Sociological evaluation of a project to improve food supply (excluding school meals) in colleges and high schools in Aquitaine: students' perception and analysis of health education

The project 'Improving the type of food consumed (excluding school meals) and educational support' was implemented in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 in 26 secondary schools in Aquitaine. It was intended to promote the consumption of fruit and bread among adolescents and limit the availability of fat and sugar in the homes of students. The sociological evaluation of the project showed that the adhesion of students depended heavily on the consistency and modalities of implementation. Thus, the adhesion of students, or even the transformation of their eating habits, is favored by the justification for the change in type of food consumed by means of recreational health education activity, the integration of the project into a global institutional dynamic (involving educational, medical and school meal teams) and taking into account the concerns of adolescents (remote from health aspects of food). [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd