{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:31:33Z","timestamp":1785418293387,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,6]],"date-time":"2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741219200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000193","name":"International Development Research Centre","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000193","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Maternal &amp;amp; Child Nutrition"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title><jats:p>School food environments play an important role in shaping children's food\u2010related decisions, including where and what foods to acquire and consume on a school day. In Ghana, evidence indicates that food environments in and around schools may limit healthy food acquisition and consumption behaviour. This study aimed to understand how children's experiences and perceptions of their school food environment influence food acquisition and consumption decisions. Data from 18 focus group discussions with children (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009157; aged 10\u201317 years) attending Public Basic Schools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana were analysed, guided by the African urban food environment framework for creating healthy nutrition policies and interventions. Children's food decisions in school were found to be influenced by experiences and perceptions at multiple food environment levels: macro, physical and social levels in combination with individual\u2010level factors. At the macro level, exposure to food advertisements on television emerged as an influence on food\u2010related decisions. At the physical level, experiences and perceptions of environmental sanitation, food vendor hygiene practices, affordability, and food quality were consistently reported to influence decisions. Social\u2010level experiences including influence from friends\/peers, family (mostly caregivers\/parents) and social qualities of food vendors also shaped food\u2010related decisions. Caregiver\/parental dietary advice was often linked to healthier acquisition and consumption decisions by children in school. The findings highlight the need for actions that work in synergy across multiple levels of the school food environment to create conditions that support children to acquire and consume healthier diets.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/mcn.70011","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,12]],"date-time":"2025-03-12T01:39:43Z","timestamp":1741743583000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["How Children's Experiences and Perceptions of Their School Food Environment Influence Their Food\u2010Related Decisions In\u2010School in Urban Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1515-7081","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Akua","family":"Tandoh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health University of Ghana Accra Ghana"},{"name":"UMR MoISA (Montpellier 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Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amos","family":"Laar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health University of Ghana Accra 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