The measurement of college athletes' knowledge and behavior on pre- and post-workout nutrition utilizing a text message intervention.

Young, Hannah; Schumacher, Julie R.; Pierce, Scott; Barnes, Jennifer L.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure college student athletes' nutrition knowledge and behavior before and after a text message-based educational intervention. Participants: Athletes (n = 35) participated by completing a pre- and post-intervention survey. Methods: This survey gathered information on ability to identify carbohydrate and protein food sources, pre-and post-workout intake, and behavior. Text messages were sent during the 4-week intervention and included information regarding the importance of carbohydrate consumption before training, and a carbohydrate-protein mixture for recovery. Results: Dependent t-tests revealed a lack of statistically significant increases in total knowledge (p = 0.156) or behavior (p = 0.177), but an increase in the behavior questions regarding efficacy of carbohydrate before training (p = 0.026) and carbohydrate and protein after training (p = 0.016). Conclusion: This suggests the text message educational intervention did influence behavioral outcomes. Future research should focus on the effectiveness, length, and frequency of the text message intervention, and investigate the athletes' willingness to change dietary behaviors.

ILLINOIS; HEALTH literacy; T-test (Statistics); EDUCATIONAL outcomes; CLINICAL trials; PHYSICAL training & conditioning; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; PRE-tests & post-tests; SURVEYS; HEALTH behavior; TEXT messages; COMPARATIVE studies; DIETARY carbohydrates; DIETARY proteins; NUTRITION education

Journal of American College Health, 2025, Vol 73, Issue 1, p91

0744-8481

Academic Journal

10.1080/07448481.2023.2198023