Changes in Primary School Children's Behaviour, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Environments Related to Nutrition and Physical Activity
Table 3
Number (%) of primary aged school students meeting target scores for healthy eating and physical activity attitudes, knowledge, and supportive environment scores at baseline and followup by intervention (INT) and comparison (COMP) communities and percent change over time.
Target score
Baseline (2006)
Followup (2009)
Change %
INT
COMP
INT
COMP
INT
COMP
Healthy eating
872
858
633
641
Attitude
Fruit
≥16
647 (74.2)
648 (75.5)
483 (76.3)
473 (73.8)
2.1
Vegetable
≥16
421 (48.3)
434 (50.6)
319 (50.4)
340 (53.0)
2.1
2.5
Knowledge
Fruit serves#
2
312 (35.8)
311 (36.2)
286 (45.2)
283 (44.2)
9.4*
8.1*
Vegetable serves#
3
485 (55.6)
493 (57.5)
405 (64.0)
402 (62.7)
8.4
5.3
Environment
Fruit and vegetable
≥19
762 (87.4)
732 (85.3)
536 (84.7)
532 (83.0)
Physical activity
873
860
632
640
Attitude
Physical activity
≥23
538 (61.6)
538 (62.6)
363 (57.4)
378 (59.1)
−4.2*
−3.5*
Environment
Supportive school
≥19
412 (47.2)
464 (54.0)
289 (45.6)
333 (51.9)
−1.6
−2.1
Supportive local
≥7
262 (30.0)
363 (42.2)
211 (33.4)
220 (34.4)
3.4
−7.8*
Supportive home
≥8
607 (59.5)
479 (55.7)
349 (55.2)
339 (53.0)
−4.2
−2.7
significant change () in INT or COMP from baseline to followup, test with the Monte Carlo 2-sided significance.
#Daily serves required for good health for child aged 9–11 years based on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) [22]: fruit 1-2, vegetable 3–5.
