The Effect of Disc-Based Nutrition Education on Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Obesity Among Adolescents at Junior High School 3 Banda Aceh

Abstrak

Adolescent obesity is a major public health concern because it often persists into adulthood and increases the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. Therefore, effective school-based nutrition education is essential to improve adolescents' knowledge and attitudes toward obesity prevention. To evaluate the effect of nutrition counseling using disc media on improving knowledge and attitudes toward obesity among students at Junior High School 3 Banda Aceh. This quantitative study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest control group approach. A total of 64 students were selected using purposive sampling and equally assigned to an intervention group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 32). The intervention group received nutrition counseling using disc media, whereas the control group received conventional lecture-based counseling without instructional media. Data were analyzed using paired and independent t-tests with a significance level of 95% (α = 0.05) using SPSS version 25. The intervention group demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in knowledge and attitudes than the control group. Knowledge scores increased by 4.75 points (38.96%) and attitude scores by 5.59 points (9.99%) in the intervention group (both p < 0.001). In contrast, the control group showed smaller improvements in knowledge (1.53 points; 12.95%; p < 0.001) and attitudes (2.50 points; 4.79%; p = 0.001). Nutrition counseling using disc media was more effective than conventional counseling in improving adolescents' knowledge and attitudes toward obesity prevention. These findings support the use of visually interactive educational media as an effective strategy for school-based obesity prevention programs.