Does the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children? Results from two randomised controlled trials

Christian M, Evans C, Cade J
Record ID 32015000853
English
Authors' objectives: To undertake the first clustered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of a gardening intervention. To evaluate the impact of a school gardening programme, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Campaign for School Gardening, on children's fruit and vegetable intake.
Authors' recommendations: Results from these trials provide little evidence that school gardening alone can improve children's fruit and vegetable intake. In both trials, gardening levels increased across all groups from baseline to follow-up, with no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of improvement in gardening level. This lack of differentiation between groups is likely to have influenced the primary outcome. However, when the gardening intervention was implemented at the highest intensities there was a suggestion that it could improve children's fruit and vegetable intake by a portion. Analysis of the baseline data showed that family support for fruit and vegetable intakes was associated with higher intakes of fruit and vegetables in children. This study highlights the need for more sophisticated and accurate tools to evaluate diet in children. Future intervention designs should include a greater level of parental involvement in school interventions, along with related components such as cooking, to substantially improve children's fruit and vegetable intake. In addition, the home environment has been demonstrated to be an important focus for intervention.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2014
URL for published report: http://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/phr02040/#/abstract
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: England, United Kingdom
MeSH Terms
  • Child
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Energy Intake
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Fruit
  • Male
  • Nutrition Assessment
  • Nutritive Value
  • Program Evaluation
  • Schools
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Vegetables
  • Gardening
Contact
Organisation Name: NIHR Public Health Research programme
Contact Address: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK
Contact Name: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk
Contact Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk
Copyright: Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO
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