Abstract:
This quasi-experimental research aimed to assess the effects of health promotion program for healthy eating behavior of grade 4 students. The sample was the grade 4 students from one school in Nonthaburi province for a total of 61. They were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control groups for 31 and 30 students, respectively. The experimental group received the program promoting healthy eating behaviour developed according to social cognitive theory for eight weeks. The activities comprised of knowledge enhancement by class lecture with slide presentation and video, group work, discussion and presentation; practices of selecting healthy food, cooking, role-play, learning from modeling and symbolic model, essay writing, and drawing. Researchers provided favorable comments, motivation, and parental communication through portfolio notebook. Data was collected before and after experimentation using questionnaires including demographic, knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and eating behavior based on nutrition principles. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistic, paired samples t-test, and independent samples t-test. Results found that the experiment group gained significantly higher outcome expectation and healthy eating behavior than the control group and at baseline before program participation (p<0.05). In conclusion, the program for promoting healthy eating behavior in this study created the positive changes related to knowledge, outcome expectations, and food consumption behavior among grade 4 students. Therefore, accountable personnel should implement this program to other group of students to enhance healthy eating behavior and having a good health