Abstract
International students may have difficulties in dietary acculturation. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of diet and health during the acculturation of international students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 473 international students in Dublin. Knowledge, attitude and practices towards diet and health were evaluated by a questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions. It was found that 45.3% of participants had a broad concept of a healthy diet, while few knew its specific contents. Furthermore, 75.3% of participants could explain the term functional food, and among them, 62.1% knew the appropriate definition of functional food. Participants who perceived their health very good and excellent were more likely to believe that their health status was determined by their own control. The consumption rate of functional food varied among regions and South and Central America students had the highest usage rate (44.5%) and Asian students had the highest daily usage rate (52.7%). Participants who were younger, single, from African and South and Central American countries, or who were in Ireland for less than one year were more likely to report dietary change after immigration. In conclusion, insufficient knowledge and self-perception towards diet and health as well as unhealthily dietary changes exist among international students living in Dublin.
Highlights
International students or foreign students are those who travel to another country for an educational reason [1]
The statement was tailored to meet our study aims, including “good health is mainly determined by chance, and there is not much that I can do to influence my long term health” (HLC-1), “my health is mainly controlled by outside influences over which I have little or no control” (HLC-2), and “my health is under my own control, and I can improve my long term health by adopting a healthy lifestyle” (HLC-3) [27]
Our major findings were as follows: (1) less than half of the participants had a broad concept of healthy diet and even fewer knew the specific meaning; (2) more than two thirds of the participants could explain the term functional foods, and Asian students had the highest usage and daily usage
Summary
International students or foreign students are those who travel to another country for an educational reason [1]. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 2.5 million students were enrolled outside their country of citizenship in 2009 and the number of international students might rise to approximately 7 million by the year 2020 [2]. Except the main destination countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, Ireland is gradually becoming a country with rapid growth in the number of international students after New Zealand and the Netherlands [3]. Based on the results of the 2006 Census in Ireland (23 April 2006), non-nationals made up 10% of the population in Ireland, and this figure was set to increase further in the coming years [4]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3182; doi:10.3390/ijerph17093182 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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