Knowledge Retention from a One-Time Program

Winter 1992
Volume 30 Number 4

Knowledge Retention from a One-Time Program

Beth D. Gaydos
Associate Professor and Extension Agent, Home Economics
Cooperative Extension Service
Ohio State University
Noble and Monroe Counties, Ohio

Many Extension programs are one-time, one-treatment efforts. How much knowledge do participants retain? Perhaps not as much as Extension educators hope, especially if the topic is controversial or the information is complicated. The dietary fat and cholesterol issue is one such complex topic. An Extension program entitled "What's Your Cholesterol IQ?" was developed to address consumer misconceptions and evaluated to measure knowledge gained and retained from the program.

I presented a one-time program in 30-60 minute discussion sessions for Extension homemaker groups, health fair groups, and community/civic clubs. The program began with a 10-item true/false quiz to assess current knowledge level. Participants received handouts containing tips to help reinforce learning.

Frequencies of correct responses to the 10 true/false questions on the quiz were recorded for 104 people. The rate of answering each question correctly ranged from 20% to 79% as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Program pre-test. (n=104)
Question and correct answer	Percent correct
1. As a good health practice, everyone should be on a low cholesterol diet. (false)	41%
2. A vegetable margarine labeled "No Cholesterol" is better than one without such a notation. (false)	41
3. The saturated fat content of a food affects the blood cholesterol level more than the cholesterol content of the food. (true)	79
4. All vegetable oils are low in saturated fats. (false)	75
5. "Good" cholesterol removes cholesterol build-up on artery walls. (true)	61
6. A 3-oz. portion of cooked pork contains more cholesterol than the same sized serving of cooked shrimp. (false)	57
7. People on low cholesterol diets cannot eat dairy products. (false)	73
8. All fats, whether from plant or animal sources, provide the same number of calories. (true)	20
9. Fish oil supplements have been proven to reduce the incidence of heart disease. (false)	41
10. Low-cal, reduced calorie, lite, and lean all mean basically the same thing on food labels. (false)	62

A six-month follow-up survey was distributed to Extension homemaker club members, a subgroup of the original population. Fifty-six surveys were returned (54% response).

Comments from participants during the presentations indicated most were no longer confused about the facts and felt more confident to make heart healthy food choices. As shown in Table 2, respondents indicated a high level of adopting recommended practices. The low scores on knowledge questions in the follow-up survey show, however, that confusion about the fat/cholesterol issue still remains for the population surveyed. Participants appeared to understand the concepts discussed during the educational program, but were unable to recall the facts when asked to respond to a follow-up survey.

Table 2. Six-month follow-up. (n=56)
Practice questions	Percent adoption
1. Read labels on margarine products before purchasing.	70%
2. Purchase vegetable oils low in saturated fat.	87
3. Serve lean meats and trim visible fat before cooking.	82
4. Broil, bake, or roast meat rather than fry.	71
5. Choose low-fat dairy products.	71
6. Read labels on prepared foods to check for fat content before purchasing.	60
Knowledge questions	Percent correct
7. Eating foods high in saturated fat affects blood cholesterol levels.	790%
8. Canola and sunflower oils are low in saturated fat.	55
9. A vegetable margarine labeled "No Cholesterol" is a better choice than one without such a notation.	38
10. All fats, whether from plants or animals, provide the same number of calories.	25

This study suggests that reinforcement of concepts is needed if consumers are to retain knowledge about dietary fats and cholesterol. The same could be true for many complex subjects treated in one-time Extension programs. Extension educators should consider methods for reinforcing learning beyond the one- time program.

This article is online at http://www.joe.org/joe/1992winter/rb2.html.

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