The Influence of An Activity-Based Nutrition Education on Preschool Children’s Perceptions about Healthy and Unhealthy Foods

Öz

It was aimed to investigate the influence of an activity-based nutrition education on the nutrition related perceptions of five-year-old children in this study. The posttest non-equivalent control group design was employed, and a total of 111 children participated. Data were collected with the group discussion and an adapted Healthy Food Knowledge Activity. It was analyzed with the inductive thematic approach, descriptive statistics, and independent sample t-tests. The results showed that children are conscious of basic healthy or unhealthy foods; however, they cannot think complex when it contains a variety of ingredients together. After the education, a statistically significant difference was found in the healthy food perception mean scores between the experimental and control group in favor the experimental one. Moreover, girls were also found to have significantly higher scores than boys in the healthy food perceptions. It was concluded that nutrition related educations are useful to support children’s perceptions about healthy nutrition.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Early childhood education
• nutrition
• nutrition education
• healthy
• unhealthy

Etik Beyan

This study was reviewed and approved by Ondokuz Mayıs University Social and Human Sciences Ethics Committee with the approval number 2025-527.

Etkinlik Temelli Beslenme Eğitiminin Okul Öncesi Dönem Çocuklarının Sağlıklı ve Sağlıksız Gıdalara İlişkin Algılarına Etkisi

Öz

Bu çalışmada, aktivite temelli beslenme eğitiminin beş yaşındaki çocukların beslenmeyle ilgili algıları üzerindeki etkisini araştırmak amaçlanmıştır. Son test eşdeğer olmayan kontrol gruplu desen uygulanmış ve toplam 111 çocuk katılmıştır. Veriler, odak grup görüşmesi ve uyarlanmış sağlıklı gıda bilgisi etkinliği ile toplanmıştır. Toplanan veriler tümevarımsal tematik yaklaşım, betimsel istatistikler ve bağımsız örneklem t-testi ile analiz edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, çocukların sağlıklı veya sağlıksız temel besinlerin bilincinde olduklarını, ancak çok sayıda bileşenin bir arada bulunduğu besinlerde karmaşık düşünemediklerini ortaya koymuştur. Eğitim sonrasında deney ve kontrol grubu arasında sağlıklı besin algısı ortalama puanlarında deney grubu lehine istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark bulunmuştur. Ayrıca, kızların sağlıklı gıda algısı konusunda erkeklerden önemli ölçüde daha yüksek puan aldıkları da tespit edilmiştir. Çocukların sağlıklı ve sağlıksız gıdalara ilişkin algılarını desteklemede beslenme ile ilgili eğitimler sağlanmasının yararlı olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Okul öncesi eğitimi
• beslenme
• beslenme eğitimi
• sağlıklı
• sağlıksız

Kaynakça

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