critically important issue since consumption is contingent upon access. Future research should examine the impact of interventions on direct outcome measures of FV access and a focused systematic review that examines these interventions is also needed. In addition, research on interventions in low- and middle-income countries is warranted based on a limited existing knowledge base.

Multi-Level, Multi-Component Approaches to Community Based Interventions for Healthy Living—A Three Case Comparison

“…There is increasing interest in integrated and coordinated programs that intervene in multiple community settings/institutions (the community environment) at the same time [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] and involve policy and systems changes. Such programs tend to target multiple settings such as schools, parks, health clinics, supermarkets, corner-stores, restaurants, and worksites simultaneously—and do so in a coordinated manner to create greater intensity, effect, and sustainable systems change.…”

Community-based dietary and physical activity interventions in low socioeconomic groups in the UK: A mixed methods systematic review

“…posters, flyers, websites), counselling by health professionals, collaboration with community-based organisations, use of specific community-based settings, changes to the environment, community member delivery and social networks (Bopp and Fallon, 2008;Brownson et al, 1996;Merzel and D'Afflitti, 2003;Mummery and Brown, 2009) and can involve engagement of the community concerned (King et al, 2011). This approach is appropriate for diet and physical activity, which are likely to be influenced by a range of environmental, physical, social and economic factors (Ganann et al, 2012), and for low-SES groups, who may have specific needs and barriers (Cleland et al, 2012a). Therefore, as part of a series of reviews of evidence to inform national public health guidance regarding community-based prevention of diabetes, we assessed the effectiveness and acceptability of community-based dietary and physical activity preventive interventions among low-SES groups in the UK.…”

Scottish Primary School Children Who Consume Greater Levels of Fruit and Vegetables Have Improved Health Markers

“…Pulses, beans and a 150 ml portion of fresh fruit juice each only count as one portion per day [1]. Most children of primary age fail to meet the level of F & V recommended by the WHO in many countries [8]- [16].…”