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The Role of School Design in Shaping Healthy Eating‐Related Attitudes, Practices, and Behaviors Among School Staff
Author(s) -
Frerichs Leah,
Brittin Jeri,
IntolubbeChmil Loren,
Trowbridge Matthew,
Sorensen Dina,
Huang Terry T.K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12347
Subject(s) - mcnemar's test , physical space , psychology , healthy eating , space (punctuation) , medical education , medicine , physical activity , physical therapy , linguistics , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , cartography , geography
BACKGROUND Schools have increasing responsibility to address healthy eating, but physical barriers influence their ability to adopt and sustain recommended strategies. We took advantage of a natural experiment to investigate the role of the physical environment in shaping healthy eating attitudes and practices among school staff members. METHODS A school district consolidated its elementary schools and incorporated architectural features to support healthy eating into a building renovation. Surveys along with structured, in‐depth interviews were administered prior to and at 12 months postoccupancy. Paired t ‐tests and McNemar 's tests were used to analyze changes in survey indices and interview data were coded for themes. RESULTS The school implemented new policies and programs, including staff wellness activities. There was a significant decrease in the percent of teachers with a high‐fat diet (from 73.68% to 57.14%, p < .05). Many physical barriers were removed but new challenges emerged, and staff varied in their awareness and comfort with using the new healthy eating features. CONCLUSIONS We found promising evidence that school architecture can support a school to address healthy eating. To enhance influence of the physical environment, more research is merited to test complementary strategies such as improving ownership of space and increasing self‐efficacy to manage space.