Nutrition Education Using Mobile Phone Application to Prevent Anemia Among Adolescent Girls: A Research Protocol for Effectiveness Study

Previous studies demonstrate low awareness of adolescents regarding anemia prevention behavior, therefore innovative nutrition education strategy is important to complement essential nutrition programs for anemia control in adolescents to accelerate their effectiveness. This study aimed to develop an app-based intervention for changing knowledge, attitude, and anemia prevention behavior among adolescent girls with low-to-middle socioeconomic backgrounds. The study will be conducted with a quasi-experimental design, in which one selected high school is assigned as the intervention group and another high school is assigned as the control group. The participants will be recruited randomly from each school, consisting of female adolescents in the first and second grades (aged 14-17 years). The intervention will be delivered in a series of anemia educational materials through a mobile phone application for 12 weeks. The control group will receive educational material electronically after the intervention is terminated in the other group. Pre-test and post-test measurements of knowledge, attitude, and behavior will be undertaken with a self-administered questionnaire. The effect of the intervention will be determined by measuring changes observed after the intervention in each group (paired t-test statistical analysis) and comparing the changes between both groups (independent t-test statistical analysis) with p<0,05 indicating significant results. If the intervention proves to be effective to bring improving the anemia prevention behavior of adolescents, an app-based nutrition education tool will be applicable and enable it to educate larger relevant audiences. The findings of the study can provide useful inputs on supportive program implementation for anemia prevention among adolescents.