Quasi-experimental design for using an interactive social media intervention program to improve truck drivers’ health beliefs and eating behaviors

BACKGROUND: Truck drivers have difficulties participating in health education programs delivered at a fixed time and place due to the mobility of their workplace. Interventions conducted via social media can overcome these limitations of time and place. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a nutrition education intervention program delivered via a social media platform on the healthy eating behaviors of truck drivers. METHODS: This study adopted a quasi-experimental design. A 12-week intervention program was conducted for a social-media group (n = 125) and a conventional-teaching group (n = 117) from February to May 2020. The social-media group participated in a social-media-based health intervention on the LINE application. The intervention involved the provision of online messages, online instant responses, a picture-based food log, an audio e-book, and a loyalty e-card. The conventional-teaching group participated in a healthy diet course and a hygiene education manual. The generalized estimation equation (GEE) was applied to evaluate the intervention effects on the outcome measures derived from the Health Belief Model. RESULTS: The results of the GEE showed the social-media-based intervention strategies significantly decreased perceived barriers of consuming a healthy diet (p = < 0.001), increased willingness to follow cues of action (p = 0.036), improved the self-efficacy of healthy eating behaviors (p = 0.001), and increased the score of healthy eating behaviors (p < 0.001) compared with the conventional teaching strategies. For the social-media and conventional-teaching groups, no significant changes occurred in self-perceived health status, self-perceived susceptibility, or self-perceived severity after the intervention. More than 90% of the participants in the social-media group believed the social-media-based intervention strategies could help implement and maintain healthy eating behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate social-media-based intervention strategies can facilitate approaching a population without a fixed workplace, such as truck drivers. Health promoters and planners focusing on occupational health can consider developing social-media-based intervention strategies for improving truck drivers' health status. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13883-6.