© Child Trends 2003
Untitled Nutrition Education Behavior Change Strategy
OVERVIEW
The Untitled Nutrition Education Behavior Change Strategy intends to increase students’ nutrition through six concepts including personalization of food records, goal-setting, self-management, and self-evaluation. Six schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions – a behavior change treatment, a treatment combining behavior change plus a traditional knowledge-focused approach, and a no-treatment control group. Both treatment groups gained knowledge. An evaluation of the program showed significant impacts on 8 of 14 nutrients for one or both treatment groups, compared with the control group; but they were not significant. Also, there were no significant impacts on nutrition attitudes.
Target population: High school students
The nutrition education behavior change strategy consists of six concepts that aim to make nutrition a normal part of students’ lives. The first step, personalization, involves the students keeping three-day food records and tracking nutrient intake. During step two, goal setting, the students set a goal for nutrient improvement. Self management, step three, allows the students to identify the nutrition goals of greatest benefit to them. Self-implementation occurs when the students implement their selected goals for a weekend. During self-evaluation, the students evaluate their successes and failures during the self-implementation process and revise their plans. Implementation then continues for three days with the same or revised solutions. Feedback is given to the students with a focus on relapse situations. Afterward, another series of self-implementation and evaluation on successes and failures, along with revisions to strategies occur. Finally, there is an effort to make the implementation a natural part of the students’ life.
Evaluated Population: 159 ninth and tenth grade students from 12 classes in 6 schools in the Knoxville, Tennessee area participated in the study. The schools in the study were classified as rural, low/middle income and urban/suburban, middle/upper income. Students’ ages ranged from 14 to 16 years.
Approach: Schools were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The behavior change group received the nutrition education behavior change. The behavior change plus group received the nutrition education behavior change strategy along with a nutrition information component that is normally taught in the classroom. Finally, a control group received no treatment.
Students were assessed on nutrient intake, nutrition attitudes, and nutrition knowledge. Students rated the nutrition education activities related to any behavior changes they made.
Results: There were no significant differences between the behavior change and behavior change plus groups. There were no significant impacts on attitude. There were no significant increases in the behavior change and behavior change plus groups from pre- to post-test. Non-experimental analyses indicate that student goal-setting predicted behavior change. The analysis is undermined by high levels of attrition in the control group.
White, A. A., & Skinner, J. D. (1988). Can goal setting as a component of nutrition education effect behavior change among adolescents. Society for Nutrition Education, 20(6), 327-335.
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: 14-16
Program age ranges in the guide: Adolescence, Youth
Program components: School-based
Measured outcomes: Physical health
KEYWORDS: Adolescence (12-17), School-based, Adolescents (12-17), Youth (16+), High School, Nutrition
Program information last updated on 4/1/09.
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© Child Trends 2003 |