Effects of a Health Literacy Training Program on Nutritional Behaviors of Children: An Educational Intervention

Childhood is a sensitive and important period in life, and is a key period in the formation of people's nutritional habits throughout life. Proper nutrition in teenage students can affect the quality and quantity of their growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a health literacy training program on nutritional behaviors among children in Iran.

In this study, carried out using an interventional method, 30 children were selected by available sampling and divided into two groups by randomized block method. The intervention group received 8 sessions of nutritional health literacy training and the control group did not receive any training. Data were collected using Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Data analysis was performed using SPSS 25 software and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The implementation of the health literacy training program significantly improved the nutritional behaviors of sixth-grade male students (P=0.001, F=6.57). This improvement was associated with reducing the average scores of the negative dimensions of nutritional behaviors (response to food, complaining, emotional overeating, emotional undereating, and the desire for drinks) and increasing the average scores of the positive dimensions (enjoying food, responding to satiety and eating slowly) (p<0.05).

According to the findings, the health literacy program can be used to improve the dimensions of children's nutritional behaviors along with other treatment options. Therefore, it is recommended to implement similar educational programs for students of other grades and for female students.