Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a nurse-led nutritional
education program in promoting healthy eating among elders, 60 years of age and older,
who lived in non-municipal areas of northeastern Thailand. A multistage sampling
method was used to obtain 166 subjects who were randomly assigned to either the
experimental group (43 elders and 43 family members) or control group (40 elders and
40 family members). The experimental group participated in the researcher-developed
nutritional education program, whereas the control group received usual care, including
routine health education activities provided by health care personnel in the community.
The nutritional education program was based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model
and multiple educational methods, including group teaching and individual counseling,
to increase the subjects’ nutritional knowledge/skills, perceived self-efficacy and
benefits for healthy eating, while decreasing perceived barriers to healthy eating.
Family members were urged to provide social support to encourage their respective
elder’s healthy eating. Data were collected, on subjects in both the experimental and
control groups, via the researcher-developed Demographic and Health Related Issues
Collection Form and the Elderly Healthy Eating Scale, prior to the experimental group
entering the educational program, as well as at one week and 12 weeks after the
experimental group completed the program. Descriptive statistics were used to assess
the demographics and health-related issues, while one-way and two-way repeated
measures ANOVA were used to test the effectiveness of the educational program.
Results showed the experimental group had significantly higher scores on overall
healthy eating and healthy eating sub-dimensions (i.e. food selection, preparation and
consumption) than did the control group. The experimental group also had higher
healthy eating scores, than the control group, one week and 12 weeks after completing
the education program. The findings suggest the nutritional education program can be
used to promote healthy eating among elders in northeastern Thailand.