City Research Online

Abstract

Background:
Despite most school-based food and nutrition programmes improving determinants of healthy eating, most programmes are abandoned within 2 years due to external vulnerabilities in funding and political support. The aim of this study was to explore the enablers and barriers to the implementation and sustainability of Pick of the Crop. Pick of the Crop is a whole-school nutrition programme aimed at increasing opportunities for primary school students to learn about and consume more vegetables and fruit.

Methods:
Qualitative methods were used for this study. Purposive sampling targeted the recruitment of the Pick of the Crop programme champions from primary schools in three regions of Queensland, Australia (socio-educationally disadvantaged areas; ranging in degree of remoteness). The schools had to be in their third year of implementation. Semi-structured interviews that were informed by the domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) were conducted with participants. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded deductively and inductively. Deductive coding was based on the constructs and sub-constructs of the CFIR, and inductive coding was applied when CFIR constructs were not suitable. The coding informed the development of themes through thematic analysis.

Results:
Interviews were conducted with 10 school champions including three principals and seven teachers from across all three regions. Forty-five constructs and 14 sub-constructs of the CFIR were identified, with an additional three inductive codes. Five main themes emerged: (1) implementation facilitators; (2) compatibility with education priorities; (3) generation and use of funding; (4) partnerships and connections with community and (5) programme impact.

Conclusion:
To enhance and promote sustainability of the initiative, partnerships between schools and community need to be actively fostered, funding attainment needs to be systematic and programme coordinators play an integral role to supporting Pick of the Crop implementers and their partners.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© Royal Society for Public Health 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Publisher Keywords:	health promotion, public health, school nutrition, nutrition programme, nutrition, health promotion, nutrition
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Population Health & Policy
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads