Fruit and vegetable availability: a micro environmental mediating variable?

Objectives: To explore direct associations between home and school availability of fruit and fruit intake, and the mediating role of attitude towards fruit, liking, perceived barriers and self-efficacy. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Primary schools in nine European countries. Subjects: Within the Pro Children study, data were collected on perceived home and school availability of fruit, psychosocial factors related to fruit intake and its frequency among 13 305 11-year-old schoolchildren. Results: Significant overall associations were found between child-reported home availability of fruit and fruit intake in all countries and in the total sample. School availability of fruit was associated with fruit intake in the pooled sample and in country-specific analyses in Sweden and the Netherlands. Liking (13?2-49?4 %) and self-efficacy (14?0-25?1 %) were the strongest mediators in the home availabilityfruit intake relationship, but there was also a direct association between home availability and fruit intake, except in Spain and the Netherlands. Mediating pathways of the school availability-fruit intake relationship could only be assessed for Norway, Sweden and the total sample. Attitude was a significant mediator in Norway (80?4 %) and in Sweden (25?3 %), while in the total sample also liking (38?7 %) and self-efficacy (23?0 %) were identified as significant mediators. Conclusions: The association between home availability of fruit and fruit intake is at least partly mediated by personal factors such as liking and self-efficacy indicates that fruit intake is not a complete automatic or unconscious behaviour.

“…Other studies also showed that home availability and taste preferences are among the strongest factors that are related to children's and adolescents' fruit intake (20,26,32,35,36) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Direct and indirect association between environmental factors and fruit intake, mediation by psychosocial factors: the Pro Children study

Wind

Velde

Brug

et al. 2010

“…These results indicate that the children had positive food environmental conditions and strong support from their parents before the start of the intervention. Several past studies indicated that the availability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables is a fundamental condition to develop healthy eating habits (19,24,26,56,(72)(73)(74)(75)(76) , but the results of that previous research also suggest that availability and accessibility is likely not enough without the improvement of psychosocial variables such as motivation (66) , self-efficacy (77)(78)(79) and perceived parental social support (80,81) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using a mixed-methods approach to measure impact of a school-based nutrition and media education intervention study on fruit and vegetable intake of Italian children

Grassi

Evans²,

Ranjit³

et al. 2016

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a school-based nutrition and media education intervention on the promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption to help prevent childhood obesity. Design: The 10-week-long intervention included sessions on nutrition education and media literacy. It also included a health communication media-based campaign workshop during which the children created posters, newsletters and video commercials related to fruits and vegetables targeted to their parents. For evaluation purposes, the study utilized a mixed-methods approach, including a quasi-experimental study (with one intervention group and one control group) and a focus group study. Setting: Four different elementary schools in Treviso (Veneto Region of Italy) agreed to participate in the research. Subjects: The target population for the study included 10-year-old Italian children and their parents. Results: Data indicate that this intervention was effective for children but not for parents. Evaluation results show that the intervention was effective in significantly increasing children's fruit and vegetable intake (P < 0·05) and all psychosocial determinants (P < 0·05). Conclusions: The study results confirm the efficacy of a school-based health and media education intervention to address the children's obesity issue and, in particular, to increase children's fruit and vegetable intake. The study also opens a new perspective on the theoretical constructs investigated, because the development of 'ability of expression' could be considered one of the most important factors to determine the efficacy of the intervention.

“…There is also no information about the association between fruit and vegetable availability and consumption among this group (19) . As availability is likely higher in this group (21) , examination of whether availability is associated with intake and the strength of any association would provide further information on the possible importance of home availability as a target for intervention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption and home availability of fruit and vegetables among Greek primary-school children

Koui

Jago

2008

Self Cite

Objective: To examine whether the self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption of Greek primary-school children is associated with the home availability of fruit and vegetables. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Five primary schools in the city of Pyrgos in south-west Greece. Subjects: One hundred and sixty-seven students in fifth and sixth grades. Methods: Fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed using an FFQ. Home availability of fruit and vegetables was assessed using a modified version of a US home availability questionnaire. Participant BMI was assessed and parental education obtained by self-report. Hierarchical regression models that took account of the clustering of participants in schools were used to examine the relationship between consumption and availability after controlling for parental education and BMI. Results: Regression analyses showed that home availability of fruit was a significant predictor of consumption (b 5 0?524, Z 5 9?77, P , 0?001) in a model that explained 46 % of the overall variance. Home availability of vegetables was a significant predictor of vegetable intake (b 5 0?378, Z 5 6?23, P , 0?001) in a model that explained 29 % of the overall variance.