Psychosocial outcomes of Lunch is in the Bag, a parent program for packing healthful lunches for preschool children

Abstract

Objective: This pilot study evaluated effects of Lunch is in the Bag on behavioral constructs and their predictive relationship to lunch-packing behaviors of parents of young children.

Methods: Six child care centers were pair-matched and randomly assigned to intervention (n = 3) and comparison (n = 3) groups. Parent/child dyads participated. Constructs of knowledge, outcome expectations, perceived control, subjective norms, and intentions were measured by a pre/post questionnaire. Hierarchical linear regression was used, and P < .05 was considered significant.

Results: There were significant increases in knowledge (P = .01); outcome expectations for whole grains (P < .001); and subjective norms for fruit (P = .002), vegetables (P = .046), and whole grains (P = .02). Perceived control, outcome expectations, and intentions significantly predicted packing vegetables and knowledge predicted whole grains.

Conclusions and implications: Lunch is in the Bag is a feasible intervention to improve the lunch-packing behaviors of parents of preschool-aged children.