Talking Circles: Exploring Children’s Experiences and Preferences of Food Environments in Australian Outside School Hours Care (OSHC)
Hauptsächlicher Artikelinhalt
Abstract
Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) settings provide an opportunity to support children’s dietary behaviours; however, exploration of children’s food experiences within OSHC nutrition environment remains limited. Despite the crucial role nutrition plays in children’s development and their right to be involved in decision-making, their voices are often overlooked in nutrition research. Therefore, this study explored children’s experiences and preferences of the nutrition environment through semi-structured focus group discussions (i. e. Talking Circles). Twenty-nine children (aged 5–12 years) from three Queensland, Australia OSHC services participated in seven Talking Circles. Discussions were guided by a semi-structured protocol grounded in the Socio-Ecological Model of Health, and children were encouraged to share through conversations and drawings. Data were analysed using the Framework Method, revealing three key themes: [1] Food Environment, [2] Food Preferences, and [3] Nutrition Education. Findings highlighted that food is central to children’s experiences, offering nourishment, socialisation, and enjoyment; however, rigid policies and limited involvement in decision-making hinder engagement. Recommendations for future practice include involving children in food-related activities to foster the development of food agency and enhance their mealtime experiences. Alongside, greater integration of participatory approaches in nutrition research and practice to continue amplifying the voices of children.
Keywords: children’s voices, nutrition environment, experience and preferences, extended education, school age care, outside school hours care
Bibliography: Rayner, Jessee/Mitchell, Lana/Vincze. Lisa: Talking Circles: Exploring Children’s Experiences and Preferences of Food Environments in Australian Outside School Hours Care (OSHC), IJREE – International Journal for Research on Extended Education, Vol. 13, Issue 2-2025, pp. 83-101.
Artikel-Details
Literatur
Afterschool Alliance. (2025). America After 3PM: Fifth Edition – Lost opportunity: Afterschool in demand, but out of reach for many. https://afterschoolalliance.org/documents/AA3PM-2025/AA3PM-Lost-Opportunity-Afterschool-in-Demand-But-Out-of-Reach-for-Many-Full-Report-2025.pdf
Alharahsheh, H. H., & Pius, A. (2020). A review of key paradigms: Positivism vs interpretivism. Global Academic Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(3), 39–43. https://gajrc.com/media/articles/GAJHSS_23_39-43_VMGJbOK.pdf
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). National Health Survey: Dietary behaviour 2020–21. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/food-and-nutrition/dietary-behaviour/2020-21
Australian Government Department of Education. (2022). Framework for school age care: My Time, Our Place (v2.0) in Australia. Australian Government. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/MTOP-V2.0.pdf
Australian Government Productivity Commission. (2023). A path to universal early childhood education and care. Productivity Commission. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/childhood/report/childhood-volume1-report.pdf
Aydin, G., Margerison, C., Worsley, A., & Booth, A. (2023). Parental support for free school lunches in Australian primary schools: Associated factors and perceived barriers. Public Health Nutrition, 26(12), 3320–3330. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980023002240
Barblett, L., Bobongie-Harris, F., Cartmel, J., Hadley, F., Harrison, L., Irvine, S., & Lavina, L. (2023). ‘We’re not useless, we know stuff!’ Gathering children’s voices to inform policy. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 48(2), 134–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391221139912
Beets, M.W., Tilley, F., Weaver, R. G., Turner-McGrievy, G., Moore, J. B., & Webster, C. (2014). From policy to practice: Addressing snack quality, consumption, and price in after school programs. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 46(5), 384–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2013.10.005
Bell, A. C., Davies, L., Finch, M., Wolfenden, L., Francis, J. L., Sutherland, R., & Wiggers, J. (2015). An implementation intervention to encourage healthy eating in centre-based child-care services: Impact of the Good for Kids Good for Life Programme. Public Health Nutrition, 18(9), 1610–1619. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980013003364
Bellisle, F. (2004). Effects of diet on behaviour and cognition in children. British Journal of Nutrition, 92(S2), 227–232. https://doi.org/10.1079/BJN20041171
Birt, L., Scott, S., Cavers, D., Campbell, C., & Walter, F. (2016). Member checking: A tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1802–1811. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316654870
Carter, N., Bryant-Lukosius, D., DiCenso, A., Blythe, J., & Neville, A. J. (2014). The use of triangulation in qualitative research. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41(5), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1188/14.Onf.545-547
Cartmel, J. (2019). School age care services in Australia. International Journal for Research on Extended Education, 7(1), 114–120. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v7i1.09
