The Effect of Education on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Sirjan School of Medical Sciences Staff Regarding the Use of Food Labels

Education seems to be more effective in improving peoplechr('39')s knowledge, their dietary patterns and healthier food choices. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effects of education programs on the consumerschr('39') knowledge, attitude and performance towards using food labels.

The present cross-sectional study was performed on 250 employees of Sirjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The data collection tool was a self -administrated questionnaire which included 9 demographic information questions, 7 knowledge-related questions, 4 attitude questions, 5 performance questions and 5 comment questions about food labels and their characteristics. The education was in the form of lectures in the form of 2 sessions of 120 minutes with an interval of one week with group discussion, and participatory training. This study did not have a control group and had a before and after study design. 6 weeks after the training program, the questionnaires were completed again by the subjects.

The age range of these employees was between 21 and 57 years and 85.6% of them were married. The results of this study showed that the mean score of knowledge before the training was 11.38 ± 3.28 which consequently increased to 20.92 ± 2.42 after the education. The mean attitude score changed from 29.48 ± 5.43 to 30.31 ±4.79; In addition, the mean performance score increased from 12.62 ±3.31 to 17.88± 2.15. The results showed a significant difference between the mean scores of knowledge P ˂ 0.001, attitude P = 0.03 and performance P ˂ 0.001 before and after the education.

Since there is a significant difference between the knowledge, attitude and performance scores of the Sirjan University of Medical Sciences’ staff before and after the education, the use of direct education method on the subject of food labels is recommended.