Impact of a soy nutrition education programme on knowledge in a low-income community in Qwa-Qwa, South Africa

The objective of this study was to measure the knowledge of the South African food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG), as well as of soy gardening and uses of soy, before and after a nutrition education training programme (NEP). The methods consisted of the four phases of the Food and Agriculture Organization framework for nutrition education. A structured nutrition education questionnaire (NEQ) consisting of 32 questions was developed. The NEQ was used to collect data both at baseline and at the end of a NEP in 75 purposively selected households. Descriptive statistics (frequencies) and paired t-tests were done to determine the statistically significant (P<0.05) differences in knowledge before and after the NEP. At baseline, the results showed a good knowledge of the FBDG as the majority of the respondents (66%) answered the questions correctly. Regarding soy, the knowledge of respondents improved significantly (P<0.05) from 65.0% correctly answered questions before the NEP to 74.1% after the NEP. It can be concluded that the NEP proved to be successful in teaching the caregivers about soy gardening and soy use in the household. It is recommended that memory retention is measured over a longer period and that soy gardens be implemented to further strengthen sustainability and to address household food insecurity and malnutrition.