Implementation and Evaluaion of Nutrition Education Program for Elementary School Children

This study was designed to develop, implement and evaluate a nutrition education program for elementary school children. Subjects consisted of 47 children in the 6th grade in Seoul, Korea. They received five sessions of nutrition education from June to July, 1999. Topics for nutrition education included function of nutrients, food sources of nutrients, balanced diet, meal planning, and adequate energy intake. Each session lasted 40 minutes. To evaluate program effectiveness, one group pretest-posttest design was used. Subjects were given a pretest and a posttest on nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes, eating behavior, and dietary intake. All data were statistically analyzed mainly using the paired t-test and $\chi$$^2$-test. There was a significant difference between pretest and posttest score on nutrition knowledge(p<0.001), subscales of nutrition knowledge including food sources of nutrients, function of nutrients, and balanced diet(p<0.001). These changes in nutrition knowledge were also shown both in boys(p<0.001) and in girls(p<0.001). Eating attitudes, subscales of eating attitudes, and eating behavior were not significantly changed after nutrition education, although some changes were observed in these variables. Dietary intakes were not significantly were not significantly changed after nutrition education for all subjects ; however, different patterns in dietary intakes were observed when examined by sex. There was an increase in nutrient intakes among boys, while there was a significant decrease in nutrient intakes among girls after program implementation. Especially, it was noted that girls had diets deficient in iron, calcium, and vitamin A, even after nutrition education. It was concluded that a five-week nutrition education program can improve nutrition knowledge or some dietary intake, but this might not be enough to induce changes in food attitudes, eating behavior or dietary intakes. It might be necessary to incorporate diverse approaches, targeting sub-groups of children, and follow-up in nutrition education for elementary school children. (J Community Nutrition 2(2) : 146∼158, 2000)