Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Genel Tip Dergisi, cilt.35, sa.4, ss.704-713, 2025 (Scopus)
Aim: To investigate the effects of parent-supported nutrition education (PSNE) on children’s nutritional knowledge and eating behaviors. Methods: A total of 121 students from the third, fourth, and fifth grades at a private school in Isparta, Turkiye, were selected for the study. The participants were divided into two groups: one receiving PSNE, and the other receiving nutrition education targeted only at the children. A nutrition knowledge test was administered to both groups one week before the intervention and again following the completion of the education program. In order to eva-luate changes in the children’s eating behaviors, the Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire was completed by the parents. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Test, Man Mann-Whitney U Test, and the Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. Results: The increase in nutritional knowledge scores of children supported by their parents compared to before the education was significantly greater than that of children without support. At the end of the education, food enthusiasm, emotional overeating, passion for drinking, and enthusiasm for satiety eating behavior scores reduced, while food selectivity eating behavior scores increased. The increase in higher nutritional information score is estimated to be less enthusiasm for satiety and food selectivity scores, whereas higher enjoying food scores for children in the group supported by parents. However, the changes in eating behaviors were observed to be similar between children with parental support and children without parental support after the education. Conclusions: PSNE was found to lead to a greater improvement in children’s nutritional knowledge compared to education provided without parental involvement. Furthermore, nutrition education was shown to be effective in promoting more positive eating behaviors among children. In particular, parental involvement in nutrition education was found to play a significant role in enhancing the effectiveness of the program, especially among primary school children.