Making sense of eating, weight and risk in the early teenage years: views and concerns of parents in poorer socio-economic circumstances

Peer reviewe

Children’s Food and Drink Purchasing Behaviour ‘‘Beyond the School Gate’’ : The Development of a Survey Module

Copyright © 2013 Wendy J.Wills et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedMany children eat a diet which supplies a higher than recommended amount of nonmilk extrinsic sugars and saturated fatty acids. The school setting is often targeted for nutrition intervention as many children consume food at school. In Scotland, attempts have been made to improve the nutritional content of food in schools and attention has now turned to food and drink available “beyond the school gate.” This paper describes the development of a module on food and drink purchasing behaviour. The Food Purchasing Module was designed to collect data, for the first time, from a representative sample of children aged 8–16 years about food and drinks purchased on the way to/from school, during break time/free periods, and at lunchtime, from outlets around schools. Cognitive testing of the module highlighted that younger children find self-completion questionnaires problematic. Older children have fewer problems with self-completion questionnaires butmany do not follow question routing, which has implications for the delivery of future surveys. Development of this survey module adds much needed evidence about effectively involving children in surveys. Further research exploring food and drinks purchased beyond the school gate is needed to continue to improve the nutritional quality of children’s dietsPeer reviewe

Adventures in flipping a course: how fiscal constraints, student complaints and colleague skepticism helped me achieve my goal

Many of us have heard about the “flipped” classroom, where students first learn about a subject outside of the classroom, and class time is used for application/group work. And we’ve probably all heard of the power of active learning. But logistics, resource limitations and student attitudes can often appear insurmountable obstacles to adopting such strategies. After participants brainstorm the diverse challenges to flipping a course, I’ll describe my 4-year “adventure” in flipping an introductory microbiology course. Created as part of a curriculum restructuring, this new course was designed to have students “learn by doing”. However beyond the laboratory exercises, the reality of limited resources, support, time and much higher enrolment than forecast, all became perceived obstacles to accomplishing these goals. I will describe how, through an iterative process, and relying on diverse collaborations beyond the bounds of the department and university, we arrived at a scalable course design that requires little to no additional resources, is designed to promote student success and engagement, and can be undertaken by even the most skeptical future instructor. The course begins gently, with a few weeks of traditional lecture combined with non-graded active learning group work in the classroom, and traditional laboratory exercises. The students then transition to a fully flipped experience, with class/laboratory sessions used for group work/peer instruction, and a case study that includes laboratory investigations. Following presentation of this case study, participants will reflect on, and share, possible strategies to resolve at least some of the challenges with their own courses

Food, eating and taste : parents' perspectives on the making of the middle class teenager

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02779536 Copyright Elsevier Ltd.This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of views and understandings of dietary practices in middle class families. Thirty five parents/main food providers of boys and girls aged 13/14 years, living in Eastern Scotland, were interviewed about their and their teenagers’ everyday lives, food, health and family practices. One of our aims was to understand more about the social and cultural conditions which might be promoting more positive dietary health and physical well-being amongst middle class families. Most parents’ accounts appeared rooted in a taken-for-grantedness that family members enjoyed good health, lived in relatively secure and unthreatening environments regarding health and resources, and were able to lead active lives, which they valued. Although controlling teenagers’ eating practices was presented as an ongoing challenge, active supervision and surveillance of their diets was described, as was guiding tastes in ‘the right direction’. Parents described attempts to achieve family eating practices such as commensality, cooking from scratch, and encouraging a varied and nutritional ‘adult’ diet and cosmopolitan tastes, though work and activities could compromise these. These middle class families might be characterized as having future oriented ‘hierarchies of luxury and choice’, in which controlling and moulding teenagers’ food practices and tastes was assigned a high priority.Peer reviewe

'I don't think I ever had food poisoning' : A practice-based approach to understanding foodborne disease that originates in the home

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).Food stored, prepared, cooked and eaten at home contributes to foodborne disease which, globally, presents a significant public health burden. The aim of the study reported here was to investigate, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices in order to provide fresh insight about how the domestic setting might influence food safety. Using current theories of practice meant the research, which drew on qualitative and ethnographic methods, could investigate people and material things in the domestic kitchen setting whilst taking account of people's actions, values, experiences and beliefs. Data from 20 UK households revealed the extent to which kitchens are used for a range of nonfood related activities and the ways that foodwork extends beyond the boundaries of the kitchen. The youngest children, the oldest adults and the family pets all had agency in the kitchen, which has implications for preventing foodborne disease. What was observed, filmed and photographed was not a single practice but a series of entangled encounters and actions embedded and repeated, often inconsistently, by the individuals involved. Households derived logics and principles about foodwork that represented rules of thumb about 'how things are done' that included using the senses and experiential knowledge when judging whether food is safe to eat. Overall, food safety was subsumed within the practice of 'being' a household and living everyday life in the kitchen. Current theories of practice are an effective way of understanding foodborne disease and offer a novel approach to exploring food safety in the home.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Socioeconomic Differences and the Potential Role of Tribes in Young People's Food and Drink Purchasing Outside School at Lunchtime

