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- Title
Effectiveness of a school food aid programme in improving household food insecurity; a cluster randomized trial.
- Authors
Dalma, Archontoula; Petralias, Athanassios; Tsiampalis, Thomas; Nikolakopoulos, Stavros; Veloudaki, Afroditi; Kastorini, Christina-Maria; Papadimitriou, Eleni; Zota, Dina; Linos, Athena
- Abstract
Background Aim of this cluster randomized trial was to examine the impact of a school feeding programme combining healthy meals provision and educational activities to reduce food insecurity. Methods Schools participating in the DIATROFI Program in Greece during the 2014–2015 school year were randomly allocated between a multicomponent intervention (MI: each student received a daily healthy meal along with educational actions; 28 schools) and an educational intervention (EI; 23 schools). A linear-mixed model was used to examine intervention effect on change from baseline in the food insecurity score, as measured via the Food Security Survey Module (FSSM). The analysis was based on 1442 pre–post intervention questionnaire pairs in the MI group and 986 in the EI group. Results The reduction in food insecurity score in the MI group was statistically significantly greater compared to the EI group, by 9.8% or −0.31 [95% confidence interval (CI) −0.61 to −0.01] FSSM units after adjusting for potential confounders. MI intervention was significantly more effective compared to EI, among students in food insecure households (mean −0.44, 95% CI −0.84 to −0.04), students in households facing hunger (mean −1.04, 95% CI −1.91 to −0.17) and overweight/obese students (mean −0.36, 95% CI −0.72 to −0.01). Conclusion For interventions aiming to address childhood food insecurity, public health focus should be oriented towards school-based programmes combining food assistance with activities that promote healthy nutrition.
- Subjects
GREECE; CONFIDENCE intervals; ELEMENTARY schools; FOOD relief; HUNGER; NUTRITION education; OBESITY; PUBLIC health; QUESTIONNAIRES; STATISTICAL sampling; SCHOOL children; RANDOMIZED controlled trials; PRE-tests &; post-tests; FOOD security; EVALUATION of human services programs; STATISTICAL models; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
European Journal of Public Health, 2020, Vol 30, Issue 1, p171
- ISSN
1101-1262
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/eurpub/ckz091