Nutrition Education Intervention for College Female Athletes

• Published in: Journal of nutrition education and behavior 2004-05, Vol.36 (3), p.135-139
• Main Authors: Abood, Doris A., Black, David R., Birnbaum, Rachel D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Athletes; college female athletes; college students; Comparative analysis; Control Groups; Diet; Diet - standards; Diet Records; eating habits; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; nutrient intake; Nutrition; Nutrition education; Nutrition Instruction; nutrition knowledge; Nutritional Sciences - education; Self Efficacy; Soccer - physiology; Soccer - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Swimming - physiology; Swimming - psychology; Women
• ISSN: 1499-4046; 1878-2620; 1708-8259
• DOI: 10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60150-4

To evaluate the efficacy of a nutrition education intervention for college female athletes to improve nutrition knowledge, build self-efficacy with respect to making healthful dietary choices, and improve dietary intake. A pretest-posttest control group design was implemented. A women's soccer team (n =15) and a women's swim team (n = 15) were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, respectively. The intervention focused on nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy in making healthful dietary choices, and dietary practices to demonstrate treatment effect. Dependent variables were nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, and dietary practices. Independent variables were group assignment. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the results between groups, and the Fisher exact probability test was used to detect differences between groups in the number of positive dietary changes. Treatment participants significantly improved nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy ( P < .05), and the overall number of positive dietary changes ( P < .03). This study reduces the paucity of nutrition education intervention research among athletes and demonstrates the ability to increase not only nutrition knowledge, which is typically reported, but also self-efficacy and improvement in overall positive dietary changes during an 8-week intervention.