Impact of gamification-based nutrition education on nursing students’ knowledge and performance: a before-after intervention study

College students are at risk of chronic diseases owing to lifestyle changes, moving away from the home environment, adopting unhealthy diets, and skipping meals. As an innovative educational method, gamification enhances the retention of educational content and improves students’ motivation to learn. The present study examined the effect of gamification-based healthy nutrition education on the knowledge and performance of nursing students. This pre-post interventional study was undertaken on 40 nursing students at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran between 2021 and 2023. The participants received instruction on healthy nutrition principles via gamification software, covering food groups and their calories, healthy food selection using traffic light system, interpretation of food labels, cooking methods by considering advantages and disadvantages, food pyramids as well as designing a balanced meal plan as a healthy plate. The intervention lasted two months. At the baseline and end of the study, knowledge (n = 10) and performance (n = 11) questionnaires were completed. The paired t-test method was employed to compare the differences between groups. P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. At the end of the intervention, significant changes were observed in the nutritional knowledge and performance scores of students (p < 0.001). Notably, the proportion of students answering > 6 performance questions correctly rose from 17% to 92% (p < 0.001). Gamification significantly boosted nursing student’s nutritional knowledge and performance. Future studies are recommended to generalize these findings to other medical courses.