Schoolteachers’ Nutrition Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes Before and After an E-Learning Program

Abstract Objective Το explore teachers’ nutrition knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes and to examine the effectiveness of an electronic learning (e-learning) program in teachers’ nutrition knowledge. Design Cross-sectional and experimental design. Setting The study took place in Greece, while schoolteachers were invited by e-mail. Participants Teachers of primary and secondary education, with no exclusion criteria, were enrolled in the study between March, 2015 and 2016. Main Outcome Measures Schoolteachers' nutrition knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes. Intervention Teachers completed a 36-item nutrition questionnaire and then a subgroup participated in an e-learning program. After the intervention, teachers completed the same questionnaire. Analysis Principal component analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results A total of 1,094 teachers completed the questionnaire; 619 participated in the e-learning program. Teachers showed moderate nutrition knowledge scores (ie, 65% correct answers) before the intervention, whereas their attitudes regarding acting as role models and their belief in the importance of the role of nutrition were associated with 74% (odds ratio, 1.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.13–1.45) and 79% (odds ratio, 1.21; 95% confidence interval, 1.07–1.37) increased possibility of having good nutrition knowledge, respectively. The e-learning program was effective in strengthening teachers’ nutrition knowledge (P Conclusions and Implications Future research is needed to validate the current results, which can be used to design and implement similar educational programs to teachers as a means of creating health-promoting schools.