Eating habits established during adolescence have been shown to track into adulthood. Adolescents from lower socioeconomic status groups tend to have lower intakes of vegetables as compared with their more affluent peers. However, there is limited evidence about the determinants of vegetable intake in this population group. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the barriers to vegetable intake in adolescents living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas through the perspective of school teachers and youth workers. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with post-primary school teachers and youth workers from disadvantaged areas in Dublin, Ireland. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the data. Eleven themes were identified and fitted within the Socioecological Model of Health: adolescent's food preferences, lack of early exposure and familiarity with vegetables, lack of interest, knowledge and skills at the individual and family level, parenting practices around nutrition, living difficulties, peers' influence and social norms around nutrition, dual role of social media, lack of resources and support to promote healthy eating, competition between unhealthy food vs. vegetables, lack of adequate approaches & initiatives at the community and at the public policy levels, and lack of State support to promote healthy eating. Although several actions could be taken at the personal and interpersonal levels, more efforts are needed at the organizational, community and public policy levels to improve dietary choices and vegetable intake among adolescents in socioeconomically deprived areas. These findings will inform the development of tailored intervention strategies and policies for these vulnerable youths.
Keywords: Adolescents; Qualitative research; Socioeconomically deprived areas; Teachers’ perspective; Vegetable intake; Youth workers’ perspective.
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