Junk food prevention education package intervention and its effect on behavioural intention among students of kageswori manohara municipality, Kathmandu district, Nepal

Abstract

The study was conducted in Kageswari Manohara Municipality of Kathmandu district. Four government high schools studying in grade 8 and 9 were selected randomly from total eight government high schools. Baseline data was collected from 428 students. Based on baseline study education package was developed using P process. In next phase two schools were selected as intervention group and other two was taken as control group. Study was done in three phases, in first phase baseline study, in second phase health education package development and in third phase intervention study. The baseline study showed that the understanding of junk food was satisfactory but 79.7% replace their meal with junk food at least one time per week. For the evaluation of effectiveness of intervention Mann Whitney U tests was used. The result showed in the pre-test, there were no significant differences between two groups. After intervention there was significant improvement in each construct of TPB. However there were significant improvement in attitude and intention but its continuity is quite challenging. The findings of the study encourage us to further explore creative approaches for the prevention of junk food especially in the school setting. This study developed behavioral intention among the intervention group. Behavior intention will lead to change in intended behavior. These healthy eating habits will affect their physical, emotional, and mental growth and development and even their adult years.