Effects of educational intervention on women’s behaviors in utilization of oils and fats

Introduction: Studying the practice of families on fats and oils consumption has an essential role indetermination of health status in a community. Here, we invesyigated the effect of educationalintervention on women’s behavior about oils and fats consumption in Tadayon and Family health centersin Semnan, Iran.Materials and Methods: In this study, 250 and 255 families were selected by the coincidental clustersampling, before and after intervention, respectively. Data were collected by questionnaire via ofinterview. The intervention consisted of speeches, installation mentioned in the leaflet, leaflet distributionand printing educational materials in the local newspaper.Results: In the majority of families, the first preference of oil for preparation of non fried foods (56.4vs. 36.8, before and after intervention, respectively) and fried foods (60.8 vs. 32.7, before and afterintervention, respectively) was solid hydrogenated vegetable oil. After training, the use of conventionalliquid oil and frying oil for the preparation of fried and non-fired foods was increased significantly(p<0.001). After intervention the percent of subjects who removed the visible fat from red meats wasincreased from 52% to 62.5 % ( p<0.01). In addition, after intervention the percent of people believed tobe harmful usage of hydrogenated oil was increased (p<0.028).Conclusion: The results of this study showed that educational interventions can increase knowledgeand correct behaviors of families in the field of oils and fats consumption. Therefore, implementation andcontinuation of these programs should be regarded in the health system