The effects of nutrition education, given to those women, on their nutrition habits and their knowledge about nutrition and osteoporosis

This study was carried out among 90 women attending courses at Çubuk Adult Education Centre held by the Province of Ankara, to determine the effects of nutrition education, given to those women, on their nutrition habits, and their knowledge about nutrition and osteoporosis. The questionnaire forms prepared by the researcher with an aim of gathering data were used as a prehminary test and the women's knowledge and attitudes on the subject were determined. Then, only a face-to-face education was provided to a group (Group 1) of women (n=30) and another group (n=30) (Group 2) was given a handbook prepared by the researcher, containing some information on nutrition and osteoporosis. The group of women who took no education was chosen as the control group (Group 3). Having been reorganized, the questionnaire forms which were used as a preliminary test were reused as a final test and the women's knowledge on and attitudes towards the subject were re-evaluated. In the evaluation process, the software called "SPSS 10.0 for Windows (Statistical Program for Social Sciences)" was utilized; t-test, variance analysis as well as significance tests were performed; and information on the numbers and percentages were obtained. The significance level of p<0.05 was used in determining the differences between the groups after the preliminary and final tests were given. It was found that 86.7% of the women were housewives, 73.4% of them were married, 57.8% ate three meals a day, 41.1% missed some of these three meals and 40.6% missed some meals because of having limited time. It was also found that 72.2% of the women participating in the research had never had nutrition education, 30.0% obtained the knowledge on nutrition from radio and/or television, 40.0% felt that their knowledge on nutrition was inadequate, 58.9% wanted to have this education from a professional teacher, 37.7% wanted to have this education as a short-term course, 48.9% stated that "nutrition education is very necessary", 72.2% had heard of osteoporosis before, 57.7% read the prospectus of the medicines before using them in case of any disease, 77.7% thought that exercise was necessary for a healthy life but only 26.6% practiced exercise methodically. Milk consumption of the participants before and after nutrition education was 23.3-83.3% in the face-to- face education group, 23.3-50.0% in the group the members of which were given a