The long term goal of this research is the prevention of mortality caused by poor nutritional choices through the development, field-testing, and distribution of an effective multimedia nutritional education tool for high school students.
The specific aims of the Phase I effort are to develop a prototype of the multimedia program; to field-test the prototype with high school students; and to explore publishing and distribution options. The multimedia program proposed here is a supplement to an expansion of the general nutrition education curriculum, although it may also be used as a stand-alone tool. the proposed product is technologically innovative in that it allows students to receive personalized nutritional guidance that is specific to their age, gender, ethnic background and food preferences in an engaging fashion. The prototype will be developed in consultation with an advisory panel of nutrition and nutrition education experts. field-testing will be arranged with assistance from four California Project LEAN regional coordinators who are working in local high schools. Field-testing will consist of a pre-and post-test, treatment/control study using 80 multi-ethnic teens from rural, suburban and urban settings whose nutrition knowledge, attitudes and behaviors will be measured.
The commercial potential of proposed nutrition education multimedia program is high. Two-thirds of high school health teachers teach nutrition and almost one-third of high schools currently have a computer equipped with CD-ROM, with the number rapidly increasing. In addition, there is a growing national concern with nutrition education. Thus, there is demand for the content with hardware support for the technology.
