Impact of the Nutritional Educational Program to the Healthy Food Behaviour, Knowledge, Attitude and Environment for Obese Children

Abstract

Overweightness and obesity is a problem that has been rising in the Malaysian suburban environment. This study is conducted to evaluate the healthy food behavior, attitudes, knowledge and healthy environment of obese school children aged 10-11 years old. Obese school children received the nutritional educational program (NEP) comprised of a video, a comic reading session and a food selection game. The intervention resulted in a significant increase for healthy food behaviour, attitude and knowledge. However, there is an only minimal impact for a healthy environment. Overall, the results indicate that the nutritional educational program has positive impact in preventing obesity. Keywords: obesity, healthy food behavior, knowledge, nutritional educational program (NEP)ISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.