ArticleHealth promotion international2025
Being well-fed in universal school lunches in Canada: avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach.
Article in Health promotion international, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Towards a comprehensive school food environment audit tool in Canada: a systematic review of school food environment measurements and nutrition determinants.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Food Improvement Goals in Schools (FIGS I): a qualitative evaluation of a whole-school approach to healthy food provision in primary schools.BMC public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
As Canada is implementing a new national school food program with a long-term vision of every child having access to nutritious food in school, understanding student eating perspectives and food choices in universal programs is paramount. The purpose of this study was to understand how students in two low-income and culturally diverse elementary schools in Saskatoon, Canada, perceived and participated in a 2-year, universal school lunch pilot. This study was part of a larger case study of the Good Food for Learning program. Eleven focus groups with 65 students in grades 5-8 and participatory observation in the schools were conducted. Data analysis followed a reflexive thematic analysis approach Braun V, Clarke V. Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qual Res Sport, Exer Health 2019;11:589-97. doi:10.1080/2159676 × .2019.1628806, Braun V, Clarke V. Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern-based qualitative analytic approaches. Counselling Psychother Res 2020;21:37-47. doi:10.1002/capr.12360) using NVivo 12 Plus. Student perspectives centered around being well-fed at lunch. Students saw participation in the pilot as a matter of personal choice: student decision to participate was encouraged by the pilot's flexible and free design; availability of well-liked food; and the perceived healthiness of the food. Offering culturally diverse and inclusive food was important to students. Mitigating future barriers to student participation in universal lunch programs will require attention to student choice, agency, and diversity, and offering diverse portion sizes, adequate meal lengths, and student-centered infrastructure. School lunch programs that are universal, health promoting, tasty, and free, and offer flexibility and choice to students, may be a socially desirable way to improve student nutrition and wellbeing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.