2017 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 197-208
The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a dietary education program, which was implemented to establish healthy eating habits among children enrolled in after-school care programs. After-school care programs in A City participated in the before-and-after survey. Two after-school care programs were selected as the intervention group and one after-school care program was selected as the control group. In August 2014, a three-day dietary education program was implemented with the intervention group. The children learned about classifications and combinations of grain dishes, fish and meat dishes, vegetable dishes. They were involved in measuring actual dishes. Data of 75 participants (47 participants from the intervention group and 28 participants from the control group) were analyzed. Survey results and worksheet entries were used to assess the effectiveness of the program.
In the intervention group, there was a significant improvement in knowledge of adequate portion size and a significant increase in the number of children with adequate dietary intake after the implementation of the program. Compared to the control group, knowledge regarding adequate portion size, self-efficacy for adequate dietary intake and the proportion of children consuming an adequate dietary intake were significantly higher in the intervention group. The weight of vegetables significantly increased from 55.2g to 84.2g in the intervention group. The results suggest that by participating in the program, the knowledge and skills of the children in areas essential for attaining a healthy diet were improved.
