Nutrition education and mobile phone communication intervention improves self-efficacy to initiate healthy eating practices among undergraduates in Oyo- State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluated the effect of nutrition education and mobile phone communication intervention grounded in PRECEED-PROCEED theory on self-efficacy of undergraduates to initiate healthy eating practices in Oyo-state. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design, comprising three experimental groups and one control group in four universities in Oyo State. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 25 undergraduates per institution totaling 100. An adapted and validated semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for construct was 0.71. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at p ≤ 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that between baseline and 8-weeks follow-up, there was a significant increase in the self-efficacy of respondents to initiate healthy eating practices in the experimental groups (NE and MPC ?̅=18.34 ± 6.89 to 23.43 ± 6.04, p=0.021; NE ?̅=17.87 ± 5.52 to ?̅=21.66 ± 6.26, p=0.010) while the experimental group (MPC ?̅=18.45 ± 5.27 to 19.16 ± 3.86, p=0.591) and control group (?̅=16.26 ± 3.75 to 16.17 ± 4.43, p=0.946) showed no significant difference. In conclusion, the combination of nutrition education and mobile phone communication intervention was effective in changing undergraduates’ self-efficacy to initiate healthy eating practices.

Key words: Self-efficacy, Undergraduates, Nutrition education, Mobile phone communication, Oyo-state