Innovative design “Eat Me’ be strong” and the perceived benefit of vegetable consumption in primary school students, Ongkharak District, Nakhon Nayok Province

Abstract

Introduction: The current social changes make people live in a rushed manner and do not concern about their food consumption, resulting in people consuming less than the recommended level of vegetable, especially in school-age children. The Skinner’s Operant Condition Theory was applied to the snake and ladder game to create the innovative design “Eat Me’ be Strong” and examined the effects the innovative design “Eat Me’be Strong” on the perceived benefit of vegetable consumption in the primary school students.
Methods: The experimental group (n = 24) were assigned to use the innovation twice a week for 4 weeks and the control group (n = 24) received the leaflets for self-study. The perceived benefit of vegetable consumption score was compared before and after the experiment. The perception scores between experimental and control groups was also studied.
Results: The perceived benefit of vegetable consumption score after using the innovation was significantly higher than before using the innovation (p - value < 0.001). The increasing score of the perceived benefit of vegetable consumption after using the innovation in experimental group was also significantly higher than the control group (p - value < 0.05).
Conclusion: Game based learning that developed based on the Skinner's Operant Conditioning Theory in this study increased the perceived benefit of vegetable consumption. Therefore, the innovative design “Eat Me’be Strong” can be applied as an alternative learning approach for promoting the vegetable intake in childhood. Further experimental investigation on the vegetable
consumption behavior after using the innovation will be useful in applying this innovation for further promoting vegetable intake.