The Impact of School-Based Nutrition Interventions on Parents and Other Family Members: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of school-based nutrition interventions on parents and other family members. This systematic review aims to explore the impact of school-based nutrition interventions on different parental/family outcomes, mainly dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, and health outcomes. PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, EconLit, Cochrane Reviews, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for controlled trials or natural experiments measuring the impact of school-based nutrition interventions, with or without parental involvement, on parents/families of school children. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria. Of which, 15 studies assessed the impact of school-based nutrition interventions on parental/family dietary intake, 10 on parental/family nutrition knowledge, and 2 on parental/family health outcomes. Inconsistent results were found for parental dietary intake with six studies reporting favorable effects. Most studies found improved parental nutrition knowledge. Positive impacts were seen by both studies that assessed the impact on a parental health outcome. Overall, we found that there is potential for school-based nutrition interventions to result in positive effects for parents, in particular for nutrition knowledge. More research is needed to assess the impacts of school-based nutrition interventions on parents and other family members and to assess important intervention characteristics in creating a positive impact.

Impact of a school‐based nutrition educational intervention on knowledge related to iron deficiency anaemia in rural Karnataka, India: A mixed methods pre–post interventional study

“…One of the benefits of school-based health and nutrition education programmes is that children act to spread the information, bringing it to their homes to achieve transmission of the information to the whole family. 51,52 Our findings reveal the same with students discussing and sharing topics learnt with friends and families. However, to achieve better impact, studies recommend involvement of families and communities in the nutritional education programmes from the beginning.…”

The beautiful game bringing families together: children’s and parents’ experiences of a family football programme

“…Typically, many children’s PA and nutrition interventions occur in schools whereby children take part independently of their parents with the support of teachers. This more traditional approach often removes parents from the process, with parents receiving information from their children who have taken part perhaps in the form of leaflets or letters from schools where useful information may not subsequently be acted upon ( Spencer et al , 2018 ; Abderbwih et al , 2022 ). Notwithstanding, parents/guardians have been identified as one of five key stakeholders in the Creating Active Schools Framework (CAS; Daly-Smith et al , 2020 ) with acknowledgment of the role they play in supporting children to engage in extracurricular activities.…”

“…Notwithstanding, systematic reviews have suggested that school-based interventions targeting PA, nutrition behaviours and obesity prevention can be more efficacious if a parental component is included ( Kitzman-Ulrich et al , 2010 ). Though, approaches to parental involvement in school-based interventions appear to be mixed and rely somewhat on information sent out to parents as opposed to direct involvement in activities ( Tomayko et al , 2021 ; Abderbwih et al , 2022 ). Such messaging can become problematic when it is at odds with the health-related beliefs and practices that children encounter at home, leaving parents feeling judged and discriminated against ( Spencer et al , 2018 ).…”

“…Therefore, the authors have also argued more needs to be done to understand parents’ health-related beliefs and practices and how these can have an impact on their children’s health. It has been further suggested that more research investigating parental involvement in health-related interventions is needed ( Tomayko et al , 2021 ; Abderbwih et al , 2022 ).…”

Identifying Future Study Designs for Mental Health and Social Wellbeing Associated with Diets of a Cohort Living in Eco-Regions: Findings from the INSUM Expert Workshop

“…Healthy and sustainable school meals together with food and nutrition education may provide a spill-over effect to the family or community [126]. For INSUM it seems beneficial to re-address the narrow way we look at the population of Eco-Regions.…”