The social, physical and temporal characteristics of primary school dining halls and their implications for children's eating behaviours

Abstract

Purpose: Social, physical and temporal characteristics are known to influence the eating experience and the effectiveness of nutritional policies. As the school meal service features prominently in UK nutritional and health promotion policy, the paper's aim is to investigate the characteristics of the primary school dining context and their implications for eating behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of one local authority in Wales was conducted involving 11 primary schools stratified into socio-economic quartiles. Focussed observations were carried out over two to three lunchtimes per school to explore their social, physical and temporal characteristics. These were suppleme..