CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES AFTER NUTRITION EDUCATION AND VEGETABLE NUGGETS: A TWO-SCHOOL QUASI-EXPERIMENT

Sri Sunarti; Fitriyani A; Dwi Wulan Indriani; Hikmal Raihansyah; Nuralifah Amalia Ishmah; Reyhana Damara Pradatya

doi:10.70177/health.v4i4.4291

Sri Sunarti ⁽¹⁾, Fitriyani A ⁽²⁾, Dwi Wulan Indriani ⁽³⁾, Hikmal Raihansyah ⁽⁴⁾, Nuralifah Amalia Ishmah ⁽⁵⁾, Reyhana Damara Pradatya ⁽⁶⁾

(1) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia,

(2) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia,

(3) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia,

(4) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia,

(5) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia,

(6) Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur,

Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.70177/health.v4i4.4291

Issue
Vol. 4 No. 4 (2026)

Submitted
February 7, 2026

Published
August 23, 2026

Keywords:

Food Preferences, Nutrition Education, School Health

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Abstract

Low vegetable intake among Indonesian schoolchildren persists, yet evidence on interventions pairing classroom education with a familiar vegetable-based food remains limited. This study assessed changes in knowledge and attitudes following experiential nutrition education combined with vegetable nugget provision. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent control-group study included 164 second-grade students selected by simple random sampling within two elementary schools in East Kalimantan, Indonesia (82 per group). For 14 days, the intervention group received nutrition education and vegetable nuggets, while the control group continued usual activities. Baseline knowledge and attitude distributions differed significantly (p < 0.001). Knowledge changed in both groups (p < 0.001), although the control group mainly shifted from poor to moderate. Attitudes changed in the intervention group (p < 0.001) but not the control group (p = 0.276). Improvement was more frequent in the intervention group for knowledge (51.2% vs. 26.8%; exact p = 0.001) and attitudes (92.7% vs. 22.0%; p < 0.001).

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