Adding a Social Marketing Campaign to a School-Based Nutrition Education Program Improves Children’s Dietary Intake: A Quasi-Experimental Study

BackgroundEvidence supports the use of social marketing campaigns to improve nutrition knowledge and reinforce the effects of nutrition education programs. However, the additional effects of parent-focused social marketing with nutrition education have received little attention.ObjectiveOur aim was to assess the impact of the Iowa Nutrition Network’s school-based nutrition education program (Building and Strengthening Iowa Community Support for Nutrition and Physical Activity [BASICS]) and the benefits of adding a multichannel social marketing intervention (BASICS Plus) to increase parent-directed communication.Design and interventionA quasi-experimental design with three study conditions compared a school-based nutrition education program (BASICS) with a school-based and social marketing intervention (BASICS Plus) and a no-treatment comparison group.Participants/settingThe study included 1,037 third-grade students attending 33 elementary schools and their parents.Main outcome measuresMeasures included parents’ reports of their children’s in-home consumption of fruits and vegetables (F/V) and use of low-fat/fat-free milk. Data on F/V were collected using a modified version of the University of California Cooperative Extension Food Behavior Checklist; and data on milk use were collected using two questions from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Statistical analysesMultilevel, mixed-effect regression models that account for correlation within repeated measures and children within school were used to compare the mean change over time in the outcome variable for one study group with the mean change over time for another study group.ResultsChildren in BASICS increased mean consumption of fruit by 0.16 cups (P=0.04) compared with children in the comparison group. Children in BASICS Plus increased mean consumption of fruit by 0.17 cups (P=0.03) and mean consumption of vegetables by 0.13 cups (P=0.02). Children in BASICS Plus were 1.3 times (P=0.05) more likely to use low-fat/fat-free milk than children in either the BASICS group or the comparison group.ConclusionsGaining parents’ attention and engaging them in healthy eating practices for their children can be a useful way to increase the effectiveness of school-based nutrition education programs. This study demonstrates the benefits of incorporating a parent-focused social marketing campaign in nutrition education interventions.