Development of a Website-Based Nutrition Education Program for Female College Students and Young Women

Kim, Kyung Won; Kang, Hyun Joo; Kim, Kyung A; Kim, Se Hwa

Abstract

This study was designed to develop a website for providing nutrition information and education for college women and young women. The website focuses on two topics ; general nutrition and desirable weight control. This program is located at http : // www.ezydiet.co.kr. This program is composed of 5 major sections. The first two sections were designed to provide information ; one for general nutrition, and the other for providing information regarding weight control. The first section includes information regarding young adult women's diet, nutrition standards, such as the RDA or Korean Food Pyramid, drinking and smoking. The second section coveres information regarding desirable control, foods with high or low calories, eating disorders and popularly used dieting methods. The third section is for simple nutrition assessment, consisting of assessment of ideal body weight and obesity, energy requirements, and eating habits. The fourth section was designed to introduce and help users to apply behavioral modification techniques, such as monitoring, goal setting, stimulus control and reinforcement. The final section was designed for meal planning, by introducing a food exchange list and menu examples for one week. The characteristics of this web-based program are as follows ; 1) provide nutrition information systematically, 2) involve sections for the participation of the user, 3) include food pictures to help understanding of nutrition information, 4) include management modules for some sections to revise or update the information. One-hundred and ten female university students participated in the evaluation of this website. The evaluation results were favorable. About 90% of subjects rated that this program covers major topics 'well ' or 'very well', and that it was 'easy'to 'very easy'to understand the contents on website. Two-thirds of subjects rated quite positively on questions regarding attractiveness, overall quality and technical quality of website. In addition, about three-fourths of subjects answered that this website was helpful in increasing nutrition knowledge and in applying nutrition information into daily life. These results suggested the possibility of using a website as a means of providing nutrition information and education for young adult women.