Making Meals Matter for Your School-Age Child: Health professional and parent program evaluation results
Overview
Making Meals Matter for Your School-Age Child is an eight-page booklet for parents of elementary students ages six through twelve. It is used by health professionals as a take away booklet following an appointment as well as group classes and individual counseling sessions. Health educators in schools use the booklet to encourage parents to prepare their families healthy meals and snacks. This is a nice extension to the wellness policies implemented in schools to encourage families and the community to adopt a lifestyle that will encourage improved long term health.
Dairy Council of California is committed to developing high-quality programs that can be adapted in a variety of settings. To determine the effectiveness of Making Meals Matter for Your School-Age Child, it was evaluated with the guidance of WestEd, an independent third party evaluator, with parents of second grade students. In this study, the booklets were sent home to half of the families to supplement a 10-lesson nutrition education program and evaluated the impact on students’ nutrition-related knowledge and food choices. Parents are inundated with information and it was positive that 53% of parents reported reading all of the booklet and 41% reported some of the booklet. Over 71% of parents reported that they used the booklet’s nutrition information when shopping for food. This is a critical behavioral improvement to improve their choices at the time of food purchases. Parent support of the information should encourage health professionals and educators to continue to prioritize nutrition education information to parents to reinforce healthy messages.
Students also completed surveys at the end of the classroom program and four months later to identify changes in nutrition knowledge and food choices. Students who received the booklet increased their accuracy on the food-classification questions. They were more likely than other students to correctly classify foods in the grains, breads and cereals group, the milk and milk products group, vegetable group and the category of extras (i.e. discretionary calories) at posttest. These results were also found for the correct classification of all but vegetables, at the four-month follow-up assessment as well. There was a positive change in reported food intake at posttest. Students reported eating more vegetables and cheese at posttest indicating a choice towards more food-group foods.
At the same time health professionals using Making Meals Matter for Your School-Age Child were surveyed to determine the ease of implementation and content appropriateness. The sample was randomly selected from a query of those who had ordered at least 50 booklets in the prior six months. Of the 140 health professionals emailed, 50 (36%) completed the survey. Respondents included Health Educators (12), Pediatricians (6), Nurse Practitioners (16) and Dietitians (14). Over half use the program in one-on-one parent sessions followed by health fairs, group sessions and as additional information sent home to parents. Feedback was very positive with 100% responding that the program addresses their clients’ needs and 98% agreed that the amount of information in the booklet was just right. Additional qualitative feedback indicated that the booklet contains good information that is attractively presented. The content is easy to read, concise and works well with or without explanation.
Health Professional Comments
- It presents the information in a booklet format that the parent can take with them and use as a reference.
- It gives me reinforcement on counseling and it is appealing to the eye.
- It is colorful, professional made and have lots of good information.
- Nice graphics that catch the eye and very simple to understand for our parents in the school district.
- The need for healthy foods and physical activity are the basis for good school achievement. This pamphlet serves as another tool to motivate parents/guardians.
View Making Meals Matter for Your School-Aged Child materials available for health professionals and educators