Cartmel, J., Casley, M., & Smith, K. (2020). Health and wellbeing in childhood: Talking circles. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108658874
Cartmel, J., & Hayes, A. (2016). Before and after school: Literature review about Australian school age child care. Children Australia, 41(3), 201–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/cha.2016.17
Cartmel, J., Irvine, S., Harrison, L., Barblett, L., Bobongie-Harris, F., Lavina, L., & Hadley, F. (2023). Conceptualising the education and care workforce from the perspective of children and young people. Frontiers in Education, 8, article 1167486. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1167486
Chan, M. J., Tay, G. W. N., Kembhavi, G., Lim, J., Rebello, S. A., Ng, H., Lin, C., Wang, M. C., Müller-Riemenschneider, F., & Chong, M. F.-F. (2022). Understanding children’s perspectives of the influences on their dietary behaviours. Public Health Nutrition, 25(8), 2156–2166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980022000404
Chen, P.-J., & Antonelli, M. (2020). Conceptual models of food choice: Influential factors related to foods, individual differences, and society. Foods, 9(12), 1898. https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/12/1898
Comeau, A., Mertens, B., Bachwal, L., Utter, J., & van Herwerden, L. (2024). Effectiveness of nutrition interventions in Australian secondary schools: A systematic review. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 35(3), 567–587. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.787
Cooke, L., Sangster, J., & Eccleston, P. (2007). Improving the food provided and food safety practices in out-of-school-hours services. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 18(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1071/he07033
Cormack, J., Rowell, K., & Postăvaru, G.-I. (2020). Self-determination theory as a theoretical framework for a responsive approach to child feeding. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 52(6), 646–651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2020.02.005
Crowe, R. K. (2021). Healthy eating and physical activity environments for out of school hours care settings [Doctoral thesis, University of Wollongong]. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/1332
Crowe, R. K., Probst, Y., Weaver, R. G., Beets, M.W., Kemp, B., Stanley, R. M., & Okely, A. D. (2021). Systematic observation of healthy eating environments in after school services: a cross-sectional study. Public Health Nutrition, 24(18), 6067–6074. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980021003220
Crowe, R. K., Probst, Y. C., Norman, J. A., Furber, S.E., Stanley, R. M., Ryan, S. T., Vuong, C., Hammersley, M. L., Wardle, K., Franco, L., Beets, M.W., Weaver, R. G., Davis, M., Innes-Hughes, C., & Okely, A. D. (2022). Foods and beverages provided in out of school hours care services: an observational study. BMC Public Health, 22(277). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12652-9
Durão, S., Wilkinson, M., Davids, E. L., Gerritsen, A., & Kredo, T. (2023). Effects of policies or interventions that influence the school food environment on children’s health and nonhealth outcomes: a systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 82(3), 332–360. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuad059
Egan, K. A., Parsons, A. A., Ollberding, N. J., Smith, L. A., & Copeland, K. A. (2024). Dietary intake and quality during transition periods of drop-off and pickup from child-care centers. Children’s Health Care, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02739615.2024.2345318
Forde, K., Costello, L., Devine, A., Sambell, R., & Wallace, R. (2021). A multifaceted approach increased staff confidence to develop outside of school hours care as a health promoting setting. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 2286. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12360-w
Gale, N. K., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S., & Redwood, S. (2013). Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 13(1), 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-13-117
Gingell, T., Esdaile, E., & Gallegos, D. (2025). School food and nutrition environments in Australian primary schools: A scoping review. PLOS One, 20(7), e0327310. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327310
Gottschalk, F., & Borhan, H. (2023). Child participation in decision making: Implications for education and beyond (OECD Education Working Papers, Issue 301). https://one.oecd.org/document/EDU/WKP(2023)16/en/pdf
Graham, A., Powell, M. A., & Taylor, N. (2015). Ethical research involving children: Encouraging reflexive engagement in research with children and young people. Children & Society, 29(5), 331–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12089
Hurst, B. (2015). Not always fun: Older children’s play worlds in Australian outside school hours care. Journal of Playwork Practice, 2(1), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1332/205316215x14289372671159
Lansdown, G. (2014). 25 years of UNCRC: Lessons learned in children’s participation. Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights/Revue canadienne des droits des enfants, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.22215/cjcr.v1i1.12
