Health Education and a Nutritional Symbol System: The Nexus of Knowledge and Behaviour for School-Aged Children

Abstract

Adopting a Health Promoting School approach, a day and boarding school located in the regional area of New South Wales, Australia, addressed health concerns of students in their care. Classroom teachers in the primary grades and Health and Physical Education staff in the secondary school provided developmentally appropriate Health Education Programs (HEP) to each class from Year 3 to year 10. In addition, a Nutritional Symbol System (NSS) was developed, refined and made available in the dining hall of the school. The NSS was designed to inform and guide students regarding nutritional choices. How did these two methods of educating students support their informed decision-making regarding food? To what extent did the students translate knowledge into behaviour? To answer these research questions, two students were purposively sampled from each year level from Year 3 to Year 10 (n=16). Students were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire designed to ascertain students' understanding from the NSS and the HEP. Data were recorded and analysed using two methods, namely, manual coding and the Leximancer Text Mining software (Smith 2000). Results revealed that students were knowledgeable about food portions and used the nutritional symbol system appropriately. However, the data collected from these students also indicted misconceptions regarding the major categories of foods and their purposes (e.g. carbohydrates, proteins). The implications drawn from this study include the value of triangulating nutritional information through the use of readily accessible symbols and posters. The health education units taught in the classroom reinforced the Nutritional Symbol System provided at the point of food selection. Overall, coordinated developmental approaches to Health Education Programs and whole school approaches to nutrition are recommended.