Effectiveness of Music in Enhancing Nutrition Education Outcomes Among Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effectiveness of healthy eating songs (HES) in improving adolescents' healthy eating knowledge, attitude, and practice.

DESIGN

Pretest-posttest quasi-experimental nonequivalent group design. Students from 2 of the selected schools (n = 37 and n = 35) received nutrition education using conventional classroom instruction and HES, whereas the other 2 (n = 30 and n = 31) received theirs using conventional classroom instruction only.

SETTING

Ibadan, Nigeria.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 133 students selected from 4 junior secondary schools participated in the study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Changes in healthy eating knowledge, attitude, and practice at the school level.

ANALYSIS

Independent t tests were used for analyzing summary data, whereas the linear mixed model was used to analyze the fixed effects of predictor variables at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Nutrition education had a significant effect on knowledge (F = 65.7, P < 0.001), attitude (F = 85.2, P < 0.001), and practice (F = 131.5, P < 0.001). Improvement in knowledge, attitude, and practice was observed in both groups. However, the intervention group performed better than the comparison group in knowledge (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.1 to 2.8), attitude (95% CI, 1.7-9.7), and practice (95% CI, 2.8-5.8). Geographical location had a significant effect on knowledge (F = 7.1, P = 0.005). Interaction effect of treatment and geographical location was significant on knowledge and attitude of students.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The use of HES may be an effective way of improving adolescents' healthy eating knowledge, attitude, and practice. However, testing culturally appropriate HES in more diverse audiences is warranted.