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Online canteens: awareness, use, barriers to use, and the acceptability of potential online strategies to improve public health nutrition in primary schools
Author(s) -
Wyse Rebecca,
Yoong Sze Lin,
Dodds Pennie,
Campbell Libby,
Delaney Tessa,
Nathan Nicole,
Janssen Lisa,
Reilly Kathryn,
Sutherland Rachel,
Wiggers John,
Wolfenden Luke
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he15095
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , public health , socioeconomic status , medicine , environmental health , the internet , medical education , computer assisted web interviewing , nursing , business , marketing , population , world wide web , computer science
Issue addressed This study of primary school principals assessed the awareness, use, barriers to use and acceptability of online canteens. Methods A telephone survey of 123 primary school principals within the Hunter New England Region of New South Wales, Australia was conducted from September 2014 to November 2014. Results Fifty‐six percent of principals were aware of the existence of online canteens, with 8% having implemented such a system, and 38% likely to do so in the future. Medium/large schools were more likely to be aware of or to use online canteens, however there were no differences in awareness or use in relation to school rurality or socioeconomic advantage. Principals cited parent internet access as the most commonly identified perceived barrier to online canteen use, and the majority of principals (71–93%) agreed that it would be acceptable to implement a range of consumer behaviour strategies via an online canteen. Conclusions Study findings suggest that despite relatively low levels of current use, online canteens have the potential to reach a large proportion of school communities in the future, across geographical and socioeconomic divides, and that the nutrition interventions which they have the capacity to deliver are considered acceptable to school principals. So what? Online canteens may represent an opportunity to deliver nutrition interventions to school communities. Future research should examine the feasibility and potential effectiveness of interventions delivered via this modality.