Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-dk7s8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-02T16:39:25.749Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français
Accepted manuscript

Health Belief Model constructs and teachers’ use of food rewards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2025

Elizabeth Daniels ,
Janelle Elmore ,
Kevin Sauer ,
Kelly Whitehair  and
Jennifer Hanson Open the ORCID record for Jennifer Hanson [Opens in a new window]
Elizabeth Daniels
Affiliation:
The Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Janelle Elmore
Affiliation:
Elmore Consulting LLC, Columbia, MO, USA
Kevin Sauer
Affiliation:
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Kelly Whitehair
Affiliation:
The Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Jennifer Hanson*
Affiliation:
The Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA The School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Jennifer Hanson, Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, 245 Justin Hall, 1324 Lovers Lane, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506 USA, jhanson2@ksu.edu +1 913-306-3378
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective:

Classroom celebrations and food rewards are substantial sources of unhealthy foods within the school environment in the USA. This study was designed to describe classroom food reward practices and examine the association between food rewards and constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM).

Design:

An online survey using summated scales of food reward frequency and HBM constructs.

Setting:

The online survey was distributed to elementary schools throughout seven Midwestern states from November through December 2023.

Subjects:

Elementary school teachers (n = 256).

Results:

Candy was the most frequently used food reward with the majority of teachers (55.9%) reporting they utilized candy at least “sometimes”. Bi-variant analysis revealed food reward frequency was positively correlated with perceived barriers to refraining from the use of food rewards (r =. 47, P < .01) and negatively correlated with policy cues to action (r = −.22, P < .01). Multiple regression analysis predicted food reward frequency [R = 0.47, F (3,247) 23.62, P < .001], but only perceived barriers (β = .45; p < .001) contributed significantly to the prediction.

Conclusion:

Classroom food rewards are common, and perceived barriers (but not perceived threat or policy cues) were associated with food rewards among this sample of teachers. Reducing barriers to refraining from the use of food rewards may begin to reduce the practice of using classroom food rewards.

Keywords

Nutrition policyHealth Belief ModelRewardsSchool TeachersPsychological Theory

Information

Type
Research Paper
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 24
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society