Characterization of Website use Associated with the WhyDairy? School-based Nutrition Education Intervention
Emma Sypes1, Megan Racey2, William Albabish2, Genevieve Newton2, *
1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada
2 Department of Human Health & Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada
Despite the known health benefits of dairy products, their daily consumption continues to decline, particularly in pre-adolescents and adolescents. It is therefore of interest to develop effective strategies to increase dairy intake and education in this population.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of the web-based component of a school-based dairy nutrition intervention called WhyDairy?. Through analysis of popular website content, traversal paths and timing of website access, we aimed to investigate how students used this website and to identify areas of improvement for future research.
Grade 7 students (n=115) in 10 Southwestern Ontario schools received the WhyDairy? intervention, which included three classroom visits and a website that could be voluntarily accessed. Website use data was collected using Google Analytics. The intervention delivered to control schools did not have a website component and is therefore not described in this report.
The website was voluntarily accessed by 33.6% of students participating in the intervention. Almost 70% of website visits occurred within two days following a classroom visit. Popular content included games and interactive pages. While there was moderate engagement with the website during the intervention period, there was poor engagement during the follow-up period.
The utilization of the WhyDairy? website represents students’ interest in independently furthering their knowledge and student engagement with a web-based component of a dairy nutrition intervention. Future work should investigate students’ motivations for accessing the website and how to encourage prolonged website use.
Keywords: Adolescent, Pre-adolescent, Milk, Schools, Health education, Vitamins, Minerals.