We provided a total of eight nutrition education sessions at intervention schools for two months. An hour-long nutrition education session (60 minutes to 80 minutes long) was provided among the girls of each grade once in a week by the trained female staffs who received training on how to impart nutrition education among adolescent girls, from the investigators of the study. They consulted with headmasters and teachers at the schools to set the convenient time for providing education sessions. Nutrition education sessions were delivered using audio-visual techniques (audio-visual presentation). The components of eight education sessions have been described in detail in “Table 1 ”.
These 8 nutrition education sessions were made based on Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) recommended dietary diversity chart representing 16 food groups [27 ]. The First session included “Food group 1” which represented “Cereals”, the second session was about “Food group 2” representing “White roots and tubers”, the third session included “Food groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 7” which were about “Fruits and Vegetables”, the fourth session was consisted of “Food group 8, 9, 10, 11” presenting “Animal protein”, the fifth session was about “Food group 12” presenting “Plant protein”, the sixth session included “Food group 13 and 14” which represented “Milk and milk products”, seventh session was about “Food group 15” presenting “Sweets” and eighth session were about “Home-made food” incorporating the importance of consuming home-made food and health hazards of taking junk foods. In every session, a detailed description of each food group was given by showing pictures of the locally available Bangladeshi food items of that food group to the students through power-point presentation. The health benefits of taking those 16 diversified food groups and health problems in absence of those food groups in daily meals were also explained. We conducted recap sessions and quiz in every week before starting the next session for evaluating whether the girls were learning effectively. Our intervention was to inform them about 16 diversified food groups in detail along with their health benefits, health problems in absence of those food groups in daily meals, proper timing as well as the frequency of taking meals in 24 hours, and how to select diversified meal at low cost.
These 8 nutrition education sessions were made based on Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) recommended dietary diversity chart representing 16 food groups [27 ]. The First session included “Food group 1” which represented “Cereals”, the second session was about “Food group 2” representing “White roots and tubers”, the third session included “Food groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 7” which were about “Fruits and Vegetables”, the fourth session was consisted of “Food group 8, 9, 10, 11” presenting “Animal protein”, the fifth session was about “Food group 12” presenting “Plant protein”, the sixth session included “Food group 13 and 14” which represented “Milk and milk products”, seventh session was about “Food group 15” presenting “Sweets” and eighth session were about “Home-made food” incorporating the importance of consuming home-made food and health hazards of taking junk foods. In every session, a detailed description of each food group was given by showing pictures of the locally available Bangladeshi food items of that food group to the students through power-point presentation. The health benefits of taking those 16 diversified food groups and health problems in absence of those food groups in daily meals were also explained. We conducted recap sessions and quiz in every week before starting the next session for evaluating whether the girls were learning effectively. Our intervention was to inform them about 16 diversified food groups in detail along with their health benefits, health problems in absence of those food groups in daily meals, proper timing as well as the frequency of taking meals in 24 hours, and how to select diversified meal at low cost.
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