Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of healthy eating strategies in schools in Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Quintanilha, Maira

• The Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth were released in June 2008 aiming to provide schools with a tool to help students make healthy food choices. A multiple case study design (n=3) was used to identify what factors influenced the adoption and implementation of the guidelines and what healthy eating strategies case schools implemented due to the guidelines. Barriers and facilitators to implementation were also investigated. Semi-structured interviews and direct observations were used to collect data that were later analyzed using content analysis. Various healthy eating strategies were implemented within Cases A, B and C after the uptake of the guidelines. Support from the school superintendent and the work of a health champion were commonly described as facilitators to the adoption and implementation of the guidelines. In contrast, parents represented a commonly described barrier. This reinforces the importance of comprehensive school based programs that involve parents and the school community.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Schools
  • Nutrition guidelines
  • Healthy eating

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R32375

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.