The effects of garden-enhanced nutrition education on the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of early childhood and elementary educators

The current study investigated whether the usage of Garden-Enhanced Nutrition Education (GENE) programs affect the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of early childhood and elementary educators (Prek-6) participating in such programs versus early childhood and elementary educators who teach without the GENE component. Educators from the Salt Lake City, Utah and Buffalo, New York areas (n = 69) were surveyed using a researcher developed tool based on the Nutrition-Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (NTSES), the School Garden Survey (SGS), the Healthy School Environment Surveys (HSES)- teacher and student, and adapted nutrition knowledge questions. Data were analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U test, frequency distributions, and chi-square analyses. A total of 69 early childhood and elementary educators completed the survey (14% response rate), 13% (n = 9) of which participated in GENE programs. Consistent with the literature reviewed, the nutrition topics taught and length of time spent teaching nutrition related instruction was correlated with the prior nutrition training of the educators. Likewise, the degree of participation in GENE programs was affected by the type and frequency of prior nutrition training, as are the nutrition related attitudes and self-efficacy of the educators. The effectiveness of such programs is highly dependent upon the training and availability of resources.