Evaluation of programs of nutrition education in pre-school and school age based on a criteria catalogue
- 19.06.2018
- English Articles
- Maike Schröder
- Ute Brehme
- Christel Rademacher
Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: November 11, 2017 | Revision accepted: January 31, 2018
Introduction
Early childhood nutrition education has an influence on the development and health of children and adolescents. Greater use should be made of its potential for prevention, particularly given the high prevalence of nutrition-induced diseases such as obesity and high blood pressure [1, 2]. In total, approx. 1.9 million children and adolescents in Germany are overweight. In comparison to reference populations from the 1980s and 1990s, the proportion of overweight children has increased by around 50% [3].
If we regard overweight as an indicator of a certain lifestyle and diet which cause long-term health risks, then nutrition education becomes an essential pedagogical assignment. The key objective must be to enable children and adolescents to devise their own diet and nutrition competently, independently and healthfully [4].
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of the available German-language nutrition education programs for preschool and school children; a criteria catalogue was developed and used for this purpose. This catalogue was divided into three quality fields, each containing 15 criteria: “Subject Content”, “Methodology and Didactics of Transference” and “Formal Design”. 40 programs were identified for evaluation, 20 of which were included in the study. All the evaluated programs proved to be suitable for use in preschool and school nutrition education, taking account of features relevant to the target groups. The best results were recorded by three programs: fit4future, Klasse2000 and GartenKinder. The evaluation also generated several suggestions for improvement, which could be incorporated in the development of new and in the revision of existing nutrition education programs. The criteria catalogue could be used by teachers and professionals to evaluate different measures and to select a program suited to the target group.
Keywords: criteria catalogue, nutrition education, nutrition education programs, children, adolescents
