A Comparison of Two Teaching Strategies on Nutrition Knowledge, Attituddes and Food Behavior of University Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two teaching strategies, benefit appeal, on the nutrition knowledge, attitude toward nutrition and food behavior of 165 university students. We presented university students with either a treat appeal, which emphasized the risks of not-following the recommendations, or a benefit appeal, which emphasized what was to be gained if respondents followed recommendations. We assigned a random sample of 165 students either to a control group or to one of two experimental groups : a threat- or benefit-appeal group. Only respondents in the experimental groups received brochures, but all respondents completed pre- and post- test questionnaires. Students in the benefit appeal group demonstrated significant increases in both nutrition knowledge and more positive attitudes about nutrition education after participation. The control group, however, had no significant increase in knowledge at post-testing. Significant positive correlations resulted at post-testing between nutrition knowledge and attitude, as well as attitude and food behavior for the experimental group. Results from this study suggest that a change in nutrition knowledge precedes a change in attitude. The benefit appeal group appeared to be most effective in changing nutrition knowledge, attitude toward nutrition, and food behavior. (J Community Nutrition 2(2) : 159∼163, 2000)