P185 Similar Eating Behaviors and Attitudes Reported by Indiana High-School Students in Treatment and Control Schools at Baseline

Abstract

Background Current instructional materials and evidence-based nutrition education are important for teachers to guide students in making healthy food choices. Objective To compare baseline fruit and vegetable (FV) attitudes and behaviors of students in two groups of schools to establish similarities between students before an intervention with a new nutrition curriculum. Study Design, Settings, Participants Indiana high-school Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) teachers were recruited for a curriculum training session before a state conference. Seventy-one teachers were randomly assigned to intervention (spring 2018 training) or control (delayed training, spring 2019) after stratifying by geographic location and school size. Participants were girl and boy student volunteers in 9-12th grades in FACS classes instructed by teachers from both groups Fall 2018. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Student volunteers completed 38-item online Qualtrics surveys at beginning of Fall 2018 prior to curricular instruction. Validated items measured FV familiarity, preferences, neophobias, daily consumption and variety, attitudes, intentions to eat FV, and knowledge from 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Differences between groups were tested using linear mixed models with random effects for school (level 1 = school, level 2 = student, α = .05). Results Of 71 teachers recruited, 19 control and 22 intervention enrolled in the study. There were 1,212 and 853 students in control and intervention schools, respectively, that completed surveys. There were no differences at baseline between students in intervention and control groups in FV familiarity (P= .163), FV preferences (P = .985), fruit neophobia (P = .816), vegetable neophobia (P = .241), daily intake of total fruit (P = .079), whole fruit (P = .362), vegetables (P = .396), daily variety of fruit (P = .722), vegetables (P = .223), times students tried new fruit (P = .449), vegetable (P = .366), attitudes toward eating fruit (P = .678), vegetables (P = .143), intentions to eat fruit (P = .395), vegetables (P = .628) and DGA knowledge (P = .882). Conclusion Treatment groups were similar in all outcomes at baseline indicating that they are suitable for comparing the effectiveness of the new nutrition curriculum. Funding USDA Team Nutrition.