Perception of Nutritional Education and Status of Nutrition Knowledge in Elementary School Students in Chungnam Area

Abstract

To supply basic data for systemic nutrition education, perception of nutrition education and nutrition knowledge was investigated in elementary school students (4∼6th grade) in Chungnam province. Forty-six percent of students had a normal level of interest in nutrition, and 43.8% of students had a normal level of nutrition knowledge. Male students (56.1%) and female students (43.7%) wanted nutrition education via lectures in class (p<0.001), with a significant difference based on gender. In addition, most students wanted ‘cooking’ as nutrition education content, with a significant difference based on gender (p< 0.001). Approximately 59% of students (boys 53.7% and girls 64.6%) responded that the reason not to practice the contents of nutrition education is ‘not interested’ (male 44%, female 34.1%) (p<0.05). For necessity of nutrition education, 38.1% of subjects answered ‘normal’, and 42.8% of students responded that nutrition education is not helpful since there is no interest. On the contrary, necessity of nutrition education was recognized by 30.8% of male students and 30.8% of female students for prevention of obesity and health life with a balanced diet, respectively. Students (66%) wanted a nutrition teacher, and 33.2% of male students wanted nutrition education once a month, whereas 34.5% of female students wanted it once a week (p<0.01). And 54.8% of students responded that current frequency of nutrition education is adequate. The average score of nutrition knowledge for female students was higher than that of male students, and a higher grade received a higher score of nutrition knowledge. The level of nutrition knowledge was not relevant to the actual score of the individual. Based on this result, it is necessary to activate and expand nutrition education in elementary schools to emphasize the importance of nutrition education. Additionally, future nutrition education should be more available to practice in life as well as improvement of nutrition knowledge. Investigation into nutrition knowledge according to gender and grade is necessary for continuous and systemic nutrition education.