The effect of educational intervention on girl's behavior regarding nutrition: Applying the beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, and enabling factors

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an educational program based on the Belief, Attitude, Subjective Norm, and Enabling Factors (BASNEF) Model on the nutritional behavior among second-grade, middle school, female students in Isfahan city. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 72 students. The samples were randomly divided in two groups (36 in the intervention group and 36 in the control group). The data collection tools were validated and had reliable questionnaires. For the intervention group, a 75-minute educational session was held thrice. The control group had no education. The BASNEF model constructs guided the development of the questionnaires and content of the educational sessions. The independent t-test and paired t-test were used to analyze the data. A two-tailed P value lower than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULT: According to the results, the mean scores of knowledge and model variables (Belief, Attitude, Subjective Norm, and Enabling Factors) had a significant difference in the two groups after intervention (P < 0.001). On the basis of the findings, after educational intervention, 36.1% of the students had unfavorable nutritional behavior. In the control group, 88.9% of the students had unfavorable nutritional behavior, before and one month after intervention. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that nutrition education intervention based on the BASNEF model could promote the nutritional behavior in girl students.