A total sample of 200 adolescent boys (100 urban and 100 rural) in the age group of 16-18 years were selected randomly from the schools in Ludhiana district of Punjab. The information regarding general and socio-economic background was recorded through personal interview technique. An educational package in the form of a booklet consisting of thirteen chapters was developed and the nutrition education was imparted to the subjects for three months at the interval of fifteen days through lecture-cum-discussion using electronic media. The impact of nutrition education was determined by pre and post intervention comparison of mean knowledge and food frequency scores. The findings revealed that knowledge scores (36.91 ± 3.90 and 35.92 ± 3.84) of both urban and rural subjects, which was similar before intervention, increased significantly (P ≤ 0.01) after intervention. The urban adolescent boys gained significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher knowledge (43.96 ± 3.11 vs 42.78 ± 3.88) regarding nutrition and health as compared to rural adolescent boys. A significant impact of intervention was also observed among adolescent boys with an increased consumption of general food groups like fruits, green leafy vegetables and milk products and decreased consumption of fast food items. The impact was found greater among urban adolescent boys. The findings, therefore, suggest that nutrition education intervention measures are necessary to improve eating practices of adolescent boys, but more concrete efforts are needed in rural areas.
Adolescent boys, Educational package, Food frequency, Knowledge level, Nutrition-intervention
