The Comfortable Cafeteria Program for Promoting Student Participation and Enjoyment: An Outcome Study

Abstract

A mixed-methods design was used to explore the outcomes of a 6-wk, occupational therapist-led Comfortable Cafeteria program designed to build cafeteria supervisors' and students' capacity to create a positive mealtime environment so that all students can successfully participate in and enjoy a healthy meal and socialization with peers. Students whose scores were in the low and mid-range at the outset had statistically significant improvements in pretest-posttest visual analog scale ratings of participation and enjoyment. Cafeteria supervisors demonstrated statistically significant improvements in their perceptions of knowledge and skills to supervise and to encourage healthy eating. Qualitative findings add further insight into the program, suggesting that students learned prosocial values (e.g., being kind, helping others), supervisors actively encouraged positive social interaction, and occupational therapists enjoyed implementing the program and recognized positive supervisor and student changes as a result of integrating services in the cafeteria.

Children's mental health promotion: The need for intersectorial and interprofessional collaboration

“…Applicability to the Aotearoa context was mindfully attended to. Themes from the survey results showed an increased confidence in using a public health approach to promote children's mental health and increased knowledge about how to effectively embed strategies to foster successful participation in the classroom, school, home or community settings, which is consistent with previous EMC research (Bazyk et al, 2018a). Interview data added a depth of meaning to the findings from the survey and due to the longitudinal nature of the study, practice realities about implementing the IP education after the initial workshops were collected.…”

“…Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) have high rates of suicide and mental health issues impacting children and adults (Australian Government: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2023; Office of the Chief Coroner of New Zealand, 2022). Schools offer a convenient and feasible location for the wide‐spread delivery of preventative interventions to children (Bazyk et al, 2018a; Raval et al, 2019; Stallard & Buck, 2013). Since the Christchurch earthquakes, a number of regional programs have been developed that promote children's mental health with an interagency approach.…”

“…EMC emphasizes embedding strategies to promote positive mental health throughout the day, in classrooms, at lunch, recess, and during afterschool leisure time. This IP education offered an evidence-based, multi-tiered approach to mental health promotion and activities for building capacity of the children's workforce (Bazyk et al, 2015a(Bazyk et al, , 2018b. The multi-tiered approach was consistent with a universal design for learning framework, emphasizing school-wide interventions and acknowledging interventions targeting at-risk groups or individual level strategies (Ministry of Education, 2019).…”

Autism spectrum disorder: How can occupational therapists support schools?

“…Inspiration could be drawn from the Every Moment Counts program (Bazyk, n.d.), which promotes mental health in school youths. Indeed, an evaluation of one program component demonstrated the effectiveness of creating a positive environment to improve student participation, along with their appreciation of cafeteria meals (Bazyk, Demirrjian, Horvath, & Doxsey, 2018).…”

A Call to the Front: Occupational Therapy Practice in Addressing School Bullying

“…Working from an interprofessional approach would enable therapists to contribute to existing universal school-wide and classroom practices. They could provide education and resources to school staff about inclusive anti-bullying approaches (e.g., how to modify the components and delivery methods of anti-bullying programs to be accessible for students with disabilities to participate) and implement activity-based programs (e.g., comfortable cafeteria program, Bazyk et al, 2018) with school staff to ensure programs foster engagement for all students. At the individual student level, therapists can raise awareness for the need for preventive efforts for at-risk subpopulations of students, including students with disabilities, and work with bullied students to manage the impact on school participation.…”