PD891 - A NOVEL APPROACH TO NUTRITION EDUCATION IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER: VIRTUAL REALITY VERSUS TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION

PD891

A NOVEL APPROACH TO NUTRITION EDUCATION IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER: VIRTUAL REALITY VERSUS TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION

R. ZEYTUN¹, B. MADALI^2,*

¹Necmettin Erbakan University, KONYA, ²Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, ANKARA, Türkiye

Rationale: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) commonly experience learning difficulties and are also at increased risk of suboptimal dietary behaviors. Despite its educational potential, the use of virtual reality (VR) in nutrition education (NE) for children with ADHD remains insufficiently explored; therefore, this study compared the effects of traditional and VR-based NE on healthy food selection.

Methods: A total of 31 children aged 9–12 years with clinically diagnosed ADHD were included. NE was delivered by the same nutrition professional using identical educational content in two formats: conventional face-to-face and VR-based education. Before and after the intervention, children selected four foods from 16 randomly arranged images (8 healthy, 8 unhealthy). The same food visuals were embedded within the educational slides, and a classroom-like virtual environment was created for the VR condition.

Results: Healthy food selections increased significantly in both groups following the intervention, from 2.25±1.34 to 3.00±0.89 in the traditional education group (p=0.001) and from 1.27±0.80 to 3.87±0.35 in the VR-based education group (p=0.019). Pre–post change scores showed a significantly greater increase in healthy food selections in the VR group than in the traditional education group (2.60 vs. 0.75, respectively).

Conclusion: The findings suggest that VR-based NE may be more effective than traditional instruction in improving healthy food choices among children with ADHD. Given that childhood is a critical period for growth, development, and the establishment of long-term dietary behaviors, the integration of technology-assisted educational strategies may enhance the effectiveness of NE interventions. Innovative NE approaches delivered by professionals may help improve dietary behaviors and health outcomes in this population.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared