PLATE WASTE IN SCHOOL LUNCH: BARRIERS, MOTIVATORS AND PERSPECTIVES OF EARLY ADOLESCENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
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2019
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Objective: The aim of this project was to determine barriers, motivators, and perspectives about plate waste of early adolescents in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in Hawai'i, Montana and Virginia.
Design: A semi-structured interview guide was developed and pilot tested with three participants. Trained interviewers conducted audio-recorded individual interviews with adolescents (n=47) from Hawai‘i, Montana, and Virginia. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. A codebook was devised using existing literature on barriers, motivators, and perspectives on reducing school lunch plate waste in the US. Two researchers coded three transcripts individually using NVivo software to determine interrater reliability and calculated an average Cohen's Kappa coefficient. With an average Cohen's Kappa coefficient of 0.68, the two coders then coded all transcripts independently. New codes were added to the codebook on the basis of emerging themes. Key themes were evaluated by the two coders separately. In discussion, the two agreed on final themes and collectively summarized the results.
Setting: Elementary schools implementing National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in Hawai'i, Montana, and Virginia.
Participants: Early adolescents (n=47, 9-13 years) from families receiving or eligible to receive the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were recruited to participate.
Phenomenon of Interest: Factors influencing plate waste among adolescents and potential plate waste reduction strategies.
Analysis: Coders analyzed content and thematic data to identify code categories and themes.
Results: The main barriers to the reduction of school lunch plate waste were unsupportive school policy, undesirable food quality, satiation, and social influences. The key motivators to help reduce school lunch plate waste were supportive school policy, including allowing students to share food with peers and save food to eat later; and social influences. Perspectives on the reduction of school lunch waste were: participants found it acceptable to throw away disliked food, unacceptable to throw away wanted food, perceived their peers did not care if food was thrown away, and their parents disliked wasting food.
Conclusion and Implications: Results suggest several factors might allow for minimization of school lunch plate waste in the NSLP, including improvements in food quality, food policy and social influences. Under these key themes, strategies to employ may include improving food preparation, food taste, allocating more time for students to finish their lunches, allowing students to self-select food lunch items, and to share and save their leftover foods.
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Nutrition
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67 pages
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