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Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools

Schools are increasingly using online pre-order systems for children to select school meals in advance. This study aimed to explore how children use and interact with these systems. Using a combination of direct observation and an online questionnaire, the operation of these systems in four UK prima...

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Autores principales: Alkhunain, Nahlah, Moore, Jennifer Bernadette, Ensaff, Hannah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35267926
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14050951
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author Alkhunain, Nahlah
Moore, Jennifer Bernadette
Ensaff, Hannah
author_facet Alkhunain, Nahlah
Moore, Jennifer Bernadette
Ensaff, Hannah
author_sort Alkhunain, Nahlah
collection PubMed
description Schools are increasingly using online pre-order systems for children to select school meals in advance. This study aimed to explore how children use and interact with these systems. Using a combination of direct observation and an online questionnaire, the operation of these systems in four UK primary schools was examined. This included how the menu options were displayed, how these were selected by children (4–11 years), and the interactions between children and others when making food selections. Where possible, most children pre-ordered their school lunch in the classroom, and differences in the food choice process among children were observed. These apparently related to children’s ages; older children (8–11 years) showed more independence when making food selections, whereas younger children were often supported by others. Most parents reported that their child was the decision maker when pre-ordering the school lunch, and the role of children in the selection of school lunches was evident. This may be accentuated by the online pre-order systems, and given the likely expansion of these systems in schools, there is an opportunity to implement interventions to influence children towards specific or different meal options from the school menu.
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spelling pubmed-89125612022-03-11 Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools Alkhunain, Nahlah Moore, Jennifer Bernadette Ensaff, Hannah Nutrients Article Schools are increasingly using online pre-order systems for children to select school meals in advance. This study aimed to explore how children use and interact with these systems. Using a combination of direct observation and an online questionnaire, the operation of these systems in four UK primary schools was examined. This included how the menu options were displayed, how these were selected by children (4–11 years), and the interactions between children and others when making food selections. Where possible, most children pre-ordered their school lunch in the classroom, and differences in the food choice process among children were observed. These apparently related to children’s ages; older children (8–11 years) showed more independence when making food selections, whereas younger children were often supported by others. Most parents reported that their child was the decision maker when pre-ordering the school lunch, and the role of children in the selection of school lunches was evident. This may be accentuated by the online pre-order systems, and given the likely expansion of these systems in schools, there is an opportunity to implement interventions to influence children towards specific or different meal options from the school menu. MDPI 2022-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8912561/ /pubmed/35267926 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14050951 Text en © 2022 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
Alkhunain, Nahlah
Moore, Jennifer Bernadette
Ensaff, Hannah
Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title_full Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title_fullStr Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title_full_unstemmed Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title_short Online Pre-Order Systems for School Lunches: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Schools
title_sort online pre-order systems for school lunches: insights from a cross-sectional study in primary schools
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35267926
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14050951
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