Grant: Operating Grant

Improving the eating habits of children and teenagers is a public health priority in Canada, particularly given increasing rates of obesity and nutrition-related health conditions such as type 2 diabetes. However, nutrition education interventions to date have had little success in improving what adolescents eat. Interventions would be improved with more detailed knowledge about how dietary choices are impacted by the school context where adolescents spend much of their time. We are therefore seeking funding for a study in Vancouver schools to explore what and where students eat on school days, how and why dietary practices change when students transition to secondary school and how food choices are shaped by the food environment at school (including the policies, programs and types of foods available in and around schools). This study will build on an ongoing SSHRC-funded community-based research project already underway in Vancouver schools that is initiating changes in school classrooms, cafeterias and gardens to improve the quality of school food and students' knowledge of where food comes from. CIHR funding will allow us to implement a web-based questionnaire to assess food-related knowledge, attitudes, experiences and practices among students and to conduct focus groups with students. We will combine these novel data with previously collected information about the school food environment. This study will therefore identify key school-level characteristics that are associated with student-level dietary outcomes and will take advantage of this unique opportunity to inform emerging school policies and interventions to improve the eating habits of Canadian adolescents.