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Effect of Meal-Planning Education on Healthy Meal-Planning Practices among University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Meal planning is an important component of healthy dietary behaviour because it can help individuals organize meals, improve food choices, manage food portions, control food expenditure, and increase the likelihood of consuming balanced and nutritious diets. University students may experience irregular eating patterns and poor meal-planning practices because of academic schedules, limited financial resources, hostel living conditions, inadequate cooking facilities, time constraints, limited nutrition knowledge, and dependence on convenience foods. Meal-planning education provides an opportunity to improve students' knowledge and practical skills in planning balanced, affordable, and nutritious meals. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of meal-planning education on healthy meal-planning practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Theory of Planned Behavior. The Health Belief Model explains how students' perceptions of susceptibility to diet-related health problems, perceived severity, perceived benefits of healthy meal planning, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their dietary practices. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, behavioural modelling, self-efficacy, reinforcement, and environmental influences in developing and maintaining healthy meal-planning behaviours. The Theory of Planned Behavior explains how students' attitudes toward meal planning, perceived social expectations, and perceived behavioural control may influence their intentions and actual meal-planning practices. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how meal-planning education may influence healthy meal-planning practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate students enrolled in selected public and private universities in Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties, departments, academic levels, and eligible students. Meal-planning education will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to meal-planning education sessions, frequency and duration of education, knowledge of balanced meal composition, understanding of food groups, knowledge of appropriate portion sizes, awareness of meal timing, knowledge of affordable food choices, understanding of food budgeting, knowledge of weekly meal scheduling, awareness of healthy food substitutions, and ability to develop practical meal plans. Healthy meal-planning practices will be assessed using indicators such as preparing weekly or daily meal plans, planning meals before purchasing food, incorporating different food groups into planned meals, including fruits and vegetables, selecting affordable and nutritious foods, controlling portions, budgeting for healthy foods, reducing reliance on fast foods and highly processed foods, maintaining regular meal schedules, preparing food in advance where appropriate, and adjusting meal plans according to available healthy food options. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, nutrition knowledge assessment tools, meal-planning practice instruments, dietary assessment questionnaires, meal-planning records or templates, and pre-test and post-test assessments where a quasi-experimental intervention is adopted. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic and academic characteristics, dietary patterns, financial and living conditions, exposure to meal-planning education, and meal-planning practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of meal-planning education on healthy meal-planning practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, healthy meal-planning practice scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that meal-planning education has a significant positive effect on healthy meal-planning practices among university students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured and practical meal-planning education are expected to demonstrate improved knowledge and greater adoption of healthy meal-planning practices than students without comparable exposure. Education may improve students' ability to plan balanced meals, organize food purchases, manage food budgets, select affordable nutritious foods, control portions, include fruits and vegetables, and reduce dependence on convenience foods. Practical activities involving locally available and affordable Nigerian foods may strengthen students' ability to develop realistic meal plans within their financial and living circumstances. However, limited financial resources, inadequate cooking facilities, demanding academic schedules, hostel restrictions, food prices, limited access to fresh foods, and individual food preferences may reduce the effectiveness of education alone. The study therefore expects continuous, practical, affordable, and culturally appropriate meal-planning education, supported by healthier university food environments and access to nutritious food options, to contribute significantly to improved healthy meal-planning practices among university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on meal planning, nutrition education, university student nutrition, dietary behaviour, healthy eating, food budgeting, food choice, non-communicable disease prevention, health promotion, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, universities, student health services, nutritionists, dietitians, public health practitioners, university administrators, student affairs departments, campus food vendors, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving dietary practices among university students. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating meal-planning education into university health-promotion programmes, strengthening nutrition counselling, promoting practical food-budgeting and meal-planning skills, improving access to affordable nutritious foods on campuses, and developing sustainable interventions to improve healthy meal-planning practices among university students across Nigeria.

Keywords: Meal-planning education, healthy meal-planning practices, university students, nutrition education, meal planning, dietary behaviour, healthy eating, food budgeting, food choice, Nigeria, public health.