Evaluation of Effectiveness of Vegetable-related Nutrition Education for Elementary School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of vegetable-related nutrition education for fourth grade elementary school students in Gyeongnam province. A comparative analysis of nutritional knowledge on vegetables, vegetable preferences, and vegetable intake in school foodservices were assessed between a control group and an experimental group. The control and experimental group contained 62 and 67 students, respectively, and the experimental group received nutritional education in four sessions (40 minutes each session) per week. A self-administered survey was conducted before and after this education, and 122 questionnaires (for 61 members of the experimental group and 61 members of control group) were analyzed. In the experimental group, there was a significant (p<0.001) increase in vegetable-related nutrition knowledge (form 5.02 to 6.10 out of a total score of 9), while there were no significant differences in the control group. Vegetable preference scores also significantly (p<0.001) increased (from 3.44 to 3.85 on the 5-point Likert scale) in experimental group, while there were no significant difference in control group. We also observed a significant (p<0.001) increase in vegetable intake from school foodservices (89.34% to 95.49%) in the experimental group, but there were no significant differences in the control group. In conclusion, a vegetable-related nutrition education for fourth grade elementary school students was effective at improving the nutritional knowledge of vegetables, vegetable preferences, and vegetable intake from school foodservices. Therefore, to encourage the vegetable-related right dietary habits, sustainable, and systematic nutrition education programs should be implemented for elementary students.

The potential problem of picky eating: a pilot study among university students of food and nutrition

“…Promisingly, 65.5% of the participants achieved relatively positive results in overcoming PE through the self-designed Food Bridge program. This suggests that the program may be beneficial for modifying PE behaviors in adults, which is consistent with previous studies showing improvements in child PE through similar programs (Laureati et al , 2014; Lee and Kim, 2013; Panunzio et al , 2007; Park, 2000). A previous review indicates that “primarily hedonic-based preferences early in life can be shifted to preferences that involve consideration of the health, social and economic impacts of foods later in life” (Ventura and Worobey, 2013).…”

Analysis of consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits in Korean adolescents based on Korea youth risk behavior web-based survey (2006, 2011)

“…Regarding the presence or absence of nutrition education, a study by Lee & Kim [ 34 ] found that nutrition education has a positive effect on vegetable intake when offered to elementary school students; however, the results of this study showed a decrease in vegetable intake. This discrepancy is due to the fact that the study by Lee & Kim evaluated changes in vegetable intake after offering education in a selected some group of subjects, whereas the data in this study were from the KYRBWS, which simply surveyed subjects on nutrition education items.…”