Yun Hee Shin1, Tae Hee Lee1, Min Ju Kang1, Ha Yeon Jang1, Hye Mi Ham1, Eun Hee Choi2

1Department of Nursing, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea 2Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea


Background: Human diet and eating habits are formed in childhood so that eating habits in this period have a great impact on the nutritional status of children. Eating behaviors of children are formed by those of family members at home or their diet at preschool and mass media. The purpose of this study was to develop a program to build healthy dietary habits in preschoolers based on Social Cognitive Theory, which emphasizes the dynamic interaction among an action, an individual and its environment, and to explore the effects of the program.
Methods: A non-equivalent control group, pretest-posttest design was be used in this study. All participants were dyads of preschoolers and one of their parents collected from two day care centers, 18 for the experimental group and 16 for the control group. The program was evaluated by their Knowledge about Nutrition and Dietary Habits among Preschoolers and Parents Perception of Preschoolers’ Dietary Habits. The program was conducted between March and June, 2015.
Results: At follow-up, knowledge related to nutrition (t＝-2.74, p＝0.010) and dietary habits (t＝-3.67, p＜0.001) among the preschoolers were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. However, the perception of parents on the change of their children's eating habit didn't show significant difference (t＝ 1.13, p＝0.265).
Conclusions: The results of this study is able to be used in dietary education of preschool children as one of the evidence, and be applied as an example of children's health promotion to help them have ideal eating habits, through cooperation with a university in community and day care centers.
Korean J Health Promot 2015;15(4):244-253

Keywords: Theory, Food habits, Program, Child, Preschool