Parents’ Perception Of The School-Based Feeding Program: Its Relation To Home-Meal-Related Practices

Abstract

Parents significantly impact how much their children learn, how well they do in school, how healthy they are, and what foods they eat. This study determined the level of perception among parents of the feeding beneficiary about the objectives and responsibilities of the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) and their home-meal-related practices in West II District, Division of Cagayan de Oro City, for the School Year 2022-2023. The relationship between the perception of the parents (n= 109) of the SBFP and home-meal-related practices was also tested. It employed a quantitative research design using stratified random sampling in the selection of the respondents. The instrument utilized was researcher-made. on the findings, the home-meal-related practices of meal preparation, food preferences, food exposure, and mealtime among the parent respondents are similar regardless of their demographic profile. However, a significant relationship existed between the perception of the parent-respondents towards SBFP and their home-mealrelated practices. Hence, it was concluded that the objectives of the SBFP have contributed to how the parent respondents prepared food, food preferences, exposure to their food, and the time to consume or eat their meals in the family. Parents' perception of their responsibilities during SBFP implementation is also found to be significant with home-meal-related practices. Therefore, this recommends further study on healthy eating habits in children and parents.