Abstract
Consumption of junk food among adolescents has been recognized as a serious health problem in the world. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention program (interactive lecture) based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for reducing junk food consumption among school adolescents in Birgunj Metropolitan City, Nepal. A structured questionnaire was deployed for collecting the data from four government schools. Pretest and Posttest group study design and simple random sampling techniques were used. A multiple linear regression model and a paired t-test were used to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention program. The theory of planned behavior indicates that behavioral intention of junk food consumption was different in pretest and posttest [5.43 ± 1.3 and 7.96 ± 0.3]. Furthermore, the average score of attitude toward junk food consumption was 11.9 ± 1.5 and 16.3 ± 1.6. Meanwhile, perceived behavior control (PBC) toward junk food was also different after intervention [2.42 ± 0.50 and 3.13 ± 0.58]. The interactive lecture method was proved an effective education program for changing the intentions of adolescent students and preventing them from consuming junk food which were statistically significant (<0.05). In addition, behavioral intention of junk food consumption, attitude toward junk food consumption, and perceived behavioral control toward junk food were statistically significant (<0.05). Therefore, study concluded that the intervention program has positive influence on the perceived behavior without control group of school-going adolescents.
Highlights
Junk food is a form of food which generally contains low nutrients but high fat, saturated fat, sodium, and low fiber [1, 2]. ese types of foods show negative health effects in children [3,4,5]
This study focuses only on the school setting, which has been identified as an important setting for collecting the information because students were continuously in contact with the teachers, teachers who may guide them to develop good habits throughout their life in school [30]. us, schools are a suitable place for educational interventions to increase knowledge, attitudes, and behavior for health promotion among adolescents. erefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention program based on the theory of planned behavior for reducing junk food consumption among school adolescents in Birgunj Metropolitan City, Nepal
Four out of twelve government schools of Birgunj Metropolitan City were undertaken for this study, from January 2018 to April 2018. ese four schools were randomly selected, and from each school, complete enumeration was taken and students were invited to participate in the study
Summary
Junk food is a form of food which generally contains low nutrients but high fat, saturated fat, sodium, and low fiber [1, 2]. ese types of foods show negative health effects (obesity, metabolic disorder, and high cholesterol) in children [3,4,5]. Ese types of foods show negative health effects (obesity, metabolic disorder, and high cholesterol) in children [3,4,5]. The consumption of junk food has remained higher in developed countries rather than developing ones, because of the liberalization of trade and foreign investment policy on food and beverage products [8, 12, 13]. In this regard, the change in nutrients found in food has been shown as the burden of obesity [11, 14]. The change in nutrients found in food has been shown as the burden of obesity [11, 14]. erefore, considerable investment in intervention strategies should be applied for reducing the consumption of junk food as a goal for any particular nation.
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