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Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project

School-based nutrition programs are crucial to reducing food insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted students’ school meal participation. This study seeks to understand parent views of school meals during COVID-19 to inform efforts to improve participation in school meal programs. Photo...

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Autores principales: Sohlberg, Tatum M., Higuchi, Emma C., Ordonez, Valeria M., Escobar, Gabriela V., De La Rosa, Ashley, Islas, Genoveva, Castro, Cecilia, Hecht, Kenneth, Hecht, Christina E., Bruce, Janine S., Patel, Anisha I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005543/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904087
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15051087
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author Sohlberg, Tatum M.
Higuchi, Emma C.
Ordonez, Valeria M.
Escobar, Gabriela V.
De La Rosa, Ashley
Islas, Genoveva
Castro, Cecilia
Hecht, Kenneth
Hecht, Christina E.
Bruce, Janine S.
Patel, Anisha I.
author_facet Sohlberg, Tatum M.
Higuchi, Emma C.
Ordonez, Valeria M.
Escobar, Gabriela V.
De La Rosa, Ashley
Islas, Genoveva
Castro, Cecilia
Hecht, Kenneth
Hecht, Christina E.
Bruce, Janine S.
Patel, Anisha I.
author_sort Sohlberg, Tatum M.
collection PubMed
description School-based nutrition programs are crucial to reducing food insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted students’ school meal participation. This study seeks to understand parent views of school meals during COVID-19 to inform efforts to improve participation in school meal programs. Photovoice methodology was used to explore parental perception of school meals in San Joaquin Valley, California, a region of predominately Latino farmworker communities. Parents in seven school districts photographed school meals for a one-week period during the pandemic and then participated in focus group discussions and small group interviews. Focus group discussions and small group interviews were transcribed, and data were analyzed using a team-based, theme-analysis approach. Three primary domains emerged: benefits of school meal distribution, meal quality and appeal, and perceived healthfulness. Parents perceived school meals as beneficial to addressing food insecurity. However, they noted that meals were unappealing, high in added sugar, and unhealthy, which led to discarded meals and decreased participation in the school meal program. The transition to grab-and-go style meals was an effective strategy for providing food to families during pandemic school closures, and school meals remain an important resource for families experiencing food insecurity. However, negative parental perceptions of the appeal and nutritional content of school meals may have decreased school meal participation and increased food waste that could persist beyond the pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-100055432023-03-11 Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project Sohlberg, Tatum M. Higuchi, Emma C. Ordonez, Valeria M. Escobar, Gabriela V. De La Rosa, Ashley Islas, Genoveva Castro, Cecilia Hecht, Kenneth Hecht, Christina E. Bruce, Janine S. Patel, Anisha I. Nutrients Article School-based nutrition programs are crucial to reducing food insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted students’ school meal participation. This study seeks to understand parent views of school meals during COVID-19 to inform efforts to improve participation in school meal programs. Photovoice methodology was used to explore parental perception of school meals in San Joaquin Valley, California, a region of predominately Latino farmworker communities. Parents in seven school districts photographed school meals for a one-week period during the pandemic and then participated in focus group discussions and small group interviews. Focus group discussions and small group interviews were transcribed, and data were analyzed using a team-based, theme-analysis approach. Three primary domains emerged: benefits of school meal distribution, meal quality and appeal, and perceived healthfulness. Parents perceived school meals as beneficial to addressing food insecurity. However, they noted that meals were unappealing, high in added sugar, and unhealthy, which led to discarded meals and decreased participation in the school meal program. The transition to grab-and-go style meals was an effective strategy for providing food to families during pandemic school closures, and school meals remain an important resource for families experiencing food insecurity. However, negative parental perceptions of the appeal and nutritional content of school meals may have decreased school meal participation and increased food waste that could persist beyond the pandemic. MDPI 2023-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10005543/ /pubmed/36904087 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15051087 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sohlberg, Tatum M.
Higuchi, Emma C.
Ordonez, Valeria M.
Escobar, Gabriela V.
De La Rosa, Ashley
Islas, Genoveva
Castro, Cecilia
Hecht, Kenneth
Hecht, Christina E.
Bruce, Janine S.
Patel, Anisha I.
Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title_full Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title_fullStr Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title_full_unstemmed Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title_short Parent Perception of School Meals in the San Joaquin Valley during COVID-19: A Photovoice Project
title_sort parent perception of school meals in the san joaquin valley during covid-19: a photovoice project
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005543/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904087
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15051087
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