School food programs and food insecurity at the REACH school network: an observational study.

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

BMC Public Health Pub Date : 2025-06-03 DOI:10.1186/s12889-025-23163-8

Kavin Qiu, Jessica A Omand, Youssef Elshaarawi, Saisujani Rasiah-Shaidev, Charles Keown-Stoneman, Justine Cohen-Silver, Jonathon L Maguire, Sloane Jaye Freeman

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Food insecurity is common in Canada and impacts children more than any other age group. This study aimed to evaluate the association between participation in school food programs and food insecurity among students attending Canada's largest urban school-based health centre program, the REACH School Network.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study from April 2022 to June 2024 at the REACH School Network. We administered the Growth and Nutrition Questionnaire to parents of children aged 3-17 years. Questions were related to dietary intake and participation in school food programs. Our primary outcome was food insecurity, using the Hunger Vital Sign. Logistic regression estimated the association between regular school food program participation and food insecurity, adjusting for covariates.

Results: Of 477 eligible participants, 316 consented (66.2% response rate), and 223 were included in the analysis. The mean age was 9.21 years (SD = 3.08); 69.1% identified as male. Overall, 134 (60.1%) regularly participated in a school food program. Food insecurity was reported by 97 (43.5%) participants, with similar prevalence among participants (44.8%) and non-participants (41.6%). Logistic regression, both unadjusted (OR = 1.14; 95% CI 0.66-1.97; P = 0.637) and adjusted (OR = 0.82; 95% CI 0.42-1.63; P = 0.579) found no significant association between school food program participation and food insecurity.

Conclusion: Our study highlights the complex relationship between food insecurity and school food program participation among an at-risk, urban children. Future research is needed, with larger sample sizes and longitudinal designs to better understand these complex relationships.

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REACH学校网络的学校食品计划和食品不安全：一项观察性研究。

背景：食品不安全在加拿大很常见，对儿童的影响比其他任何年龄组都大。本研究旨在评估参加加拿大最大的城市学校健康中心项目REACH学校网络的学生参加学校食品计划和食品不安全之间的关系。方法：这是一项横断面观察研究，于2022年4月至2024年6月在REACH学校网络进行。我们对3-17岁儿童的父母进行了生长和营养问卷调查。问题与饮食摄入和参与学校食品计划有关。我们的主要结果是粮食不安全，使用饥饿生命体征。在调整协变量后，Logistic回归估计了常规学校食品计划参与与食品不安全之间的关系。结果：在477名符合条件的参与者中，316人同意（66.2%的应答率），223人被纳入分析。平均年龄9.21岁（SD = 3.08）；69.1%为男性。总体而言，134人（60.1%）定期参加学校食品计划。97名（43.5%）参与者报告了粮食不安全，参与者（44.8%）和非参与者（41.6%）的患病率相似。Logistic回归，均未经调整(OR = 1.14；95% ci 0.66-1.97；P = 0.637)和校正(OR = 0.82；95% ci 0.42-1.63；P = 0.579)发现学校食品计划参与与食品不安全之间没有显著关联。结论：我们的研究强调了食品不安全与城市高危儿童参与学校食品计划之间的复杂关系。未来的研究需要更大的样本量和纵向设计来更好地理解这些复杂的关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

BMC Public Health 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

6.50

自引率

4.40%

发文量

2108

审稿时长

1 months

期刊介绍： BMC Public Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the epidemiology of disease and the understanding of all aspects of public health. The journal has a special focus on the social determinants of health, the environmental, behavioral, and occupational correlates of health and disease, and the impact of health policies, practices and interventions on the community.