Stakeholder support for school food policy expansions.
The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which parents and school-based stakeholders (principals, teachers, canteen managers and Parents & Citizen Committee presidents) are supportive of potential expansions to a new school food policy. Eight additional policy components elicited in preliminary focus groups with parents and 19 additional policy components elicited from interviews with school stakeholders (including the eight also elicited from parents) were presented to 1200 parents and 607 school stakeholders, respectively. Each of the 8 potential policy components presented to parents was supported by more than two-thirds of parents, and 13 of the 19 policy components presented to school stakeholders received support from around two-thirds or more of the school stakeholder respondents. For all eight common policy components, parents exhibited significantly higher levels of support than school stakeholders. This information is of value to policy makers in their deliberations relating to the appropriate nature and timing of school food policy modifications.
Health Promotion Evaluation Unit, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. simone.pettigrew@uwa.edu.au
Simone
S
Pettigrew
Melanie
M
Pescud
Robert J
RJ
Donovan
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005522:Food Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011050:Policy Making; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult