Abstract
Objective
To assess qualitatively and quantitatively college students' perceived differences
between a real meal, meal, and snack.
Design
A descriptive study design was used to administer an 11-item online survey to college
students.
Setting
Two university campuses in the western US.
Participants
Pilot testing was conducted with 20 students. The final survey was completed by 628
ethnically diverse students.
Main Outcome Measures
Students' perceptions of the terms real meal, meal, and snack.
Analysis
Three researchers coded the data independently, reconciled differences via conference
calls, and agreed on a final coding scheme. Data were reevaluated based on the coding
scheme. Means, frequencies, Pearson chi-square, and t test statistics were used.
Results
More than half of students perceived a difference between the terms real meal and meal. Most (97.6%) perceived a difference between the terms meal and snack. A marked difference in the way students defined these terms was evident, with a
real meal deemed nutritious and healthy and meeting dietary recommendations, compared with
meals, which were considered anything to eat.
Conclusions and Implications
These findings suggest that the term real meal may provide nutrition educators with a simple phrase to use in educational campaigns
to promote healthful food intake among college students.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 16, 2016
Accepted:
November 4,
2016
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors' conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
©2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
