Meta-Analysis on the Effectiveness of Dietary Education in Korean Secondary Schools

This study conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of dietary education in middle and high schools. Among the papers on middle and high school students' dietary education from 2001 to 2020, 20 papers including pre- and post-tests and averages and standard deviations were finally selected. The main analysis focused on the effect sizes of three dependent variables: knowledge, eating habits, and personality. Additionally the study examined the effect sizes based on the type of education (regular curriculum classes and extracurricular classes) and the number of education sessions. The results are as follows. The Hedges’g score, which is a quantitative index of the effect size of secondary school dietary education, was 0.82. The effect size was higher in extracurricular classes compared to regular curriculum classes. The effect size for regular curriculum classes was 0.68, and for extracurricular classes, it was 1.20. The highest effect size was observed in knowledge education, with an effect size of 0.93 in regular curriculum classes related to diet. This indicates that a significant amount of nutritional knowledge is acquired in home economics classes in secondary schools. Therefore, it can be predicted that the educational effect will increase if the curricular class is also conducted as an experience-oriented activity-oriented class. In terms of diet-related knowledge, dietary behavior, and personality, the size of the effect of secondary school dietary education was meaningful, so dietary education should be continuously conducted in the educational field.