Effects of School Gardens on Children's Diet, Nutritional Knowledge, Etc.

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to determine whether school gardens influence children's dietary intake, nutritional knowledge, and other outcomes.

Detailed Description
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Schools in New York, Washington State, Iowa, and Arkansas were randomly assigned to receive school gardens and associated curriculum or to serve on the wait list control group that received gardens and curriculum at the end of the 2-year study. Baseline data were collected in Fall 2011. Garden interventions began in Spring 2012. Follow-up data were collected at 6, 12, 18 months following baseline data collection.

Official Title
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Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth (HGHY): A People's Garden School Pilot Program

Conditions
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Dietary Habits

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: garden intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Schools had at least 50% of enrolled children qualifying for free + reduced price meals (FRPM) Schools did not already have a school garden. Exclusion Criteria: none.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 6 Years
Maximum Age: 14 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: garden intervention<br>Schools assigned to the garden intervention receive raised bed garden kits and access to a toolkit of garden-based curriculum | Behavioral: garden intervention<br>* The intervention includes raised bed garden kits for participating classes as well as access to garden-based curriculum.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>Wait-list control (no garden intervention + lessons) until end of the study. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| change in fruit + vegetable intake at school | Children's lunch trays are photographed before and after lunch for 3 days at each wave of data collection. Digital Food Image Analysis software computes grams of fruit and grams of vegetables consumed for each pair of lunch tray photos. | change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Garden Intervention Fidelity | fruit + vegetables planted, harvested; methods of fruit and vegetable distribution; and garden-based lessons delivered to the class are measures at each wave of data collection from Fall 2011 to Spring 2013. | At 3 garden intervention time points -- 6, 12, 18 months after baseline | 
| change fruit & vegetable consumption at home |  | change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months. | 
| change in Nutritional Knowledge | In the classroom, children complete a 7-item multiple choice questionnaire developed by the Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth curriculum development team. The questionnaire includes items about plant science (e.g., Which part of the plant uses the sun's energy to make food? root, stem, leaf, flower) and nutrition (e.g., Which nutrient supplies our bodies with energy? fiber, carbohydrates, water, vitamins). Data represent the number of correct answers. | change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months | 
| change in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) self efficacy | In the classroom, children complete a 15-item questionnaire, derived from the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI) (Arnold & Bourdeau, 2009) and the Iowa 4-H Science Youth Self-Assessment (Staker, 2011). Items include, for example: I can do an experiment to answer a question and I can develop a plan for a good garden I want to plant with response options Disagree. Not Sure. or Agree denoted 1, 2, or 3 respectively. The STEM self-efficacy score range is thus 15-45, with higher scores indicating that participant has stronger positive beliefs in their abilities to use STEM to solve problems. | change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months. | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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children, fruit, vegetable, diet, school, garden