Skills-Based Education for Promoting Healthy Diet Among Female Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study

Poor dietary habits among adolescents could cause serious health conditions in adulthood. Skill-based health education seems to be more effective than structured educational methods in increasing knowledge, changing attitudes, and improving dietary behavior among adolescents. This study aimed to assess the effects of a skills-based healthy diet education program on female adolescents' dietary knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. This was a randomized trial study on 80 female students of two randomly selected public female high schools in Tehran, Iran. The participants were randomly assigned to an intervention and a control group. The intervention group underwent a skills-based educational program and the control group educated by a conventional lecture method. The demographic questionnaires were completed before the intervention and the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) questionnaires were completed three times: before, immediately after, and two months following the interventions. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 and Repeated Measure ANOVA (RMANOVA), t-test, Mann-Whitney, Fishers exact test, and Chi Square. The knowledge increased significantly in both groups after the educational programs (p < .001). The behaviors were significantly improved only in the skills-based-education group after the intervention (p < .001). In both follow-up phases, knowledge and behaviors were significantly higher in the intervention group comparing to the control group (p < .05). Skills-based health education is more effective than routine lecture method on dietary behaviors of female adolescent. Therefore, these methods are recommended for promoting of healthy dietary behaviors.