Meal Time/Family Time: An Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Program

Sondra M. Parmer, MS

Alabama Cooperative

Extension System

Auburn University

Purpose of Study To provide a profile of family eating

characteristics currently lacking in the literature of a limited-resource population.

To evaluate knowledge and behavior change of individuals participating in Meal Time/Family Time, a nutrition education program focused on creating and implementing the shared family meal.

Why is family meal time important? nutrition

– more balanced meals– better eating habits

family well-being– vocabulary building/communication– family cohesiveness

Method

Sample Curriculum Instrument Development Data Collection Data Analysis

Sample

Managing Your Food DollarC ontro ln = 52

Meal Time/Fam ily Tim eExperim enta l

n = 54

Lim ited-R esource Fem ale Parents

Curriculum

Meal Time/Family Time - Experimental– understanding value of family meal time– creating the shared family meal

Managing Your Food Dollar - Control– understanding money management skills

related to food buying– developing skills for maximizing food

dollars

Instrument Development

Pre- and post-assessment Based on curriculum content 2nd grade reading level 30 Likert-scale items

– 10 knowledge items = knowledge scale– 20 behavior items = behavior scale

Instrument Validity and Reliability

Content validity Reliability - Pilot Test

– .60 Cronbach alpha for knowledge scale– .79 Cronbach alpha for behavior scale

Reliability - Study– .67 Cronbach alpha for knowledge scale– .81 Cronbach alpha for behavior scale

Data Collection

Pre- and post-assessments Administered by Program Assistants Assessments read out loud

Data Analysis

Frequency tables Pearson chi-square Repeated-measures ANOVA Paired-samples t-test

Demographic Characteristics

Mean age - 37.3 years African-American - 67% Rural - 67% Education

– 41% not completed high school– 50% graduated from high school– 9% attended schooling beyond high school

Characteristics of Family Meal Time

Behavior

Occurrence of Family Meals

How often do you eat dinner with your kids?

eat dinner with children

everyday5-6 days3-4 days1-2 daysnever

Pe

rce

nt

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Problem Areas

55% of respondents watched TV always or often during family meal times, an additional 28% watched TV sometimes during family meal times

48% of respondents were using meal time to solve problems

69% of respondents reported making their children eat as a way to have a healthy diet

Children’s Involvement

75% of respondent’s children were washing hands

HOWEVER, children were not involved in family meal events such as:– menu planning– food shopping– food preparation– dish washing

Knowledge and Behavior Change of Individuals Participating in

Meal Time/Family Time

Pre- and Post-Assessment Scores

Behavior Scale Knowledge Scale

Behavior Scale

One-way within-subjects ANOVA – independent variable = time of

assessments– dependent variable = pre- and post-

assessment scores on behavior scale Significant main effect for time

Behavior Scale: Post-Hoc Tests

No significant difference found between experimental and control groups at pre-assessment - groups are considered homogeneous at pre-assessment

Significant difference found between experimental and control groups at post-assessment

Behavior Scale: Additional Follow-Up Test Significant difference found for the

experimental group with means increasing over time

No significant difference found for the control group

Consistent with expectations, participants in the educational program, Meal Time/Family Time, positively changed their family meal behavior practices as compared to participants in the educational program, Managing Your Food Dollar.

Knowledge Scale

One-way within-subjects ANOVA– independent variable = time of

assessments– dependent variable = pre- and post-

assessment scores on knowledge scale Significant main effect for time

Knowledge Scale: Post-Hoc Tests

No significant difference found between experimental and control groups at pre-assessment - groups are considered homogeneous at pre-assessment

No significant difference found between experimental and control groups at post-assessment

Knowledge Scale: Additional Follow-Up Tests Significant difference found for the

experimental group with means increasing over time

Significant difference found for the control group with means increasing over time

These findings for the knowledge scale were not consistent with expectations, however they were not entirely surprising. It was discovered that one of the ten items on the assessment was also included in the curriculum taught to the control group.

Summary

2 objectives were met– Descriptive information was collected for a

limited-resource population concerning family meal time behavior and knowledge

– Meal Time/Family Time was found to be an effective educational program on the behavior dimension due to change found in experimental sample as compared to control group