Dietary behaviour of school going children during the covid - 19 confinement and the impact of the online nutrition education intervention

Abstract

During COVID-19 pandemic was declared, a number of restrictions have been imposed all over the world. The present study entitled “Dietary Behaviour of school going children during the COVID-19 confinement and the impact of the online nutrition education intervention” was carried out during 2020-2022. The objective of the research was to analyze the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and social isolation on the diet and physical activity among the school going children of Trivandrum district. The study also aimed to develop nutrition education tools and evaluate the nutrition education imparted using the tools to the school going children Two hundred and fifty school going children were randomly selected from urban and rural areas from Thiruvananthapuram district in order to comprehensively examine the eating habits, food consumption pattern, physical activity and sleep differences in school going children before (Pre Covid) the COVID-19 pandemic and one year later during the pandemic (Peri Covid) Assessment tools were created in the google forms and was provided to them. The assessment tools used to elicit were questionnaires included parameters like demographic characteristics, food preferences, food frequency, food consumption pattern, eating Behaviour, Behaviour indicators, self-regulation of eating Behaviour and nutrition knowledge. In order to impart nutrition education videos and pamphlets were developed which was uploaded in social media for the children to access. A pilot study was conducted any 20 students to assess the reliability and validity of assessment tools and online nutrition education tool. Based on the results of the pilot study the tools were finalized . The data collection process was completed by online questionnaire forms and self-reported data was obtained from 250 participants at two measurement points before ( Pre Covid ) and during ( Peri Covid ) the lockdown to examine the influence of the lockdown on Physical Activity, dietary habits, sleep, and media usage of school going children aged 10-12 years.After the assessment , online nutrition education session was delivered for the selected 250 school going students At baseline and one week post , a short nutrition knowledge assessment was done . 169 Out of two hundred and fifty school going students 48.8% of them were males and 51.2% were female. Majority of the students were studying the Fifth grade . Majority of the parents reported that self-employed (44%) . The socio-economic status of (49.2% ) was in the category of above poverty line. The education status of the majority of the sample’s mother was plus two(33.6%) and father was graduate (27.60%). Majority of the respondents of the study were non-vegetarians (98%). The present study reveals that the food preferences towards all the food groups decreased during COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that the mean scores of the frequency of consumption of most products decreased (Pre Covid to Post Covid ) ,Cereals (5.04 to 4.47), legumes (4.38 to 3.86 ), Nuts (5.05 to 4.73), Seeds (4.53 to 3.81), Fruits (5.43 to 4.39), vegetables (5.07 to 4.09) and fish (5.64 to 5.35) and dairy products(5.55 to 5.46) Whereas the mean score increased in the case of Meat (5.72 to 5.73). However, it was found that intake of Juice (4.29 to 5.01 ), ice cream ( 3.43 to 4.15), Puffs (3.64 to 4.32 ), Biscuit (4.74 to 5.19) , jalebi (2.71 to 3.93), Milk Chocolates (3.03 to 3.90), Miranda (1.84 to 2.70 ),Apple fizz (1.54 to 2.82) increased significantly peri pandemic compared to pre pandemic. The eating Behaviour of the respondents also changed during the pandemic and mean score of the desire for restaurant /packed food (7.3-10.5),emotional under eating (10.2-10.9) increased. Food consumption pattern also change remarkably and the study portraits that the consumption of food on daily basis increased from 3 times a day to 7 times a day .The present study depicts that the consumption of fruits and vegetables decreased (4.42 to 3.04) during pandemic whereas consumption of bakery items( 1.59 to 3.66 ),sugar sweetened beverages (1.43 to 2.71), snacks ( 1.78 to 4.37), and foods with high sugar (1.86 to 3.48 ) significantly increased. When Self- regulation of eating Behaviour was analyzed, it indicates that there was a tremendous decrease in the intake of healthy diet (1.00 to .20), during the pandemic. Changes in daily activity patterns (increased sleep duration with higher sleep quality and reduced physical activity) was also observed. Additionally, an increase in general media usage was observed during the pandemic. The study also shows that significant change in nutrition knowledge occurred after the nutrition education, Dietary recommendations (12.06 to 32.86), Foods groups and healthy food choice(35.39 to 77.86), Disease and weight management (8.88 to 21.64). 170 These results are of concern and reflect that lockdown can have deleterious consequences at personal, social and psychological level, which may produce imbalances in the maintenance and acquisition of healthy lifestyle behaviours. National and international studies that have addressed aspects of lifestyle in childhood during pandemic are scarce. Therefore, these results contribute to better identifying the impact and repercussions that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children. Further Longitudinal studies are required to learn the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic