Abstract:

Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine eating habits of school age children and to evaluate the effect of nutrition education via games on promoting healthy eating habits Materials and Methods: The study, which is quasi-experimental with a pre-test/post-test experimental model without a control group, was conducted at a primary school. The population of the study includes 8-year-old 2nd-grade students. The population consists of 59 primary school students who participated in all nutrition education and completed one pre-test and two post-tests. The data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney-test, McNemar’s test, Shapiro-Wilk tests. Results: According to the findings, 59.3% of the students didn’t have any nutrition education and 84.7% of them considered their eating habits as good. It was also found that 50.8% of the students before the training, 30.5% of them right after the training and 40.7% of them 3 months after the training stated they skipped one of their meals and that lunch which was the most frequently skipped meal. Although there was no change in consumption of fresh fruit and fruit juice, there was an increase in the consumption of fresh vegetable and vegetable meals, but this was not transformed into behavior. The consumption of dairy products increased and transformed into behavior. The average nutrition knowledge of the students increased both right after the training and 3 months later. Conclusion: It is thought that the nutrition education given to the school age children had a positive effect on their nutrition knowledge, attitudes, behaviors.

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