The Efficacy of Participatory Training Programs in Enhancing Dietary Diversity and Nutrition Awareness Among Adults in Rural Liberia.

Authors

J. Nelson Zenegbain

Department Of Public Health, Nimba University Sanniquellie City, Nimba County Liberia (Liberia)

Article Information

DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS.2026.101000155

Subject Category: Social science

Volume/Issue: 10/10 | Page No: 2053-2074

Publication Timeline

Submitted: 2026-10-11

Accepted: 2026-10-16

Published: 2026-10-31

Abstract

Background
In rural Liberia, where household income, food availability, cultural customs, and access to nutrition education impacts dietary patterns, poor dietary diversity and low nutrition awareness continue to be significant public health issues. Adults can learn more about nutrition, make better food choices, and developed healthy eating habits through participatory training programs. The effectiveness of participatory training programs in improving dietary diversity and nutrition awareness among adults in rural Liberia was evaluated in this study.
Objectives
In order to support the creation and application of nutrition-sensitive interventions, this study assessed the efficacy of participatory nutrition education in enhancing nutrition knowledge and dietary diversity among rural adults in Liberia. It also looks into whether increased nutrition knowledge results in changes in dietary behavior.
Method
The study used a quantitative intervention-based methodology to evaluate how interactive training affected dietary diversification and nutrition knowledge. The study involved 724 people, 326 of whom were male (45.0%) and 398 of whom were female (55.0%). Structured questionnaires were used to gather information on participants' food habits, nutrition awareness, and socio-demographic traits both before and after the training intervention. There were three levels of nutrition awareness: low, moderate, and high.
Participants' reported food consumption across pertinent food groups was used to measure dietary variety. While suitable inferential statistical tests were used to evaluate differences between pre- and post-training outcomes, descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages, were employed to summarize the data. The threshold for statistical significance was fixed at p < 0.05.
Results:
Of the 724 participants, 326 (45.0%) were men and 398 (55.0%) were women. 312 participants (43.1%) had poor nutrition awareness, 286 (39.5%) had moderate awareness, and 126 (17.4%) had high awareness, according to the stated distribution. The reported awareness distribution is shown in these figures; in order to assess changes owing to the intervention, the matching pre- and post-training frequencies are needed.
The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether dietary diversity and nutrition knowledge were enhanced via interactive training. However, before reporting statistical significance, the amount of improvement, the outcomes of the statistical test, and the p-values must be determined from the examined pre- and post-training data.
Conclusion:
A useful strategy for raising nutrition awareness and encouraging dietary diversity among adults in rural Liberia was provided via participatory training programs. However, validated pre- and post-training comparisons was used to assess the intervention's efficacy. To strengthen the data about the sustainability and causal effects of participatory nutrition education, future initiatives include longer follow-up periods, objective or validated dietary assessment methodologies, and a comparison group.

Keywords

Adults, rural Liberia, nutritional diversity, nutrition education, nutrition awareness

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