In an Online Nutrition Education Program Delivered to University Students, Group Interaction was Key to Increasing Food Literacy

Abstract

Our goal was to test an online nutrition education program delivered using social media platforms on the food literacy levels of university students. We experimented with students from universities in northeastern Brazil, organized into three groups: an intervention group (A), which accessed the program content on social media platforms and participated in online activities as a group; a positive control group (B), which only accessed the content of our program on social media platforms; and, finally, a negative control group (C). We applied to all groups a pre- and post-assessment questionnaire on food literacy self-perception. Within groups, the increase in food literacy score was significant only in group A (8.15 ± 13.98), demonstrating the effectiveness of our program. However, comparison among groups showed that accessing the content on social media platforms by itself had no effect on food literacy (group B: 4.88 ± 11.13 and C: 0.16 ± 5.88). Interaction in a small group was key to increasing food literacy. We hope our study can foster a better understanding of how online nutrition education programs are assessed, considering that metrics provided by social media platforms do not inform about educational outcomes.