Effects of School Gardens on Children's Diet, Nutritional Knowledge, Etc.
- Conditions
- Dietary Habits
- Interventions
- Behavioral: garden intervention
- Registration Number
- NCT02166034
- Lead Sponsor
- Cornell University
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether school gardens influence children's dietary intake, nutritional knowledge, and other outcomes.
- Detailed Description
Schools in New York, Washington State, Iowa, and Arkansas were randomly assigned to receive school gardens and associated curriculum or to serve on the wait list control group that received gardens and curriculum at the end of the 2-year study. Baseline data were collected in Fall 2011. Garden interventions began in Spring 2012. Follow-up data were collected at 6, 12, 18 months following baseline data collection.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 3531
- Schools had at least 50% of enrolled children qualifying for free + reduced price meals (FRPM)
- Schools did not already have a school garden.
none.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description garden intervention garden intervention Schools assigned to the garden intervention receive raised bed garden kits and access to a toolkit of garden-based curriculum
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method change in fruit + vegetable intake at school change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months Children's lunch trays are photographed before and after lunch for 3 days at each wave of data collection. Digital Food Image Analysis software computes grams of fruit and grams of vegetables consumed for each pair of lunch tray photos.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method change in Nutritional Knowledge change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months In the classroom, children complete a 7-item multiple choice questionnaire developed by the Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth curriculum development team. The questionnaire includes items about plant science (e.g., Which part of the plant uses the sun's energy to make food? root, stem, leaf, flower) and nutrition (e.g., Which nutrient supplies our bodies with energy? fiber, carbohydrates, water, vitamins). Data represent the number of correct answers.
Garden Intervention Fidelity At 3 garden intervention time points -- 6, 12, 18 months after baseline fruit + vegetables planted, harvested; methods of fruit and vegetable distribution; and garden-based lessons delivered to the class are measures at each wave of data collection from Fall 2011 to Spring 2013.
change fruit & vegetable consumption at home change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months. change in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) self efficacy change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months. In the classroom, children complete a 15-item questionnaire, derived from the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI) (Arnold \& Bourdeau, 2009) and the Iowa 4-H Science Youth Self-Assessment (Staker, 2011). Items include, for example: "I can do an experiment to answer a question" and "I can develop a plan for a good garden I want to plant" with response options "Disagree." "Not Sure." or "Agree" denoted 1, 2, or 3 respectively. The STEM self-efficacy score range is thus 15-45, with higher scores indicating that participant has stronger positive beliefs in their abilities to use STEM to solve problems.
Trial Locations
- Locations (4)
Schools in Arkansas
🇺🇸Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Schools in Iowa
🇺🇸Osceola, Iowa, United States
Schools in New York State
🇺🇸Ithaca, New York, United States
Schools in Washington State
🇺🇸Tacoma, Washington, United States