Role of behavioural feedback in nutrition education for enhancing nutrition knowledge and improving nutritional behaviour among adolescents

Background and Objectives: The integration of nutrition knowledge into nutritional behaviour can help children to develop a healthy lifestyle that may be carried forward into adulthood. E-learning enables students to take ownership of recording their dietary intake and modify their diets by making their own decisions regarding food choices and portion sizes through reflective feedback. This study investigated the role of behavioural feedback in nutrition education in modifying students' nutrition knowledge and behaviour. Methods and Study Design: Ninety-five secondary students studying from Secondary 1 to Secondary 3 were recruited from five schools. Moreover, 50 and 45 students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, respectively. Nutrition education delivered through e-learning (NeL) was adopted to record students' diets. Online reports with behavioural feedback were provided for the experimental group but not for the control group. NeL sessions lasted for 12 weeks. The energy and nutrient profiles of the students were recorded as pre-post measurements. Pre-post nutrition knowledge was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire at the baseline and after intervention. Results: The experimental group had significantly higher scores in the 'dietary recommendation' and 'food choices' domains of the questionnaire and demonstrated significant dietary improvement in the intake of all studied macronutrients and micronutrients. Conclusions: Nutrition education conducted with behavioural feedback can effectively improve adolescents' nutrition knowledge and nutritional behaviour. Copyright © 2018 Asia Pacific Clinical Nutrition Society by Smith-Gordon.