Effectiveness of Taste Lessons with and without additional experiential learning activities on children's psychosocial determinants of vegetables consumption.
Experiential learning methods seem to be promising to enhance healthy eating behaviour in children. Therefore, this study compared the effectiveness of the Dutch programme Taste Lessons with and without additional experiential learning activities on children's psychosocial determinants of vegetable consumption. In a quasi-experimental design, 800 children aged 8-11 years old from 34 elementary schools participated in a Taste Lessons (TL: 5 lessons) group, a Taste Lessons Vegetable Menu (TLVM: TL with 3 added experiential learning activities) group, and a control group. During a baseline and follow-up measurement, children completed a questionnaire on psychosocial determinants towards vegetables consumption. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to compare changes in the determinants between the TLVM group and the TL group, and between the two intervention groups and the control group. The TLVM group showed a significantly higher increase in knowledge (p < 0.001), attitude and subjective norm of the teacher (both p < 0.05), whereas the TL group only showed a significantly higher increase in knowledge (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Increases in knowledge (p < 0.10), subjective norm (p < 0.10) and cooking self-efficacy (p < 0.05) were higher in the TLVM group than in the TL group. Therefore, more and stronger effects were found in children who participated in the additional hands-on activities.
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: marieke_fries@hotmail.com.
Marieke C E
MC
Battjes-Fries
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: annemien.haveman@wur.nl.
Annemien
A
Haveman-Nies
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: ellen.vandongen@wur.nl.
Ellen J I
EJ
van Dongen
Steunpunt Smaaklessen & EU-Schoolfruit, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: hantemeester@hotmail.com.
Hante J
HJ
Meester
Steunpunt Smaaklessen & EU-Schoolfruit, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: rinelle.vandentop@wur.nl.
Rinelle
R
van den Top-Pullen
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: kees.degraaf@wur.nl.
Kees
K
de Graaf
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: pieter.vantveer@wur.nl.
Pieter
P
van 't Veer
D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D014675:Vegetables
Effect evaluation; Experiential learning; Nutrition education; Psychosocial determinants; Vegetable consumption