Effectiveness of health literacy-based motivational interviewing and health education on adolescents' nutrition and exercise behaviors in Turkiye: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: To measure the effectiveness of health literacy-based motivational interviewing and health education to improve adolescents' nutrition and exercise behaviors. Study design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: The study was completed with 63 adolescents (aged 14-15 years) of which 21 were in the motivational interviewing group, 21 were in the health education group, and 21 were in the control group. Data collection tools were applied to all groups before the intervention, after the completion of the intervention (post-test), at the third and sixth month. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and two-way mixed design ANOVA with Bonferroni test. Results: The mean scores of nutrition and exercise at the post-test, third month, and sixth month of the motivational interviewing and health education groups were significantly higher than the control group. The intervention had a large effect size. Conclusion: Health literacy-based motivational interviewing and health education were effective in improving nutrition and exercise behaviors among adolescents.