Effects of Eat Smart Program to Promote Nutritional Diet of Grade Four Students, Nonthaburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study aimed to study effects of the Eat Smart Program to promote a nutritious diet among students by applying the Social Cognitive Theory. The sample group of 64 students in the 4th grade from two schools in Bangbuathong, Nonthaburi, was selected using simple random sampling technique. The samples were composed of 32 elementary school students in the experimental group, and 32 elementary school students in the comparison group. The study period was seven weeks. The experimental group received learning activities, including attending lectures, playing games, watching videos, brainstorming, simple cooking practice and learning through modeling. The comparison group received standard health education from school. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and standard deviation, Paired t-test and Independent t-test.
The results showed that, after the intervention, the experimental group had knowledge about nutritious food consumption scores which were significantly higher than before the intervention, and higher than the comparison group (p<0.05). The experimental group had attitudes toward nutritious food consumption scores higher than before the intervention, and higher than the comparison group, but there was no significant difference (p>0.05). The experimental group also had a nutritious food consumption behaviors score that was significantly higher than before the intervention, and higher than the comparison group (p<0.05). The application of the Eat Smart Program to promote a nutritious diet was effective and increased knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in the consumption of nutritious food. This program should be applied to promote nutritious food consumption among children.