NUTRITION EDUCATION COURSE INCREASE COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SKILLS AND PERCEIVED SELF EFFICACY IN USING ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EDUCATE COMMUNITY

College students of nutrition play an important role in prevention by giving nutrition education and advice on healthy nutrition of community after graduation. Self –efficacy also is a principle connection between knowledge and action since the belief that one can do a behavior usually occurs before one actually attempts the behavior. To assess the impact of nutrition education course on the perceived self-efficacy of college students of nutrition to use an ecological approach to educate community, a quasi-experimental design was used.
68 college students of nutrition (n=34 intervention group, n=34 comparison group) participated in this study. A 12 week, nutrition education course applied for intervention group. Changes in skills, and perceived self-efficacy in using an ecological approach to educate community were analyzed using Paired and independent sample t tests, factor analysis, and regression analysis.
In contrast to comparison group, students who participated in a 12-week nutrition education course had statistically significant increases (P < .01) in their skills, and perceived self-efficacy related to using an ecological approach to educate community. A nutrition education course can be effective at increasing the skills, and perceived self-efficacy of college student of nutrition in using an ecological approach to educate their communities.