Gastronot: a pilot project for promoting healthy eating habits using mixed-method study design

Abstract

Background: Eating habits are formed from childhood and develop into adulthood. Unhealthy eating habits will persist into adulthood and can lead  to various diseases. Healthy eating and behaviour should be taught using  engaging tools. The study aims to pilot nutrition education using the game-based learning approach, implementing a specially designed learning board game entitled "Gastronot". Methods: A mixed-method study was used in two stages. The first stage was an FGD with 14 informants and in-depth interviews with six informants to develop the game. The second stage was the game's development, and a pre and post-test were conducted on 88 children to evaluate the game—the study was conducted from August 2019 to July 2020. Results: Results showed almost half the children (49%) never heard about Balanced Nutrition Diet Pyramid. There was a significant difference between respondents' knowledge before and after playing the game with a p-value of 0.021. The game was able to engage participants in the active learning process. Conclusions: We concluded that the game-based learning utilizing the Gastronot board game demonstrated good results as a method for teaching primary school students about food and healthy eating habits.