studies on PACE Flashcards
iris et al., 2023- intervention study
Decided to put labels on food in schools: PACE labelling on cakes and biscuits in secondary schools.
- Schools randomised into control (n=6) or intervention (n=7)
- Primary outcome measure: number of weekly purchases sold of cakes and biscuits
- Anonymised purchasing used as proxy outcome for consumption as most individuals would consume their purchase
- Intervention schools displayed PACE labelling for a minimum of 4 weeks and for up to 6 weeks
- Control Schools or continued with usual practice
- Anonymised purchase data from schools on number cakes/sweet biscuits sold, before, during and after the study period collected
Schools:
- Ranged in size (from 709 to 1781 students)
- Located in urban (n=8) and rural areas (n=3)
- From the East and West Midlands and the North-East regions of England
- Based in affluent and deprived areas as defined by % pupils eligible for free school meals within schools (ranged from 10% to 42%)
Before intervention, number of sales between schools varied. School G – sale increased. Could depend on the time of year it was done. Baseline = when schools started in September or January
Interventions were stopped over half terms.
Analysis showed small but significant amount of decrease in purchase of cakes in the intervention school.
Sent out letters to schools in intervention group – asked questions and asked them to expand on their responses.
Most people found it helpful or extremely helpful – small amount
qualitative interviews-
Findings from interviews shows PACE labelling appears to:
- Increase capability in young people’s food decision making
- Influence them to avoid/reduce purchases of cakes and biscuits as they associated eating them with ‘high energy cost’.
- Be a useful approach to help young people choose healthier food in the school environment
Qualitative interviews:
Mixed Findings – depends on the individuals’ own attitude, viewpoints and motivation
- Qualitative quotes found answers depended on individuals own attitudes, motivation and opinions towards their eating.
- Eg: people that weren’t bothered about changing eating behaviours found labels unhelpful – those aware of their health changed their eating behaviours.
- Not one ppt did the full amount of episode.
Some schools pulled out – had to have permission from parents. Out of 12/13 schools, 2 pulled out due to parents being unhappy about the impact that it would have.
Therefore, asked students what they thought about being exposed to the knowledge^^
iris et al., conculsion
- Initial survey studied 808 young people recruited from different secondary schools which involved showing students TLL and pace labels.
o 96% said they had previously seen TLLs on food and drinks.
o PACE labels were reported easier to understand compared to TLL (69% vs 31%).
o 52% felt PACE labels were easier to help choose healthy food and drinks on their own compared to the TLL. - Then, did an intervention study involving PACE labels being put on cakes and biscuits in 13 secondary schools (2 dropped out due to controversy). The amount of weekly purchases made on cakes and biscuits were measured in both the control and intervention groups. They were on display for between 4 to 6 weeks.
- It was found that there was a small decrease in the purchases of cakes and biscuits in intervention schools which was statistically significant. Around 11 less cakes and biscuits were bought per 100 in intervention schools compared to control schools.
- Downside - sales may have differed on time of the year (after Christmas = less) and interventions were stopped during half terms.
- When letters were sent out asking children if this was helpful - only a small amount said not helpful.
- It was found from qualitative interviews that the extent to which this helped individuals depended on their viewpoints. For example, those who weren’t bothered about changing their eating habits didn’t whereas those who were did. Also, depends on emotional experience, some people felt happier choosing lower calorie options whereas for some it was triggering experiences of guilt.
- Findings suggested that this increases the capability to make decisions for food and reduce the chances of buying cakes and biscuits. This could be helpful yet controversial for helping make healthier food choices in schools.
Burney and Irwin 1999- feeling of guilt when eating is a risk associated with eating disorders, including anorexia- acknowledging the findings in the qualitative interviews is therefore important
theories to exploire with this study
– this study lacks looking at this with regards to theories
Can be used to look at does the benefit outweigh the cost?
- Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan 1985)
o Meeting basic psychological needs, competence and autonomy
- Theory of Planned behaviour (Azjen, 2011)
o Intention to eat high energy dense foods
o This is a cognitive theory by Azjen (1985) that proposes that an individuals decision to engage in a specific behaviour such as gambling or stopping gambling can be predicated by their intention to engage in that behaviour.
o Idea that explains all behaviours over which people have the ability to exert self-control.
Sarintohe et al., 2023
– expanding the theory of planned behaviour to explain energy dense food intentions among early adolescents in Indonesia
- Overall, our results showed that both attitude and subjective norms (were associated with the intention to consume energy-dense food
o Subjective norms measured asking ‘do your close friends at school think that you should eat high energy food?’, ‘how often do your close friends encourage you to eat high energy food?’ ‘most people who are important to me approve me to eat energy dense food’. - However, descriptive norms (were more important for longer-term (next week) intentions than subjective norms (with the latter turning non-significant when descriptive norms were added to the model).
o Descriptive norms measured using: ‘of your close friends at school, how many eat high energy food?’, ‘how do often your classmates eat high energy food’, most people are like me to eat energy dense food’ - For shorter-term (next day) intentions, descriptive and subjective norms were both significantly associated and did not significantly differ from each other.
- Moreover, significant interactions between TPB determinants were found only for the model predicting ‘next day’ intentions, but not for the classical ‘next week’ intentions
