Change In Knowledge Of Physical Activity And Nutrition Recommendations Over Time

Overall health and wellness are greatly influenced by physical activity (PA) and nutrition. It has been reported that 80% of adults and adolescents are not physically active enough. (Piercy et al., 2018). Additionally, many adults do not tend to meet nutrition guidelines as well (Krebs-Smith et al., 2010). To better meet PA and nutrition guidelines, a basic knowledge of the recommendations must be met (Wojcicki and Heyman (2012). PURPOSE: To examine whether targeted messaging can improve the knowledge of the PA and nutrition recommendations in both the short and long term. METHODS: Participants included 184 (90 males, 94 females) college faculty (n=21), staff (n=30), and students (n=133). Knowledge of both the existence of PA and nutrition guidelines and the accuracy of the recommendations were assessed in a written survey at baseline and at three time points after targeted messaging. RESULTS: At baseline, 33.2% of participants were aware of the existence of PA guidelines, while only 3.8% could correctly describe them and 67.9% did not attempt to list them. Only 31.5% of the total sample were aware of the existence of nutrition guidelines. Overall, the highest percent for a correct response in any of the nutrition categories was 9.2% for recommended servings of vegetables. At the final follow-up, 36 participants completed the survey. Overall, there was a 36.1% increase in awareness of the existence of PA guidelines and a 25% increase for nutrition guidelines from baseline, with an 8.4% increase in the ability to correctly identify the physical activity guidelines. As for nutrition categories, there was a range of improvement from 2.8% (total fat) to 19.5% (fiber). CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of PA and nutrition guidelines and the ability to accurately identify the correct guidelines were low at baseline, but after targeted social media and campus-wide messaging, there was an improvement in the knowledge of the recommendations. Campus-wide interventions should include faculty, staff, and students and focus on the existence of these recommendations and the specifics of each.