The Effect of Nutrition Education Using Nutricard on Anemia Knowledge Among Adolescent Girls at SMAN 1 Sungai Pandan

Abstract

Anemia remains one of the most common nutritional problems among adolescent girls and can negatively affect health and learning concentration. Low knowledge regarding the causes and prevention of anemia is one of the factors contributing to its occurrence. This study aimed to determine the effect of nutrition education using Nutricard media on anemia knowledge among adolescent girls at SMAN 1 Sungai Pandan. This study employed a quasi-experimental method with a two-group pretest–posttest control group design. Respondents were divided into an intervention group (Nutricard media) and a control group (leaflet media). Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test to assess changes in knowledge within each group and the Mann–Whitney test to analyze the effect of the educational intervention on knowledge improvement between the two groups. The results showed that in the leaflet group, the mean knowledge score increased from 81.83 to 97.5, while in the Nutricard group, the mean score increased from 81.66 to 94.5. The Wilcoxon test indicated a significant improvement in knowledge in both groups (p = 0.000 < 0.05). Furthermore, the Mann–Whitney test showed a significant difference in knowledge improvement between the two groups (p = 0.045 < 0.05). Nutricard and leaflet media may be utilized as alternative educational tools for anemia prevention among adolescent girls and may be further developed in future studies involving different target populations and variables.