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Research at Leeds Beckett
Meaghan Christian
Contact Details
Meaghan Christian
Research Fellow
School of Clinical & Applied Sciences
0113 81 25503 M.S.Christian@leedsbeckett.ac.ukAbout Meaghan Christian
Meaghan's research interest is in dietary assessment and development of nutrition promoting interventions in families. Since 2006 she has been working on research to improve children’s diets with a focus on intervention research from large RCT’s conducted in the UK.
Her PhD titled “Can A School Gardening Intervention Improve Children’s Diets?” has involved managing two parallel randomised controlled trials (RCT) based in London devised to evaluate a school gardening intervention, to determine if it has an effect on children’s fruit and vegetable intake. The intervention was run by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Her trial work has provided Meaghan with vast experience in conducting statistical analysis, exploring not only the primary outcome, but also evaluation of the intervention and process evaluation. Process evaluations are used to improve the understanding of successful or unsuccessful health interventions; to identify the key components that make an intervention successful, for boys, girls or both; and to determine which environments/conditions lead to these particular components facilitating a successful outcome. She has also been involved in developing novel tools to assess intervention work in this age group. As part of her PhD, Meaghan modified the Child And Diet Evaluation Tool (CADET) diary, a 24-hour food questionnaire that measures dietary intake.
Research Interests
In October 2012, Meaghan started working at Leeds Beckett University as a Research Fellow on a feasibility trial evaluating a healthy eating and physical activity intervention - PhunkyFoods, and developed a Health Eating Knowledge Questionnaire and conducted a validation study. She understands the importance of having quality questionnaires to evaluate public health interventions and the skills necessary to analyse all aspects of children’s diets to identify significant links to improve diet quality in children and adolescence.
Selected Publications
Journal articles (21)
- Zarnowiecki D; Christian M; Dollman J; Parletta N; Evans C; Cade J (2018), Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8-11 year old children from Adelaide, South Australia, and London, England. AIMS Public Health, vol. 5 (4), p. 394-410.
https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2018.4.394
View Repository Record - Evans C; Hutchinson J; Christian MS; Hancock N; Cade JE (2018), Measures of low food variety and poor dietary quality in a cross-sectional study of London school children.. Eur J Clin Nutr
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0070-1
View Repository Record - Zarnowiecki D; Christian MS; Dollman J; Parletta N; Evans CEL; Cade JE (2018), Correction: Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8-11 year old children from Adelaide, South Australia, and London, England: Child eating behaviours in South Australia and England.. AIMS Public Health, vol. 5 (4), p. 477-482.
https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2018.4.477 - Evans CEL; Mandl V; Christian MS; Cade JE (2016), Impact of school lunch type on nutritional quality of English children's diets. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 19 (1), p. 36-45.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980015000853
View Repository Record - Christian M (2016), Primary school education programmes can decrease child salt intake. Evidence-Based Nursing, vol. 19 (1)
https://doi.org/10.1136/eb-2015-102120 - Day RE; Sahota P; Christian MS; Cocks K (2015), A qualitative study exploring pupil and school staff perceptions of school meal provision in England. British Journal of Nutrition
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114515002834 - Hutchinson J; Christian MS; Evans CEL; Nykjaer C; Hancock N; Cade JE (2015), Evaluation of the impact of school gardening interventions on children's knowledge of and attitudes towards fruit and vegetables. A cluster randomised controlled trial. Appetite, vol. 91
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.04.076 - Christian MS; Evans CEL; Nykaer C; Hancock N; Cade JE (2014), Evaluation of the impact of a school gardening intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a randomised controlled trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 11 (99)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-014-0099-7
View Repository Record - Evans CEL; Ransley JK; Christian MS; Greenwood DC; Thomas JD; Cade JE (2013), A cluster-randomised controlled trial of a school-based fruit and vegetable intervention: Project Tomato.. Public health nutrition, vol. 16 (6), p. 1073-1081.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980012005290 - Evans CEL; Ransley JK; Christian MS; Greenwood DC; Thomas JD; Cade JE (2013), A cluster-randomised controlled trial of a school-based fruit and vegetable intervention: Project Tomato. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 16 (6), p. 1073-1081.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980012005290 - Christian M; Gatto NM; Collins CE (2013), School Gardens: Growing and Eating ABCs (Asparagus, Broccoli, and Cauliflower). Infant, Child, and Adolescent Nutrition, vol. 5 (3), p. 154-156.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1941406413487656 - Evans CEL; Christian MS; Cleghorn CL; Greenwood DC; Cade JE (2013), Reply to VI Kraak et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 97 (3)
https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.112.053637 - Christian MS; Evans CEL; Hancock N; Nykjaer C; Cade JE (2013), Family meals can help children reach their 5 a day: A cross-sectional survey of children's dietary intake from london primary schools. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 67 (4), p. 332-338.
