2018 Volume 26 Issue 3 Pages 313-319
Background: In the Japanese Society of Health Education and Promotion, its Nutrition Education Committee has been conducting research under the theme, "Evaluation of school-based food and nutrition education (FNE)," since 2013. In June 2017, many participants at a round-table discussion reported that they expected to know more about specific procedures for FNE. Therefore, we conducted a baseline assessment before conducting FNE. This article reports a summary of the 2017 annual committee workshop about the baseline assessment, which was held in March 2018.
Contents: For 88 participants, we first introduced the baseline assessment items used by the national-level investigations and by two super shokuiku schools for 2017. After that, the participants discussed items already used in the field, introduced ideas for the future, and identified difficulties ahead. In response to the questionnaire, 46 participants reported they were "very satisfied", 35 were "satisfied", and one was "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" with the evaluation (82 valid questionnaires).
Conclusion: At the annual workshop, participants found it important to perform baseline assessment to FNE. However, it is difficult to perform it in the field due to limited budget, lack of sufficient academic support, and other factors. Some regions, however, reported that baseline assessment was performed annually an as a routine at the prefecture and municipal levels. The establishment of such a system for baseline assessment is a challenge for other regions.
