Developing the Mentoring, Education, and Nutrition Knowledge for Teachers to Reduce Obesity Risk in Children (M.E.N.T.O.R.) Project: In-Service and Pre-Service Teacher Needs Assessment Results

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess in-service (SCTs) and pre-service (PCTs) teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and self-efficacy for creating an anti-obesogenic school environment. The secondary aim was to determine the perceived usefulness of programmatic materials.DescriptionThis is a cross-sectional study of 85 PCTs (92.9% female) recruited from upper-level elementary education reading courses and 24 SCTs (80% female; Mean(SD)=13.58(9.35) years experience teaching) from a Title 1 public elementary school in the southeast region of the United States. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring demographics, nutrition knowledge, beliefs about the school food environment, and self-efficacy for teaching nutrition. Descriptive statistics for each study variable were calculated by SPSS v.22.0.EvaluationSCTs and PCTs reported low levels of nutrition knowledge with an average of 66%±14.69 and 70%±12.79 respectively. Consequently, only 30.4% of SCTs and 29.1% of PCTs indicated that they have the skills necessary to teach nutrition concepts effectively. Seventy-five percent of SCTs and 96.5% of PCTs reported it is important to have a healthy school environment. Lack of training in nutrition was a major issue with SCTs (93.9%) indicating in-service training and reference materials on nutrition education were not available. Despite this, 77% indicated that these resources had moderate or great potential to improve nutrition education. SCTs and PCTs both reported that audio and visual aids along with laboratory materials and computer software would be useful materials for nutrition education.Conclusions and ImplicationsResults from this study suggest a need for nutrition education among SCTs and PCTs and will guide the development of a nutrition education program that leverages PCTs as agents of change to improve children’s nutrition behaviors.FundingUSDA Grant #2015-690011-23241. ObjectiveTo assess in-service (SCTs) and pre-service (PCTs) teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and self-efficacy for creating an anti-obesogenic school environment. The secondary aim was to determine the perceived usefulness of programmatic materials. To assess in-service (SCTs) and pre-service (PCTs) teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and self-efficacy for creating an anti-obesogenic school environment. The secondary aim was to determine the perceived usefulness of programmatic materials. DescriptionThis is a cross-sectional study of 85 PCTs (92.9% female) recruited from upper-level elementary education reading courses and 24 SCTs (80% female; Mean(SD)=13.58(9.35) years experience teaching) from a Title 1 public elementary school in the southeast region of the United States. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring demographics, nutrition knowledge, beliefs about the school food environment, and self-efficacy for teaching nutrition. Descriptive statistics for each study variable were calculated by SPSS v.22.0. This is a cross-sectional study of 85 PCTs (92.9% female) recruited from upper-level elementary education reading courses and 24 SCTs (80% female; Mean(SD)=13.58(9.35) years experience teaching) from a Title 1 public elementary school in the southeast region of the United States. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring demographics, nutrition knowledge, beliefs about the school food environment, and self-efficacy for teaching nutrition. Descriptive statistics for each study variable were calculated by SPSS v.22.0. EvaluationSCTs and PCTs reported low levels of nutrition knowledge with an average of 66%±14.69 and 70%±12.79 respectively. Consequently, only 30.4% of SCTs and 29.1% of PCTs indicated that they have the skills necessary to teach nutrition concepts effectively. Seventy-five percent of SCTs and 96.5% of PCTs reported it is important to have a healthy school environment. Lack of training in nutrition was a major issue with SCTs (93.9%) indicating in-service training and reference materials on nutrition education were not available. Despite this, 77% indicated that these resources had moderate or great potential to improve nutrition education. SCTs and PCTs both reported that audio and visual aids along with laboratory materials and computer software would be useful materials for nutrition education. SCTs and PCTs reported low levels of nutrition knowledge with an average of 66%±14.69 and 70%±12.79 respectively. Consequently, only 30.4% of SCTs and 29.1% of PCTs indicated that they have the skills necessary to teach nutrition concepts effectively. Seventy-five percent of SCTs and 96.5% of PCTs reported it is important to have a healthy school environment. Lack of training in nutrition was a major issue with SCTs (93.9%) indicating in-service training and reference materials on nutrition education were not available. Despite this, 77% indicated that these resources had moderate or great potential to improve nutrition education. SCTs and PCTs both reported that audio and visual aids along with laboratory materials and computer software would be useful materials for nutrition education. Conclusions and ImplicationsResults from this study suggest a need for nutrition education among SCTs and PCTs and will guide the development of a nutrition education program that leverages PCTs as agents of change to improve children’s nutrition behaviors. Results from this study suggest a need for nutrition education among SCTs and PCTs and will guide the development of a nutrition education program that leverages PCTs as agents of change to improve children’s nutrition behaviors.