{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/23156"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/23156","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Assessing Children\\'s Restaurant Menus in a Health Disparate Region","abstract":"Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States with 17% of youth currently classified as obese and an even higher prevalence of obesity among disadvantaged populations. The food environment may be contributing to these high rates as there has been a well documented association among increased away from home food consumption and excess adiposity, as well as evidence to support that children\\'s diets are composed of a large portion of restaurant foods. The main purpose of this study is to describe the quality of restaurant food offered to children in a rural health disparate region. Two trained research assistants conducted systematic audits of all food outlets offering a children\\'s menu in the Dan River region using the Children\\'s Menu Assessment (CMA) tool. A composite score for each outlet for was calculated from the 29 scored items on the CMA. The total sample consisted of 137 outlets with CMA scores ranging from -4 to 9 with a mean score of 1.6+2.7. Scores were lowest in the predominantly Black block groups (0.2+0.4) when compared to the predominately White block groups (1.4+1.6) and Mixed block groups (2.6+2.4) with significantly lower scores in the predominantly Black block group than the Mixed block groups (F=4.3; p<0.05). The results of this study reveal a lack of few healthy food options available for children in this region. These findings have the potential to contribute to public health efforts in developing public policy changes or environmental interventions for the children\\'s food environment in the Dan River Region.","abstract_html":"Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States with 17% of youth currently classified as obese and an even higher prevalence of obesity among disadvantaged populations. The food environment may be contributing to these high rates as there has been a well documented association among increased away from home food consumption and excess adiposity, as well as evidence to support that children\\&#x27;s diets are composed of a large portion of restaurant foods. The main purpose of this study is to describe the quality of restaurant food offered to children in a rural health disparate region. Two trained research assistants conducted systematic audits of all food outlets offering a children\\&#x27;s menu in the Dan River region using the Children\\&#x27;s Menu Assessment (CMA) tool. A composite score for each outlet for was calculated from the 29 scored items on the CMA. The total sample consisted of 137 outlets with CMA scores ranging from -4 to 9 with a mean score of 1.6+2.7. Scores were lowest in the predominantly Black block groups (0.2+0.4) when compared to the predominately White block groups (1.4+1.6) and Mixed block groups (2.6+2.4) with significantly lower scores in the predominantly Black block group than the Mixed block groups (F=4.3; p&lt;0.05). The results of this study reveal a lack of few healthy food options available for children in this region. These findings have the potential to contribute to public health efforts in developing public policy changes or environmental interventions for the children\\&#x27;s food environment in the Dan River Region.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Olive, Nicole Christine"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise","degree_department":"Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Hill, Jennie L."],"committee_members":["You, Wen","Estabrooks, Paul A.","Zoellner, Jamie M."],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-06-05","date_published":"2013-06-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:04Z","subjects":["childhood obesity","built environment","health disparities","community-based participatory research"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:699"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:699","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23156","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Hill, Jennie L."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["You, Wen","Estabrooks, Paul A.","Zoellner, Jamie M."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Olive, Nicole Christine"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2013-06-06T08:00:49Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-06-06T08:00:49Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2013-06-05"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["childhood obesity","built environment","health disparities","community-based participatory research"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:699"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23156"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States with 17% of youth currently classified as obese and an even higher prevalence of obesity among disadvantaged populations. The food environment may be contributing to these high rates as there has been a well documented association among increased away from home food consumption and excess adiposity, as well as evidence to support that children\\'s diets are composed of a large portion of restaurant foods. The main purpose of this study is to describe the quality of restaurant food offered to children in a rural health disparate region. Two trained research assistants conducted systematic audits of all food outlets offering a children\\'s menu in the Dan River region using the Children\\'s Menu Assessment (CMA) tool. A composite score for each outlet for was calculated from the 29 scored items on the CMA. The total sample consisted of 137 outlets with CMA scores ranging from -4 to 9 with a mean score of 1.6+2.7. Scores were lowest in the predominantly Black block groups (0.2+0.4) when compared to the predominately White block groups (1.4+1.6) and Mixed block groups (2.6+2.4) with significantly lower scores in the predominantly Black block group than the Mixed block groups (F=4.3; p<0.05). The results of this study reveal a lack of few healthy food options available for children in this region. These findings have the potential to contribute to public health efforts in developing public policy changes or environmental interventions for the children\\'s food environment in the Dan River Region."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Assessing Children\\'s Restaurant Menus in a Health Disparate Region"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Hill, Jennie L."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["You, Wen","Estabrooks, Paul A.","Zoellner, Jamie M."],"dc:contributor.department":["Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise"],"dc:creator":["Olive, Nicole Christine"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2013-06-06T08:00:49Z"],"dc:date.available":["2013-06-06T08:00:49Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2013-06-05"],"dc:description.abstract":["Obesity is an increasing problem in the United States with 17% of youth currently classified as obese and an even higher prevalence of obesity among disadvantaged populations. The food environment may be contributing to these high rates as there has been a well documented association among increased away from home food consumption and excess adiposity, as well as evidence to support that children\\'s diets are composed of a large portion of restaurant foods. The main purpose of this study is to describe the quality of restaurant food offered to children in a rural health disparate region. Two trained research assistants conducted systematic audits of all food outlets offering a children\\'s menu in the Dan River region using the Children\\'s Menu Assessment (CMA) tool. A composite score for each outlet for was calculated from the 29 scored items on the CMA. The total sample consisted of 137 outlets with CMA scores ranging from -4 to 9 with a mean score of 1.6+2.7. Scores were lowest in the predominantly Black block groups (0.2+0.4) when compared to the predominately White block groups (1.4+1.6) and Mixed block groups (2.6+2.4) with significantly lower scores in the predominantly Black block group than the Mixed block groups (F=4.3; p<0.05). The results of this study reveal a lack of few healthy food options available for children in this region. These findings have the potential to contribute to public health efforts in developing public policy changes or environmental interventions for the children\\'s food environment in the Dan River Region."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:699"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23156"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["childhood obesity","built environment","health disparities","community-based participatory research"],"dc:title":["Assessing Children\\'s Restaurant Menus in a Health Disparate Region"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:04Z"}