Effectiveness of nutrition education in enhancing knowledge and attitude of pupils on choice of school mid‐day meal in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

AbstractChildren's food choices affect their nutritional health, development, and well‐being. In Nigeria, school lunch is generally unregulated; the food menu is usually at the discretion of individual vendors forcing pupils to make unsupervised food choices. This study examined the effectiveness of 6‐week nutrition education in enhancing pupils' knowledge and attitude on the school mid‐day meal choices in Ibadan, Nigeria. A pre‐test/post‐test, quasi‐experimental study was conducted with 100 pupils in 4th and 5th grades in public primary schools. Multistage sampling was used to select the participants. A nutrition education module and a questionnaire were used to collect the data. Frequency counts and t‐test were used for statistical analysis. Findings revealed the following dietary pattern: 44 of the pupils preferred junk food (mean 41.5, SD = 12.9), 37 were inclined toward protein‐rich food (mean 37.7, SD = 12.5), 32 favored food items dense in carbohydrates (mean 34.4, SD = 9.5), and 11 showed a preference toward food with high vitamins and minerals (mean 28.4, SD = 7.5). Nutrition knowledge (t = 6.4, df = 99, p < .05); (pre‐test:  = 20.9 and SD = 1.0; post‐test:  = 22.8, SD = 2.8) and attitude toward choice of meal showed statistically significant differences (t = 4.9, df = 99, p < .05; pre‐test:  = 13.5 and SD = 6.8; post‐test:  = 18.2, SD = 7.2). We recommend that the Ministry of Education should prepare a standard lunch menu for all schools and the school authorities should enforce it through the schools' food vendors.