Effects of a free school breakfast programme on children's attendance, academic achievement and short-term hunger: results from a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial Ni Mhurchu, Cliona, Gorton, Delvina, Turley, Maria, Jiang, Yannan, Michie, Jo, Maddison, Ralph and Hattie, John 2013, Effects of a free school breakfast programme on children's attendance, academic achievement and short-term hunger: results from a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial, Journal of epidemiology & community health, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 257-264, doi: 10.1136/jech-2012-201540. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads maddison-effectsofa-2013.pdf Published version application/pdf 1.07MB 2 Title Effects of a free school breakfast programme on children's attendance, academic achievement and short-term hunger: results from a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial Author(s) Ni Mhurchu, Cliona Gorton, Delvina Turley, Maria Jiang, Yannan Michie, Jo Maddison, Ralph orcid.org/0000-0001-8564-5518 Hattie, John Journal name Journal of epidemiology & community health Volume number 67 Issue number 3 Start page 257 End page 264 Total pages 8 Publisher BMJ Publishing Group Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2013-03 ISSN 1470-2738 Keyword(s) Absenteeism Achievement Adolescent Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena Child Cluster Analysis Female Food Services Food Supply Government Programs Humans Hunger Interpersonal Relations Male New Zealand Program Evaluation Public Assistance Schools Self Report Socioeconomic Factors Students Summary BACKGROUND: Free school breakfast programmes (SBPs) exist in a number of high-income countries, but their effects on educational outcomes have rarely been evaluated in randomised controlled trials. METHODS: A 1-year stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 14 New Zealand schools in low socioeconomic resource areas. Participants were 424 children, mean age 9±2 years, 53% female. The intervention was a free daily SBP. The primary outcome was children's school attendance. Secondary outcomes were academic achievement, self-reported grades, sense of belonging at school, behaviour, short-term hunger, breakfast habits and food security. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant effect of the breakfast programme on children's school attendance. The odds of children achieving an attendance rate <95% was 0.76 (95% CI 0.56 to 1.02) during the intervention phase and 0.93 (95% CI 0.67 to 1.31) during the control phase, giving an OR of 0.81 (95% CI 0.59 to 1.11), p=0.19. There was a significant decrease in children's self-reported short-term hunger during the intervention phase compared with the control phase, demonstrated by an increase of 8.6 units on the Freddy satiety scale (95% CI 3.4 to 13.7, p=0.001). There were no effects of the intervention on any other outcome. CONCLUSIONS: A free SBP did not have a significant effect on children's school attendance or academic achievement but had significant positive effects on children's short-term satiety ratings. More frequent programme attendance may be required to influence school attendance and academic achievement. Language eng DOI 10.1136/jech-2012-201540 Field of Research 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified 1117 Public Health And Health Services 1604 Human Geography Socio Economic Objective 920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2013, The Authors Free to Read? Yes Use Rights Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30081650 Document type: Journal Article Collections: School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 24 Feb 2016, 10:16:03 EST Thu, 25 Feb 2016, 04:00:10 EST Thu, 25 Feb 2016, 05:09:03 EST Thu, 22 Sep 2016, 13:10:34 EST Thu, 22 Sep 2016, 13:12:43 EST Thu, 22 Sep 2016, 13:15:05 EST Thu, 22 Sep 2016, 15:18:14 EST Fri, 24 Mar 2017, 14:45:13 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 12 times in TR Web of Science Cited 15 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 51 Abstract Views, 3 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Wed, 24 Feb 2016, 10:16:03 EST

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.