Pediatric Adapted Liking Survey (PALS) with Tailored Nutrition Education Messages: Application to a Middle School Setting

We tested the feasibility of a school-based, liking-based behavioral screener (Pediatric Adapted Liking Survey (PALS)) and message program to motivate healthy diet and activity behaviors. Students, recruited from middle- (n = 195) or low-income (n = 310) schools, online-reported: likes/dislikes of foods/beverages and physical/sedentary activities, scored into healthy behavior indexes (HBI); perceived food insecurity; and sleep indicators. Students received tailored motivating or reinforcing messages (aligned with behavior change theories) and indicated their willingness to improve target behaviors as well as program feasibility (acceptability; usefulness). Although HBIs averaged lower in the lower versus middle-income school, frequencies of food insecurity were similar (39–44% of students). Students in both schools reported sleep concerns (middle-income school—43% reported insufficient hours of sleep/night; low-income school—55% reported excessive daytime sleepiness). Students across both schools confirmed the PALS acceptability (>85% agreement to answering questions quickly and completion without help) and usefulness (≥73% agreed PALS got them thinking about their behaviors) as well as the tailored message acceptability (≥73% reported the messages as helpful; learning new information; wanting to receive more messages) and usefulness (73% reported “liking” to try one behavioral improvement). Neither message type nor response varied significantly by food insecurity or sleep measures. Thus, this program feasibly delivered students acceptable and useful messages to motivate healthier behaviors and identified areas for school-wide health promotion.