Educational Program to Promote the Correlation between Preference and Food Selection: A Replication Study

Abstract

Some studies have demonstrated the importance of various factors involved in feeding behavior, although only a few have focused on the correlation between preference and food selection as an indicator of the needed skills to interact with the diversity of situations associated with healthy feeding. In a previous study, performed with 116 Mexican schoolchildren, some changes were observed in the correlation be tween preference and selection food, in order to more accurately assess the modified dimensions of feed ing behavior, the study was repeated on a different sample. The study allowed us to test a food education strategy designed to promote four levels of behavioral complexity and their effect on preference and food selection in a group of schoolchildren. Participants were 298 schoolchildren (141 boys and 157 girls) 6 - 13 years old who were second, fourth or sixth grades and who were assigned to four intervention pro grams: noninstrumental situational, instrumental situational, extrasituational and transituational. The ac tivities were designed according to the behavioral complexity level. At the start of the intervention, each participant’s anthropometric measurements were recorded and natural and industrialized food preference and selection was evaluated at the beginning, at the end and one month after the intervention (pre, post and follow-up).There were some changes in the children’s behavior of preference and selection, particu larly in fourth grade. This underscores the importance of designing educational strategies which promote the acquisition of knowledge, the development of attitudes towards healthy eating and, above all, effective and constant practice.