The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61892

Nancy Sweeney, DNSc, School of Nursing, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4158, 619-594-3426, nsweeney@mail.sdsu.edu

For years the staff at an inner city high school worked on improving the variables that negatively impact on their students’ academic achievements. Poor nutrition including skipping breakfast was noted as an important risk factor to poor academic achievement. The school nurses and nutritionist believed that many students skipped breakfast even though breakfast was available on campus; they also had a partial grasp on the barriers to eating breakfast. In April 2001 a “Breakfast Eating” survey was distributed to all 2,014 enrolled students by a faculty member from a local university and her ten undergraduate nursing students. The survey was the result of collaboration among the school nurses, school nutritionist, faculty member and college students. Eight hundred forty one completed surveys were returned. The richness of the information found on the surveys surpassed the team’s hopes. Fifty seven percent of respondents had not eaten breakfast that day with the most frequently stated barrier being a lack of time (36.5%). A breakdown of foods eaten by grade showed a partial departure from earlier research studies. Data to be presented include: the percentage of students who did not eat breakfast on the survey day, the reasons for skipping breakfast and, if they ate breakfast, where they ate it and the foods they ate. Data will be further broken down by gender and grade level of respondents. Changes in the food offerings at the school were made after this survey; the implications of the changes and plans for ongoing research will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to:
• describe the breakfasting eating habits of inner city high school students in this survey
• identify the patterns of breakfast eating habits by gender and grade level
• identify the patterns of breakfast food consumption by gender and grade level
• list the most frequent reasons for high school students in this survey to skip breakfast
• discuss possible interventions to improve the morning eating habits of high school students

Keywords: Adolescents, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: San Diego State University Price Charities Hoover High School in San Diego
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.