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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Apr;23(6):1117-1126.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980019003963. Epub 2020 Feb 20.

Effects of a kindergarten intervention on vegetables served and staff's food-related practices: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial - the BRA study

Anne Himberg-Sundet  1 , Anne Lene Kristiansen  1 , Lene Frost Andersen  1 , Mona Bjelland  1 , Nanna Lien  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of a kindergarten intervention on vegetables served and staff's food-related practices: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial - the BRA study

Anne Himberg-Sundet et al. Public Health Nutr. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect on frequency, variety and amount of vegetables served and staff's food-related practices in the multicomponent BRA intervention.

Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial, conducted between Spring 2015 and Spring 2016. For allocation of the kindergartens, a stratified block randomisation was used. Data were collected in three ways: (i) a questionnaire for pedagogical leaders assessing the variety and frequency of vegetables served, including staff's food-related practices assumed to be related to vegetable intake; (ii) a questionnaire for kindergarten assistants assessing staff's food-related practices; (iii) a 5-d weighted vegetable diary assessing amount of vegetables served in a department.

Setting: The target group for this study was public and private kindergartens in the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, Norway.

Participants: A total of seventy-three kindergartens participated.

Results: At follow-up I, the amount of vegetables served increased by approximately 20 g per person per day (P = 0·002), and the variety in served vegetables increased by one-and-a-half kind per month (P = 0·014) in the intervention group compared to the control group. No effects on the frequency of vegetables served or on staff's food-related practices were found.

Conclusions: The BRA intervention was successful in increasing the amount and variety of vegetables served within intervention kindergartens. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms that can affect the staff's food-related practices.

Keywords: Food-related practices; Kindergarten; Pre-school children; Vegetables.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT flowchart of recruitment, randomisation and participation of kindergarten and number of departments. N = kindergartens; n = departments*Missing outcome measures
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The logic model of intervention in the kindergartens, the BRA study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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