Improving children's nutrition environments: A survey of adoption and implementation of nutrition guidelines in recreational facilities

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Kim D Raine¹  Linda J McCargar²  Shauna M Downs²  Dana Lee Olstad³  Tanya R Berry⁴ 

[1] Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, 2-021D Li Ka Shing Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2E1, Edmonton, USA;Centre for Health Promotion Studies, 1001 College Plaza, AB T6G 2C8, Edmonton, USA;Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, 2-021D Li Ka Shing Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2E1, Edmonton, USA;Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 4-10 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2P5, Edmonton, USA;Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, 2-021D Li Ka Shing Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2E1, Edmonton, USA;Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 4-10 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2P5, Edmonton, USA;Centre for Health Promotion Studies, 1001 College Plaza, AB T6G 2C8, Edmonton, USA;Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, 2-021D Li Ka Shing Centre, University of Alberta, AB T6G 2E1, Edmonton, USA;Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, 6-37 General Services Building, AB T6G 2H1, Edmonton, USA;

关键词: childhood obesity;    childhood obesity prevention;    recreational facilities;    food environment;    nutrition guidelines;    Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-423

 received in 2010-12-15, accepted in 2011-06-01,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAlthough the mandate of recreational facilities is to enhance well-being, many offer foods inconsistent with recommendations for healthy eating. Little is known regarding recreational facility food environments and how they might be improved, as few studies exist. The Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth (ANGCY) are intended to ensure access to healthy food choices in schools, childcare and recreational facilities. This study investigated awareness, adoption and implementation of the ANGCY among recreational facilities in Alberta, Canada, one year following their release.MethodsA cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted from June - December, 2009 (n = 151) with managers of publicly funded recreational facilities that served food. The questionnaire included 10 closed and 7 open ended questions to assess the organizational priority for healthy eating, awareness, adoption and implementation of the ANGCY. Chi-squared tests examined quantitative variables, while qualitative data were analysed using directed content analysis. Greenhalgh's model of diffusion of complex innovations within health service organizations constituted the theoretical framework for the study.ResultsOne half of respondents had heard of the ANGCY, however their knowledge of them was limited. Although 51% of facilities had made changes to improve the nutritional quality of foods offered in the past year, only a small fraction (11%) of these changes were motivated by the ANGCY. At the time of the survey, 14% of facilities had adopted the ANGCY and 6% had implemented them. Barriers to adoption and implementation were primarily related to perceived negative attributes of the ANGCY, the inner (organizational) context, and negative feedback received during the implementation process. Managers strongly perceived that implementing nutrition guidelines would limit their profit-making ability.ConclusionsIf fully adopted and implemented, the ANGCY have the potential to make a significant and sustained contribution to improving the recreational facility food environment, however one year following their release, awareness, adoption and implementation of the ANGCY remained low. A mandated policy approach could offer an efficacious, cost-effective means of improving the food environment within recreational facilities.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Olstad et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.