Computer Use, Training Preferences, and Computer Anxiety of School Food Service Managers in Iowa

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To identify computer use, training preferences, and computer anxiety of school food service managers in Iowa The objectives were to: 1) identify current computer use and computer training preferences of school food service managers in Iowa, and 2) assess the computer anxiety level of Iowa school food service managers before and after computer training. For the first objective, a questionnaire was developed and mailed to the person in charge of the school food service program in 117 Iowa school districts with budgeted student enrollments of 1,000 or more. Of 105 school districts reporting data, 80% had computers available in their food services; 92% of these food service managers used their computers. Microcomputers were the most common type of computer hardware (95%). School food service applications software was used in 49% of the 105 school districts. Of 107 respondents, 74% indicated willingness to participate in computer training. They preferred to learn about school food service applications software (72%) during training offered 6 hours (25%) or 4 hours (20%) per day. Many respondents indicated no preference for either a starting day (35%) or the number of days (42%) of computer training. For the second objective, a standardized instrument, the Computer Anxiety Index (CAIN), was administered to 56 school food service managers before and after a 2-day computer training workshop; 80% completed the CAIN. Mean CAIN scores were 51.5 of 156 before training and 49.4 of 156 after training. Change in mean CAIN scores was not significant. However, those who had no previous computer training (n = 25) reduced their anxiety level significantly more than the group that had previous computer training (n = 22). The higher the initial anxiety level, the greater the reduction in anxiety level after training. The workshop involved teaching Nutrient Standard Menu Planning using a software package.