Identifying and Prioritizing Educational Needs of Female Adolescents in Relation to Healthy Eating Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process Model

Abstract

In order to better plan health based interventions, educators and health promoters need to make decisions in this regard. In the meantime, it should be noted that, multiple criteria decision making methods with theoretical roots and accuracy of forecasting results are less considered.The current study is a descriptive research carried out on 15 experts working in Yazd Health Centers using purposeful sampling. In order to identify wrong eating habits of students, Delphi method is used. In the next step, these habits are compared, one by one, and scored with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Model. In the end, data are analyzed using Expert Choice 11 software.Seven major wrong eating habits of female adolescents are identified: junk food consumption, drinking soda and sweet drinks, eating fast food, deleting main meals, improper diets, low intake of vegetables, and not eating breakfast. Among these, low intake of vegetables, eating fast food, and not eating breakfast, with weight rate of 32.4%, 19.4% and 19.3%, are specified as the first three priorities of education.In various fields of education and health promotion, including prioritizing training needs, employing techniques with potentials of assessing multiple criteria at the same time can be highly efficient.