Clinical trial NCT02949063: Creating a Comfortable Cafeteria: Staff and Student Feedback - Outcome Study (Cafeteria Prog)
Official title: The Comfortable Cafeteria Program for Promoting Student Participation and Enjoyment: An Outcome Study
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: School Health Services
Keywords: school lunch
occupational therapy
Lead sponsor: Cleveland State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: U.S. Department of Education
First posted: 2016-10-31
Enrollment: 366
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 5
Maximum age (years): 10
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: 366 kindergarten through 4th grade students

18 cafeteria supervisors

Brief summary: A mixed methods design was used to explore the outcomes of a 6-week, occupational therapy-led Comfortable Cafeteria program designed to build capacity of cafeteria supervisors to create a positive mealtime environment so that all students can successfully participate in and enjoy their meal and socialization with peers.

Detailed description: A mixed methods design was used to explore the outcomes of a 6-week, occupational therapy-led Comfortable Cafeteria program designed to build capacity of cafeteria supervisors to create a positive mealtime environment so that all students can successfully participate in and enjoy their meal and socialization with peers. Statistically significant improvements in pretest posttest visual analogue scale ratings of participation in and enjoyment for students with low and mid-range scores at the outset was found. Cafeteria supervisors demonstrated statistically significant improvements in perceptions of having the knowledge and skills to supervise and to encourage healthy eating based on pretest posttest ratings. Qualitative findings add further insight about the program suggesting that students learned prosocial values (e.g. being kind, helping others), supervisors actively encouraged positive social interaction, and occupational therapy practitioners enjoyed implementing the Comfortable Cafeteria program and recognized positive supervisor and student changes as a result of integrating services in the cafeteria.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Students participating in lunch from a particular grade
* Cafeteria supervisors of those children
* Students with parental consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Students who did not have parental consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: students' participation during lunch
timeFrame: within 6 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: survey of cafeteria supervisor's knowledge, beliefs and actions related to supervising students in the cafeteria
timeFrame: 6 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Cleveland State University
name: Susan Bazyk, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Bazyk S, Demirjian L, Horvath F, Doxsey L. The Comfortable Cafeteria Program for Promoting Student Participation and Enjoyment: An Outcome Study. Am J Occup Ther. 2018 May/Jun;72(3):7203205050p1-7203205050p9. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2018.025379.