Maher, C., Christian, H., Nathan, N., Okely, A., Bogomolova, S., Lewis, L. K., Cliff, D. P., Esterman, A., Milte, R., Rosenkranz, R. R., Curtis, R. G., Brinsley, J., Ferguson, T., Virgara, R., Richardson, M., Brannelly, K., Stanley, R., Schranz, N., Campbell, P.,…Wolfenden, L. (2025). Improving physical activity and screen time in Australian Outside School Hours Care: Study protocol. Pediatric Research, 97(5), 1516–1521. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03464-1
Moir, P., & Brunker, N. (2021). ‘We actually get to go out and play’: Looking through children’s views on Out of School Hours Care to children’s experience of school. International Journal of Play, 10(3), 302–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2021.1959226
Neely, E., Walton, M., & Stephens, C. (2016). Food practices and school connectedness: A whole-school approach. Health Education, 116(3), 320–340. https://doi.org/10.1108/he-11-2014-0095
Neubauer, B. E., Witkop, C. T., & Varpio, L. (2019). How phenomenology can help us learn from the experiences of others. Perspectives on Medical Education, 8(2), 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-019-0509-2
Patel, L., Hammersley, M. L., Furber, S., Norman, J., Ryan, S. T., Crowe, R., Woods, A. J., Probst, Y. C., Stanley, R. M., Taylor, L., & Okely, A. D. (2025). Awareness and use of the Eat Smart Play Smart resources in Out of School Hours Care services: A staff survey in New South Wales, Australia. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 36(2), e925. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.925
Ragelienė, T., & Grønhøj, A. (2020). The influence of peers’ and siblings’ on children’s and adolescents’ healthy eating behavior. A systematic literature review. Appetite, 148, 104592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104592
Rowe, F., Stewart, D., & Somerset, S. (2010). Nutrition education: Towards a whole-school approach. Health Education, 110(3), 197–208. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654281011038868
Saavedra, J. M., & Prentice, A. M. (2023). Nutrition in school-age children: A rationale for revisiting priorities. Nutrition Reviews, 81(7), 823–843. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuac089
Sangster, J., Cooke, L., & Eccleston, P. (2004). ’What’s to eat?’ – Nutrition and food safety needs in and out-of-school hours care. Nutrition & Dietetics, 61(3). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A123086589/AONE?u=anon~c6ed6fd6&sid=googleScholar&xid=c84feb16
Seward, K., Wolfenden, L., Finch, M., Wiggers, J., Wyse, R., Jones, J., & Yoong, S. L. (2018). Improving the implementation of nutrition guidelines in childcare centres improves child dietary intake: Findings of a randomised trial of an implementation intervention. Public Health Nutrition, 21(3), 607–617. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980017003366
Shonkoff, J. P., & Richmond, J. B. (2009). Investment in early childhood development lays the foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/pdf/expert/importance-early-childhood-development/according-experts/investment-early-childhood-development-lays
Simoncini, K., Cartmel, J., & Young, A. (2015). Children’s voices in Australian school age care: What do they think about afterschool care? International Journal for Research on Extended Education, 3(1), 114–131. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v3i1.19584
Thompson, E., Cooper, C., Flanagan, C., Crawford, D., & Worsley, A. (2006). Food and activity in out of school hours care in Victoria. Nutrition & Dietetics, 63(1), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-0080.2006.00018.x
Tong, A., Sainsbury, P., & Craig, J. (2007). Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 19(6), 349–357. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzm042
Vis, S. A., Strandbu, A., Holtan, A., & Thomas, N. (2011). Participation and health – A research review of child participation in planning and decision-making. Child & Family Social Work, 16(3), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2010.00743.x
Von Philipsborn, P., Stratil, J. M., Burns, J., Busert, L. K., Pfadenhauer, L. M., Polus, S., Holzapfel, C., Hauner, H., & Rehfuess, E. (2019). Environmental interventions to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their effects on health. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 6(6), CD012292. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012292.pub2
Weaver, R. G., Beets, M.W., Saunders, R. P., Beighle, A., & Webster, C. (2014). A comprehensive professional development training’s effect on afterschool program staff behaviors to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 20(4), E6-E14. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0b013e3182a1fb5d
Woods, A. J., Norman, J., Ryan, S. T., Wardle, K., Probst, Y., Crowe, R. K., Patel, L., Hammersley, M. L., Furber, S., Stanley, R. M., Taylor, L., & Okely, A. D. (2023). Children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour in before school care: An observational study. Preventive Medicine, 178, 107810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107810
Woods, A. J., Probst, Y. C., Norman, J., Wardle, K., Ryan, S. T., Crowe, R. K., Patel, L., Hammersley, M., Morton, K., Stanley, R. M., Taylor, L., & Okely, A. D. (2025). Food provision and healthy eating environments in before school care: An observational study. Public Health Nutrition, 28(1), e75, Article e75. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980025000333
World Health Organization. (2024). Health promoting schools. https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-promoting-schools#tab=tab_1