Two nutrition education modules were developed on cardiovascular disease and fat-controlled diet consisting of a self-instruction leader's guide and teaching package to conduct learning sessions for the participants. The sessions consisted of an audio-visual presentation, situations related to the module topic, group discussion, role-playing, model-building, and food demonstrations. The modules were tested on health care personnel in sixteen Pennsylvania hospitals who were interested in learning about nutrition topics that were disease-related. The leaders and the participants, divided into treatment and nontreatment groups, took pretest and posttest measures to determine the effect of the sessions on cognitive performance. Background variables were examined to assess their effect on gain scores and questionnaires were used to obtain evaluative information on the modules. The self-instruction guides were effective in communicating nutrition information. The mean gains of the treatment group were significantly higher than the nontreatment group. Because of substantial background differences, the analysis focused on job categories showing differential pretest scores. When treatment was added to background variables a greater amount of variance in gain scores was explained. The questionnaires indicated the guides and sessions were well-received. Suggestions were made on the timing and scope of the presentations and future topic material. (Author/FP)