Use of stage of change and nutrition education intervention at a worksite

This study applied stage of change to assess the nutritional knowledge, dietary practices, and a nutrition intervention project of employees at a worksite. A questionnaire included demographic characteristics, nutritional knowledge, dietary practices, and psychosocial items (social support, barriers to a healthy diet, belief in the diet-disease connection, and self-efficacy for a healthy diet). One hundred and eighty-six respondents completed the study, 22 participated in the nutrition education program, and 8 people completed the program. There were 99 employees in the action group (action/maintenance stage of change) and 87 in the non-action group (precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stage of change). The action group had a better mean score of nutritional knowledge than did the non-action group (0.68 ± 0.18 vs 0.58 ± 0.17). The action group also had higher average scores for dietary practices than did the non-action group. Watching TV is the main source of health information. There were statistically significant positive associations between self-efficacy and dietary practices (r = 0. 486, p <0.01). Through a multiple regression model, self-efficacy could explain 21.5% of the variance in dietary practices. Employees who participated in the nutrition education program increased their nutrition knowledge and improve their dietary practices, but the changes were not significant.