Advisor(s)
Gregory Pavela
Committee Member(s)
Ann Elizabeth Montgomery
José Fernández
Kevin Fontaine
Lori Bateman
School
School of Health Professions
Document Type
Dissertation
Department (new version)
Health Education/Promotion (Public Health)
Date of Award
1-7-2025
Abstract
The high prevalence of food insecurity among college students is a public health concern that requires well designed interventions to address. College students experiencing food insecurity are more likely to practice diet-related behaviors that contribute to poor health, yet this population lacks the necessary knowledge and skills to make adequate behavior changes. The purpose of this present dissertation is to (1) assess preliminary data collected to inform the development of a theory-based nutrition education intervention; then (2) evaluate the feasibility of this novel intervention design and (3) its effectiveness at improving college students’ food security and factors that may impact food security, including knowledge of nutrition and cooking self-efficacy. First, a sample of 354 college student food pantry users were surveyed to inform intervention development. Then, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs were used to design a virtual nutrition education intervention aimed to teach students about nutrition and preparing meals using food pantry ingredients. Intervention participants first visited the on-campus food pantry to collect a prepared bag of ingredients, then attended an individual nutrition education workshop (intervention) led by a RDN from home via video conferencing. Each workshop began with 30-minutes of MyPlate nutrition education, which was followed by an interactive cooking demonstration using the food pantry ingredients. Main outcome measures included food security status, nutrition knowledge, cooking self-efficacy and were assessed prior to and at two time points following intervention. Feasibility measures were assessed from both participants and the RDN following intervention. This SCT-guided intervention design may be effective at improving student food pantry users’ nutrition knowledge and cooking self-efficacy; however, food security did not change following intervention. Regarding feasibility, recruitment proved the greatest limitation while novel aspects of the intervention design (e.g., virtual delivery) were perceived favorably by both participants and researchers. Overall, this intervention de-sign using SCT constructs was feasible and may be effective at improving college student food pantry users’ knowledge of nutrition and self-efficacy towards cooking. However, further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of alternative recruitment efforts and the effectiveness of this intervention on a larger, more diverse sample college students experiencing food insecurity.
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Tara, "Theory-Based Nutrition Education To Improve Food Security In Postsecondary Students" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 7306.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7306
