Premium
Evaluation of the Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, and Food Consumption Behaviors of High School Students Before and After Completion of a Nutrition Course
Author(s) -
Watson Lauren Crawford,
Kwon Junehee,
Nichols David,
Rew Martha
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
family and consumer sciences research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 1077-727X
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x08329002
Subject(s) - nutrition education , overweight , intervention (counseling) , consumption (sociology) , medicine , descriptive statistics , health education , psychology , gerontology , environmental health , family medicine , obesity , public health , nursing , social science , statistics , mathematics , sociology
Adolescents may lower their risk of becoming overweight and lead a healthier lifestyle by improving their nutrition knowledge and attitudes towards nutrition and health. A quasi‐experimental design was used to assess nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and food consumption behaviors of students 14 to 19 years old before and after a nutrition course in a North Texas high school. The intervention group (n = 45) was enrolled in elective family and consumer science courses and received nutrition and health education, whereas the control group (n = 30) received no nutrition education. Identical pre‐ and posttest questionnaires were completed at the beginning and the end of a semester by students in both groups. Descriptive statistics, cross‐tabulation with chi‐square analyses, and independent and paired‐sample t tests were calculated using SPSS. No differences in the dependent variables existed between the two groups before the intervention, but after the intervention, only the intervention group significantly improved in nutrition knowledge, some attitude scores, and milk and breakfast consumption behaviors. The findings of this study indicate that nutrition education may positively influence the knowledge, attitudes, and eating behaviors of high school students.