The effect of nutrition education on nutrition knowledge level and diet quality in volleyball girls adolescents living in disadvantaged areas

Nutrition is the intake of nutrients necessary for a person to grow, develop, live healthily and productively for many years in sufficient quantities and use them in his body. In a study conducted, it was concluded that unhealthy eating becomes widespread as the socioeconomic situation worsens according to educational level and income factors. Nutritional deficiency is observed in children of poor families due to economic insufficiency. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of healthy nutrition education given to volleyball girls between the ages of 9-14 who live in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area on the level of nutritional knowledge and diet quality. For this purpose, keywords such as adolescent nutrition, nutrition education, Diet Quality Index (DQI-I) were defined. As a data collection tool in the research, the General Information and Nutritional Habits Questionnaire, from which information about the hypothesis of the study will be obtained, were used before and after the education. A 1-day (24-hour) food consumption record was taken from the study group at the beginning and end of the study. Again, at the beginning of the study, the Dietary Quality Index of the food consumption records was calculated in order to analyze the current dietary quality of the participants at the end. The nutrition knowledge level of the students increased after the education (p<0.05). There is no statistically significant difference in the weight parameters of the participants before and after education (p>0.05). There is no statistically significant difference between the total DQI-I scores before and after the education (p>0.05). The 3-week nutrition education given as a result of the study, which was planned to examine the effect of nutrition education on the nutritional knowledge level and diet quality of volleyball girl adolescents living in the disadvantaged region, caused a significant increase in the level of nutrition knowledge, while it did not create significant changes in the Diet Quality Index (DQI-I). It is thought that the reason for this situation is related to socioeconomic level, the availability of high nutritional value food, and the level of nutritional knowledge of families. There is a need for necessary practices on the dissemination of nutrition education in the adolescent period.