Effect of Nutrition Education Program on Nutrition Knowledge, Dietary Diversity of Elementary School Children

Yoon, Hyun Sook; Yang, Hal La; Her, Eun Sil

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to promote health for elementary school children. It was conducted with a 7 week program focused on the teaching of the food tower and evaluation of its educational effects. Subjects consisted of 75 boys and girls (control group : 37, treatment group : 38) in the 4th grade of elementary school. The results showed as follows. The proportion of boys was a little higher than that of girls. Of their mothers age, the thirties and forties were 66.7% and 33.3%, respectively. 61.3% of mothers had jobs and 86.7% of mothers prepared meals. The average of the anthropometric data of the 2 groups show were all in the normal range. The degree of nutritional knowledge in treatment group after education was significantly increased in all concepts, however, the degree of the control group appeared to show significant increase in only two concepts, such as "snack" and "one-sided diet". The diversity of dietary intake was investigated to evaluate the educational effect using food picture cards. The treatment group showed significant increase in all food groups except "cooked rice", "potatoes" and "fruits", but the control group showed no significant change. The level of nutrition knowledge has a significant correlation with the diversity of the food intake in the treatment group. The preferred lesson for children were "games", "doll playing" and "role playing". The impressive lesson contents were "diverse food intake without one-sided diet", "eating breakfast everyday", "choosing good snacks for health" and "eating less procesed food". These findings indicate that a well-designed program for nutrition education can help to change food habits, and that childrens education helps them to grow and to live as healthy adults. The performance of an educational program for preventive nutrition is more beneficial for children than for the adults based on the cost reduction and effect of this education.