School Breakfast‐Club Program Changes and Youth Eating Breakfast During the School Week in theCOMPASSStudy

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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of breakfast consumption, breakfast skipping is common among Canadian youth. This study examines how changes to school‐based breakfast programs are associated with breakfast‐skipping behavior.METHODS: Using school‐level longitudinal data from Year 1 (Y1: 2012‐2013) and Year 2 (Y2: 2013‐2014) of theCOMPASSstudy, quasi‐experimental methods evaluated the impact over time that changes to school‐based breakfast programs had on breakfast skipping or participating in school‐based breakfast program.RESULTS: BetweenY1andY2, the school‐level prevalence of breakfast skipping (54.5%‐54.9%) and breakfast program participation (12.3%‐13.6%) increased. Of the 43 participating schools, 5 implemented a new school breakfast program. Among the intervention schools, 1 school (School 4) observed a significant, and 1 school (School 3) observed a significant increase in the school‐level prevalence of skipping breakfast; there was no significant change in the other 3 intervention schools.CONCLUSIONS: Despite the availability of free school breakfast programs, the majority of youth skipped breakfast at least once a school week. Owing to the variation in the types of programs implemented, additional evaluation evidence is necessary to determine which students benefited the most from these programs.
Funding Information
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (OOP‐110788, MOP‐114875)

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