Interactive Nutrition Education Effects on Unfamiliar Food Consumption in Afterschool Programs

Brianna Sommer, BS, Josephine Umoren, PhD, Amy Ozier, PhD, RD, LDN, Kelly Brasseur, MS, RD, LDN,
Jessica Maturrano, BS, Danielle Coleman, BS
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health and Human Sciences, Northern Illinois University

Objective Method Results

To evaluate how an interactive nutrition education Sample New & Unfamiliar Food Choices
program effects the consumption of unfamiliar During the spring of 2019, a total of ten sites participated in various Nutrition Education Program lessons and a Table 4. Most Unfamiliar or Newly Tried Ingredient (*star ingredient)
foods in school-aged children through statistical total of 1,536 children were reached. Food Group Lesson Ingredient Count
analyses. Chicken Salad Pita Whole Wheat Pita Pockets 85
Deviled Eggs Dijon Mustard 6
Protein
Program Procedure Hummus Dippers Garbanzo Beans* 72
Tuna Salad Bites Fat-free Plain Yogurt 34
Dip Cups Ranch Powder 34
Introduction Graduate research assistant contacts sites & creates lesson kits; sites receive Walmart gift cards via grant
Vegetables Salad Croutons 22
funding for ingredients; sites complete lessons; finished participant feedback forms are returned to graduate Veggie Wraps Whole Grain Tortilla 8

Background research assistant; data is entered and analyzed. My specific duties included inputting data from each lesson as Cheese & Veggie Kabobs Mozzarella Cheese Balls* 132
Dairy Cottage Cheese Dip Cottage Cheese* 58
well as analyzing and interpreting data for a final report to be passed along to the Northern Illinois Food Bank Pudding Parfait Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix 144
Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Nutrition Education for grant funding purposes. Oatmeal Bites Oats* 57
Grains Pasta Salad Whole Wheat Pasta* 48
Program encourages children ages 5-12 to eat
Rice Rolls Brown Rice* 89
healthy by taking an active role in preparation of Statistical Analysis Berry Pita Pizza Mixed Berries* 32
meals. The program covers multiple lessons for Chilled Fruit Soup Cantaloupe Chunks* 17
Fruits
Descriptive statistics were used to assess popularity of each lesson by site variety, likeability, and repetition Citrus Salsa Fresh Mint Leaves 25
each USDA MyPlate food group, which include Pineapple Salsa Green Bell Pepper 29
confidence level, ingredients that were most unfamiliar to participants, and number of participants improperly
education on the recipe’s star ingredient, Total Identified Star Ingredients 8
answering survey questions regarding new food items.
demonstration and hands-on culinary activities, and Table 5. Number of Students Answering 'New Foods' Questions
Improperly (Survey Item 2 & 3)
coloring worksheets. Correlation test via Excel was utilized to measure the relationship between lesson likeability and confidence Food Group Lesson Count
level in trying to the star ingredient again. Chicken Salad Pita 17
Deviled Eggs 2
Research Questions Protein
Hummus Dippers 4
Qualitative themes were analyzed via descriptive statistics from lesson feedback forms regarding participant Tuna Salad Bites 9
1. Was the recipe accepted by participants? learning (i.e., nutrient information, recipe construction, trying new foods & nothing learned). Dip Cups 3
Vegetables Salad 5
2. Were any new foods tried? If so, which Veggie Wraps 1
Cheese & Veggie Kabobs 18
ingredients? Dairy Cottage Cheese Dip 3
Pudding Parfait 10
3. What lesson activities were well-liked? Oatmeal Bites 7
Results Grains Pasta Salad 4
4. What are the common ideas learned from the Rice Rolls 11
lesson? Demographics & Lesson Completion Berry Pita Pizza 2
Chilled Fruit Soup 4
Fruits
Among the 10 sites, a total of 17 out of the possible 20 lessons were completed. The majority of participants Citrus Salsa 3
5. How confident are participants that they will try spoke English (87%, n=1337) and the ages ranged from 2 to 19 years (mean=8.97, mode=9). Pineapple Salsa 6
the star ingredient again? Total 109

