School food offer at lunchtime: Assessing the validity and reliability of a web-based questionnaire

Objectives To develop and validate a web-based self-diagnostic questionnaire on school food service offer aimed at food service managers (FSMs) by: i) identifying relevant indicators of school food offer, developing a questionnaire and validating the concept using an expert panel, ii) validating the questions by comparing the food service manager’s responses with observations by dietitians, and iii) undergoing a qualitative evaluation of the tool through direct observation and short interviews. Design Mixed methods. Setting Quebec, Canada. Participants Nine experts validated the theoretical constructs and indicators on which the questionnaire was based. Inter-rater reliability tests were conducted with 39 food service managers, who then participated in interviews about platform functionality satisfaction. Twenty school stakeholders participated in the survey pertaining to their use of the personalised report. Results The questionnaire focused on the main school food service’s lunchtime offer and comprised 26 questions. The overall strength of agreement was good, and all questions’ strengths of agreement were fair to excellent except for one question. Qualitative data reached saturation and showed that navigation through the questionnaire was fluid. Improvements were suggested to increase user-friendliness and simplicity of both the platform and questionnaire. Results from the survey showed that all respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with their personalised report. Conclusions We successfully developed and validated a web-based self-diagnostic questionnaire. The final version facilitates knowledge mobilisation with school stakeholders and offers a new opportunity for the assessment and surveillance of school food offer.

Customer aggression and organizational turnover among service employees

Purpose The episodes of customer rage with employees during service encounters are common and adversely affect the long-term commitment of employees with an organization. The service organizations, in an effort to control employee turnover, are striving hard but have failed. There are a wide variety of studies that address employee turnover but the research which encapsulates a combined effect of perceived justice and organizational pride to study exhaustion-turnover path are almost scant. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of customer aggression on the frontline food service managers’ emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. The mitigating effects of perceived distributive justice and emotional organizational pride are also investigated. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 250 frontline employees of global fast food chain outlets located in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling by AMOS. Findings The customer aggression is found to influence emotional exhaustion which in turn reduces job satisfaction and increases turnover intentions among frontline food service managers. The mitigating effects of distributive justice on the customer aggression to emotional exhaustion path and of emotional organizational pride on the job satisfaction to turnover intentions path are confirmed. Practical implications The results reveal importance of maintaining a supportive and justice-oriented organizational culture. Rewarding frontliners, celebrating the organizational successes that build pride, and acknowledging the emotional burden misbehaving customers place on employees are identified as shields to guard against employee dissatisfaction and turnover. Originality/value The turnover intentions resulting from the emotional exhaustion caused by customer aggression in the global fast food industry is studied for the first time. Furthermore, the inclusion of distributive justice and emotional organizational pride as cognitive and affective factors that reduce the effects of customer aggression on frontliners is unique to this study.

School nutrition guidelines: overview of the implementation and evaluation

ObjectiveTo holistically evaluate the extent of implementation of dietary guidelines in schools and present various monitoring systems.DesignThe study comprises three methods: (i) a cross-sectional survey (process evaluation); (ii) an indicator-based evaluation (menu quality); and (iii) a 5 d weighed food record of school lunches (output evaluation).SettingSlovenian primary schools.SubjectsA total 234 food-service managers from 488 schools completed a self-administrated questionnaire for process evaluation; 177 out of 194 randomly selected schools provided menus for menu quality evaluation; and 120 school lunches from twenty-four schools were measured and nutritionally analysed for output evaluation.ResultsThe survey among food-service managers revealed high levels of implementation at almost all process evaluation areas of the guidelines. An even more successful implementation of these guidelines was found in relation to organization cultural issues as compared with technical issues. Differences found in some process evaluation areas were related to location, size and socio-economic characteristics of schools. Evaluation of school menu quality demonstrated that score values followed a normal distribution. Higher (better) nutrition scores were found in larger-sized schools and corresponding municipalities with higher socio-economic status. School lunches did not meet minimum recommendations for energy, carbohydrates or dietary fibre intake, nor for six vitamins and three (macro, micro and trace) elements.ConclusionsThe implementation of the guidelines was achieved differently at distinct levels. The presented multilevel evaluation suggests that different success in implementation might be attributed to different characteristics of individual schools. System changes might also be needed to support and improve implementation of the guidelines.

An Evaluation of Elementary School Nutrition Practices and Policies in a Southern Illinois County

The purpose of this study is to assess elementary school nutrition programs in a rural county in southern Illinois. The researcher interviewed the food service managers of eight schools and completed the School Health Index (SHI) based on their responses. Eighty-seven percent of the schools did not have venues such as vending machines outside the cafeteria. Three food service managers stated that from 75% to 80% of the students in the district ate lunch in the cafeteria. The SHI corresponds to the eight components of a coordinated school health program; nutrition services are just one of the eight components. The SHI is a tool that can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses in the nutrition program. It covers items from healthy, low-fat choices to food preparation and cafeteria practices. School nurses can work with teachers and food service personnel to create nutrition programs and a curriculum related to healthy nutrition practices.