Nutrition education segment of health education evaluation of the effective use of Capistrano Unified School Districts' Health-e living on-line program

This study focused on an increasing problem within the United States. That problem\ud was that children and adolescents are given little education in school about nutrition\ud and life style choices. As a result, there are increasing instances of childhood and\ud adolescent obesity and other weight related problems that can lead to many different\ud health conditions including, elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, and\ud Type II Diabetes. Overweight middle school students find it difficult to discuss issues\ud that concern their weight but the use of interactive computer-based educational\ud programs, or multimedia, may be an effective communication aid for this population\ud group. Interest in educational software has led to a number of multimedia programs\ud aimed at helping children with health problems. The availability of on-line access to\ud Capistrano Unified School District's (CUSD), Food and Nutrition program, "Health-E\ud Living" nutrition education program could be utilized and is available to all students\ud who have internet access. CUSD promotes nutrition education, including the benefit of\ud proper food choices and of their eating habits through the use of their on line "Heal th-E\ud living" program: The aim of this study is to compare the use of a CUSD interactive\ud multimedia technology, "Health-E Living with 30, 7th grade students and to evaluate a\ud control group of students who use a more traditional nutrition program consisting of\ud another 30 students. The data was analyzed with the results showing a measurable\ud difference in knowledge and attitudes about nutrition and life style choices.\ud \ud Key words: nutrition education, multimedia, adolescents, obesity, diabetes, computer\ud technology