Socioeconomic deprivation has been linked to food consumption practices, but studies investigating the food environment around schools provide mixed findings. Peer influence and marketing cues are considered important influencers of young people's behaviors. This study used a tribal theory lens to investigate the factors affecting pupils' purchasing and consumption of food/drinks outside schools at lunchtime. A survey was conducted with 243 pupils from seven UK secondary schools of differing socioeconomic status (SES). A purchasing recall questionnaire (PRQ) was developed and administered online at the participating schools to capture food and drink purchasing, intake, and expenditure. No significant differences were found in terms of energy and nutrients consumed or food/drink expenditure between pupils from schools of lower and higher SES. Enjoyment of food shopping with friends was linked with higher food energy intake and spend. Higher susceptibility to peer influence was associated with greater influence from food advertising and endorsements. Without ignoring the impact that SES can have on young people's food choices, we suggest that tribal theory can be additionally used to understand pupils' eating behaviors and we present implications for social marketers and policy makers

Food security and food practices in later life : a new model of vulnerability

© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.The older population is particularly susceptible to malnutrition, which currently affects 1.3 million people aged 65+ in the United Kingdom. Malnutrition is an outcome of food insecurity and despite demographic changes that have led to a rise in numbers of older people, we know very little about how older people become vulnerable to food insecurity. The aim of this study was therefore to explore older people's everyday food practices in order to expose the strengths and challenges within local and national food systems, and better understand how food insecurity might arise in later life. This empirical study operationalised practice theory using a multi-method ethnographic approach with 25 households aged 60–94 years, comprising interviews, observation, visual methods and food logs. A model of vulnerability developed by Schröder-Butterfill and Marianti framed data collection and analysis. Analysis revealed the assets and adaptations older households used to protect themselves from threats to food security. Factors ranging from changes to physical and mental health, and structural factors such as supermarket design, moved households towards food insecurity. Smaller everyday ‘trivia’, e.g. lack of seating and accessible toilets in supermarkets, accumulated to shift people towards vulnerability. Vulnerability is structured by the habitus but is a fluid, relational, temporal and socially constructed state, and people moved towards and away from vulnerability. We have developed a model that accommodates this fluidity, incorporates the concept of ‘cumulative trivia’ and suggests how the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ could counter-balance and address trivial threats. This model demonstrates to policy makers and those working in public health how vulnerability to food insecurity operates and where interventions could be applied to support households to achieve food security and avoid becoming malnourishedPeer reviewe

Patterns of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption amongst young people aged 13–15 years during the school day in Scotland

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Background There is currently little research regarding sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption patterns of young people though adolescents are thought to be frequent consumers of these drinks. There is no research regarding the other foods and drinks consumed alongside SSBs by young people. The aim of this paper is to explore the patterns of SSB purchase and consumption amongst young people aged 13–15 years. Methods A purchasing recall questionnaire (PRQ) was administered online in seven case study schools with 535 young people aged 13–15 years. Nutrient composition (kilocalories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugar) was also calculated for food/drink purchases. Chi-Square and Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney tests were conducted to examine patterns of SSB consumption and sugar/kilocalories consumption for SSB consumers and non-consumers. Results SSB consumers were significantly more likely to consume a drink at mid-morning break. Fewer consumed food at mid-morning break, ate food before school or ate food at lunchtime, but this was not statistically significant. A higher percentage of SSB consumers consumed ‘unhealthy’ food and drinks in comparison to young people who did not consume a SSB. Both median lunchtime sugar consumption (40.7 g vs 10.2 g) and median sugar as a percentage of Kcals (39% vs 14%) were significantly higher for SSB purchasers in comparison to non-purchasers. Conclusion The analysis highlights that SSB purchasers consume significantly more sugar at lunchtime than non-purchasers. However, both purchasers and non-purchasers exceeded WHO (2015) recommendations that sugar consumption be halved to form no more than 5% of daily energy intake. This study provides new insights for public health stakeholders and schools. Multifaceted and inventive strategies relevant to young people will be required to WHO recommendations.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Socio-economic differences in diet, physical activity and leisure-time screen use among Scottish children in 2006 and 2010: are we closing the gap?

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Objectives: To investigate socio-economic differences in children’s diet, activity and inactivity and changes in these differences over 4 years during which new policies on food in schools were introduced. Design: Two cross-sectional surveys in which diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaire and physical activity and inactivity were assessed by interviewer-administered questionnaire. Socio-economic status was assessed by the area-based Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Setting: Scotland, 2006 and 2010. Subjects: 1,700 3-17 year olds in 2006 and 1,906 in 2010. Results: In both surveys there were significant linear associations between socio-economic deprivation and intakes of energy, non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) as % food energy, sugar-sweetened beverages, confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks and leisure-time screen use (all higher among children in more deprived areas) while intakes of fruit, fruit juice and vegetables showed the opposite trend. In 2010 children in more deprived areas engaged in more physical activity out of school than those in more affluent areas but between 2006 and 2010 there was an overall reduction in physical activity out of school. There was also a small but statistically significant overall reduction in intakes of confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, energy and NMES and saturated fat as % food energy, but no statistically significant change in socio-economic gradients in diet or activity between the two surveys. Conclusions: Interventions to improve diet and physical activity in children in Scotland need to be designed so as to be effective in all socio-economic groups.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio