Effects of nutrition education program in intention change for consuming healthy food among adolescents: A School-based study

Abstract

Background: The adolescent period is a crucial stage of the human life cycle. The nutrition education program is a cost-effective way to promote and change the health behaviors of adolescents. This study assessed the effects of a school-based nutrition education program on changing the intention to consume healthy food among adolescents. Methods: It was a pre- and post-test study design with a control group. We selected two private schools one as a control and other as study area which was located at Pokhara Metropolitan ward number one, Nepal. We involved 70 students as control and 74 as a study. We conducted formative research to develop the educational package. We measured the effect of the nutrition education program after 15 days of the implementation of the package and assured its effect. Results: There was no significant difference between the control and study groups regarding their demographic characteristics and score of theory of planned behavior constructs (P < 0.05) during the pretest. The results revealed a significant increase in attitude, planned behavior control, and intention toward healthy eating behavior in the study group compared to the control group. There was no significant difference between two groups in subjective norms (SNs) toward healthy eating behavior. Conclusion: The nutrition education program was found significantly effective for changing the intention to consume healthy food and student's attitude, perceived behavioral control and intention towards healthy eating behavior. However, there was no significant change in SNs toward healthy eating behavior. School-based nutrition education program would change the healthy eating intention of adolescents.

Keywords

• administration
• education
• methods
• organization