Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The number of overweight and obese children is on the rise around the world and in Canada. It is thought that, as Canadian children spend a large part of their lives in schools, availability of foods high in sugar, fat, and salt in schools has contributed to this epidemic. To address this critical public health issue, a number of provinces have developed guidelines around what foods should and should not be available for children in public schools. British Columbia (BC) has released an updated set of guidelines to be fully in place in schools by the fall of 2014. Each school board and school has a significant amount of freedom to choose how they meet the nutritional guidelines. This study will focus on 1) ways in which Vancouver public schools, each with their own unique setting, are meeting the guidelines, and 2) how parents, students and other key school staff perceive the new guidelines to gain a better understanding of ways schools can be supported to ensure availability of healthy foods for students. Specific cases of Vancouver public schools and their progress towards meeting the nutritional guidelines will be examined. I will collect information from key people involved in the development of the guidelines, school administrators, decision-makers, school staff, parents, students, and through spending significant time at each school. The overall aim of this project is to provide insight for municipal and provincial decision-makers into what strategies to improve availability of healthy foods in schools will likely be successful. Only by determining what is working and the challenges schools face in adhering to the nutritional guidelines can this type of intervention serve its full potential and be effective both for children now and in their futures. This research will not only be informative for British Columbia but also for other provinces hoping to develop or improve their own nutritional guidelines.