A social psychological approach to nutrition education utilizing ethnographic and experimental methods

The proposed research I believe will assist the development of nutrition education programs among secondary school students in Kenya. It will attempt to determine the characteristics of the communicator (in terms of the psychological variables of similarity and expertise) which are most effective in producing nutritionally advantageous changes in knowledge and beliefs. Specifically it will determine whether a local non-nutrition authority ("peer") is a more effective communicator than a non-local nutrition authority ("expert"). Since the spreading of knowledge of proper nutrition is an important program in Kenya, it is hoped that this research will contribute to this program.