https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2012-201604 - Christian MS; El Evans C; Conner M; Ransley JK; Cade JE (2012), Study protocol: Can a school gardening intervention improve childrens diets?. BMC Public Health, vol. 12 (1)
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-304
View Repository Record - Christian MS; Evans CE; Ransley JK; Greenwood DC; Thomas JD; Cade JE (2012), Process evaluation of a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based fruit and vegetable intervention: Project Tomato. Public Health Nutr, vol. 15 (3), p. 459-465.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980011001844
View Repository Record - Evans CEL; Christian MS; Cleghorn CL; Greenwood DC; Cade JE (2012), Systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based interventions to improve daily fruit and vegetable intake in children aged 5 to 12 y. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 96 (4), p. 889-901.
https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.030270 - Ransley JK; Taylor EF; Radwan Y; Kitchen MS; Greenwood DC; Cade JE (2010), Does nutrition education in primary schools make a difference to childrens fruit and vegetable consumption?. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 13 (11), p. 1898-1904.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980010000595 - Cleghorn CL; Evans CEL; Kitchen MS; Cade JE (2010), Details and acceptability of a nutrition intervention programme designed to improve the contents of childrens packed lunches. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 13 (8), p. 1254-1261.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980009991509 - Evans CEL; Greenwood DC; Thomas JD; Cleghorn CL; Kitchen MS; Cade JE (2010), SMART lunch box intervention to improve the food and nutrient content of children's packed lunches: UK wide cluster randomised controlled trial. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 64 (11), p. 970-976.
https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2008.085837 - Kitchen MS; Ransley JK; Greenwood DC; Clarke GP; Conner MT; Jupp J; Cade JE (2009), Study protocol: A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school based fruit and vegetable intervention Project Tomato. BMC Health Services Research, vol. 9
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-9-101
View Repository Record - Christian M; Kitchen MS (2009), Study protocol: a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school based fruit and vegetable intervention - Project Tomato. BMC Health Services Research
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-9-101
Chapters (1)
- Hugh-Jones SA; Conner MT; Cade JE; Greenwood DC; Ransley JK; Kitchen MS; Evans CE (2014) The moderating effect of a school based intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: An application of the theory of planned behaviour. In: Hugh-Jones SA; Conner MT; Cade JE; Greenwood DC; Ransley JK; Kitchen MS; Evans CE Planned Behavior: Theory, Applications and Perspectives. : , pp. 95-104.
Conference proceedings (peer reviewed) (7)
- Zarnowiecki D; Christian M; Dollman J; Parletta N; Evans CEL; Cade J (2018) Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8-11 years old children from Australia and the United Kingdom. In: . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnim.2017.04.115: , pp. .
- Christian M (2013) Can a school gardening intervention improve children's fruit and vegetable intake? Process evaluations of two clustered randomised controlled trials.. In: Oral presentation. 20th European Congress on Obesity Liverpool, 2013 20130512. : , pp. .
- Christian M (2012) Can a school gardening intervention improve children's fruit and vegetable intake?. In: International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting Ghent, Belgium, 2013. 20130522. : , pp. .
- Christian M (2012) Are children eating their 5-A-DAY? A cross-sectional survey of children's dietary intake from London primary schools.. In: International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting Austin Texas . : , pp. .
- Christian M (2012) *. Measuring Diet in Young Children: Use of The Cadet Dietary Questionnaire in Primary Schools in London.. In: International Conference of Diet and Activity Methods Rome . : , pp. .
- Christian M (2012) The impact of the family meal on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a cross-sectional survey of children's dietary intake from London primary schools.. In: Nutrition Society Summer Meeting, Belfast Ireland, 2012 . : , pp. .
- Christian M (2009) Process evaluation of a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school based fruit and vegetable intervention: Project Tomato. Invited Contribution.. In: 10th Nutrition and Health Conference London . : , pp. .
Reports (2)
- Sahota P; Christian MS; Day RE; Cocks K; Taylor-Covill G (2015) Feasibility Study - The evaluation of the PhunkyFoods programme. . Leeds Beckett University: .
- Christian M (2014) Does the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children? Results from two randomised controlled trials. . NIHR Journals Library www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk: NIHR.
https://doi.org/10.3310/phr02040
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