DOI: 10.33808/clinexphealthsci.1533381 ISSN: 2459-1459

Is Nutrition Education Alone Sufficient to Improve Children’s Nutrition-Related Knowledge and Attitudes?

Gökcen Doğan, Seda Önal, Taha Gökmen Ülger, Nurcan Yabancı Ayhan
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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nutrition education on the level of nutritional knowledge and nutritional habits of primary school students.Methods: Schools were chosen at random from a list of 2022 rankings of the socioeconomic development of the districts of Turkey. The nutrition education program was developed by nutrition and diet experts in accordance with the Ministry of Health's recommendations for healthy nutrition for school-age children. The study included 103 children of school age (8-10 years). Assessments were conducted 1 week before and 4 weeks after the intervention in 2023. The level of nutritional knowledge was assessed using a set of 10 questions prepared by the research team. These questions covered topics such as food groups, main meals, and the health benefits of consuming eggs, meat/poultry, fish, water, milk, cereals, and fruits and vegetables. In addition, children's knowledge, attitudes and habits regarding healthy nutrition were evaluated through a survey form.Results: Nutrition education increased the level of nutritional knowledge. Although the rate of correct answers to all questions assessing nutritional knowledge increased after education, the increase in the rate of correct answers to questions about food groups and healthy carbohydrate sources was statistically significant (p.05).Conclusion: Although nutrition education is effective in increasing the level of nutritional knowledge in children, it is not an effective tool alone for the behaviors that children should acquire regarding nutrition. It may be useful to determine the effect of different educational tools on attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition with different methodological techniques.

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