Evaluation of Nutrition Education Manuals Used as Part of Life Skills by Educators in Public Primary Schools in South Africa

Abstract

from public schools representing all 9 provinces of South Africa. Intervention: A 3-day training program (24 hours in total), during which the nutrition syllabus was explained to the educators in a classroom situation, with presentations and group work. Outcome Measures and Analysis: A self-administered validated nutrition knowledge questionnaire was completed before and after the training program. Data were captured and analyzed for descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and frequencies), as well as paired t tests for significant (P < .05) differences (influence) with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17.0. Results: The educators rated their nutrition knowledge ranging from very good (47.7%) to good (47.7%), respectively, at baseline; however, only 21.1% and 42.1% knew the definitions of malnutrition and a balanced, mixed meal, respectively. The mean percentage of correctly answered questions improved significantly (P < .05), from 62.8% at baseline to 82.0% for all the educators after the nutrition education program. Conclusions and Implications: This study showed that although educators teach nutrition to learners, they had poor nutrition knowledge in some areas. A need for nutrition education thus exists to improve the nutrition knowledge of educators, and a large-scale nutrition education program will be implemented in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education in 2011. Funding: Food and Agriculture Organization. Grant Number: TCP/SAF/3101.