6. Is there a correlation between lesson likeability Popularity by Site Variety, Recipe Likeability Score & Repetition Confidence Level Correlation of Confidence & Likeability
and repetition confidence level? Table 6. Correlation (r) Between Recipe Likeability & Repetition
Table 2. Lesson Popularity by Average Recipe Table 3. Lesson Popularity by Average Repetition Confidence (Survey Item 1 & 6)
Table 1. Lesson Popularity by Site Variety
Likeability Score Confidence Level Food Group Lesson Correlation Coefficient
Number of Average Average Chicken Salad Pita 0.754
Star Ingredients Food Group Lesson Participating Sites Food Group Lesson Likeability Score Food Group Lesson Confidence Score Protein
Deviled Eggs 0.572
Chicken Salad Chicken Salad Pita 2.4 Chicken Salad Pita 3.9 Hummus Dippers 0.842
6
Vegetables: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, Pita Tuna Salad Bites 0.807
Deviled Eggs 2.0 Deviled Eggs 3.5
Protein Deviled Eggs 1 Protein Protein Dip Cups 0.301
cucumbers, bell peppers Hummus Dippers 4 Hummus Dippers 2.1 Hummus Dippers 3.2
Vegetables Salad 0.715
4 Tuna Salad Bites 2.2 Tuna Salad Bites 3.6 Veggie Wraps 0.524
Tuna Salad Bites
Grains: corn, pasta, oatmeal, rice Dip Cups 3 Dip Cups 2.4 Dip Cups 4.0 Cheese & Veggie Kabobs 0.658
Vegetables Salad 1 Vegetables Salad 2.1 Vegetables Salad 3.0 Dairy Cottage Cheese Dip 0.841
Protein: chicken, garbanzo beans, eggs, tuna Veggie Wraps 2 Veggie Wraps 2.3 Veggie Wraps 3.4 Pudding Parfait 0.587
Cheese & Veggie Cheese & Veggie Cheese & Veggie Rice Rolls 0.793
5 2.4 3.9 Grains Oatmeal Bites 0.780
Dairy: fresh mozzarella cheese balls, low-fat Kabobs
Dairy
Kabobs
Dairy
Kabobs
Dairy Cottage Cheese Cottage Cheese Dip 2.2 Cottage Cheese Dip 3.4 Pasta Salad 0.766
cottage cheese, non-fat plain Greek yogurt, skim Dip
3
2.8 Pudding Parfait 4.6 Berry Pita Pizza 0.588
Pudding Parfait
milk Pudding Parfait 5 Oatmeal Bites 2.6 Oatmeal Bites 4.2 Fruits
Chilled Fruit Soup 0.895
Oatmeal Bites 4 Citrus Salsa 0.800
Grains Pasta Salad 2.4 Grains Pasta Salad 4.0 Pineapple Salsa 0.719
Fruit: assorted berries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, Grains Pasta Salad 2
Rice Rolls 2.3 Rice Rolls 3.4
Rice Rolls 3
mandarin oranges, diced pineapple Berry Pita Pizza 2
Berry Pita Pizza 2.6 Berry Pita Pizza 4.6
Chilled Fruit Soup 2.1 Chilled Fruit Soup 3.2
Chilled Fruit Soup 1 Fruits Fruits
Fruits Citrus Salsa 2.2 Citrus Salsa 3.2
Citrus Salsa
Pineapple Salsa
1
2 Pineapple Salsa 2.1 Pineapple Salsa 3.5 Conclusion
Data measured in means. Scored as follows: awesome (3), Data measured in means. Scored as follows: very confident
good (2), not my favorite (1) (5), fairly confident (2, 3, 4), not at all confident (1) Introducing new foods to children through an engaging,
hands-on nutrition education program was successful:
• 64% of participants tried a new food
• 20.5% of participants recounted nutrient information about
Acknowledgments the star ingredient
The author of this presentation would like to thank the Northern Illinois Food Bank, committee members for their guidance • 74% of participants felt confident in trying the star
& collaborators for their support. ingredient again