A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Nutrition Education on Attitudes Related to Healthy Diet and Eating Habits Among Adolescents at Selected Schools of Gujarat

Abstract

Unhealthy eating behaviours such as skipping meals, high intake of energy-dense and nutrient-deficient foods such as wafers, chocolates and sweetened beverages, frequent consumption of fast foods and inadequate intake of protective foods such as fruits and vegetables have been reported in adolescents in India, as elsewhere. Besides changes in dietary patterns, there is evidence that a substantial proportion of adolescents do not meet the cur-rent WHO recommendations of accumulating at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day and limiting the daily screen time to below 2 h. Objectives: 1) To assess the Effectiveness of a nutrition education intervention on attitudes related to healthy diet and eating habits in adolescents. 2) To find out the association between pre-test attitude score with selected socio-demographic variables. Material and Methods: An Interventional research study conducted in the Selected Schools of Gujarat, Non-Probably Purposive sample technique was used. Total sample size was 300 Adolescents. Result: Out of the 300 adolescents 6(2%) adolescents belongs to age group 12-14 Years,123 (41%) adolescents belong to age group 14-16 Years & 171(57%) adolescents belongs to age group 16-18 Years. Out of 300 adolescents 210(70%) adolescents are female & 90 (30%) adolescents are male. Out of 300 adolescents 5(1.67%) adolescents belongs to hindu religion,215(71.67%) adolescents belong to muslim religion,80 (26.67%) adolescents belong to Christian religion. Out of 300 adolescents 177(59%) belongs to nuclear family,122(40.67%) belong to joint family, 1(0.33%) belong to single parent family. Out of 300 adolescents 64(21.33%) mother’s of adolescents belongs agriculture occupation,81(27%) mother’s of adolescent belong to laborer occupation ,23(7.67%) mother’s of adolescents belongs to skilled worker occupation, 132(44%) mother’s of adolescents are unemployed. Out of 300 adolescents 86(28.67%) father’s of adolescents belongs to agriculture occupation, 99(33%) father’s of adolescents belongs to laborer occupation, 115(38.33%) father’s of adolescents belongs to skilled worker. Out of 300 adolescents 109(36.33%) adolescents birth order were 1st, 152 (50.67%) adolescents birth order were 2nd, 32(10.67%) adolescents birth order were 3rd, 7(2.33%) adolescents birth order were 4th. There is a statistically association between attitude score with occupation of mother’s (P=0.04), & association between attitude score with occupation of father’s (P=0.013). Conclusion: Result of this study showed that the adolescent having pre-test 80.67% average attitude score, 19.33% having good attitude score regarding Healthy diet & eating habits. Adolescent having post-test 5.67% average attitude score, 94.33% having good attitude score regarding healthy diet & eating habits.