Conceptualizing university students’ food choices based on theory of planned behavior

Abstract

Background Several students use hostel facilities offered by their colleges and universities while pursuing higher education. A crucial change is witnessed in their food habits during their stay at the campus, which is vastly different from their home experience. Method The study employs the theory of planned behavior to conceptualize and understand the food choices of university students while following the qualitative research methodology and the phenomenological approach. The snowball sampling method is applied to select participants for the study. We selected twenty-six undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing programs in technical and health science from a private university at Udupi with residence in the university campus for two to four years. Interviews with candidates were conducted online and audio-recorded with participants’ consent. Results The transcribed interviews were coded and categorized to obtain themes, which were then conceptualized to develop the model based on the theory of planned behaviour. The duration of their stay on campus allowed students to gain a perspective on the food events and the food they consumed at the university dining facility (UDF) guided by factors, such as taste, price, availability of time(during academic activity), accessibility to healthy food, academic stress and lack of knowledge on nutrition. Two factors emerged from the interviews, one, there was no display in the dining facility about the nutritional value of the food served; and, second, students preferred to dine out on unhealthy food rather than at the university because food from outside the campus, even though unhealthy, was easier on the pocket. Conclusion The study provides insights into the role of UDF in serving healthy and nutritional food to students for better health and improved academic performance. This work brings to light the relationship between students’ food choices and their impact on academic performance.