Eating Attitude, Nutrition Knowledge and Behaviors Among Female Preschool Teachers in Istanbul: A Cross-Sectional Study

OpenAlex İngilizce

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the eating attitude, nutritional knowledge and behaviors of preschool teachers. Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 709 female preschool teachers working in 174 private kindergartens in İstanbul between May 17-31, 2021. The questionnaire form was applied to the participants face to face; the age information and body weight and height measurements of the individuals were recorded. Nutritional knowledge levels of the participants were evaluated with the Nutrition Knowledge Level Scale, their eating attitudes were evaluated with the Eating Attitudes Test 26 and their nutritional behaviors were evaluated with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the SPSS and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The body mass index of 29.6% of the teachers is outside the range of 18.5-24.9 kg/m2. Only 35.7% of individuals have a good/very good level of nutrition knowledge; it was determined that 13.8% of the participants had an impaired eating attitude. As the age of teachers increases, the level of nutrition knowledge increases, food selection develops positively and uncontrolled eating behavior decreases; however, body weight, body mass index and some feeding behaviors (emotional eating and cognitive restriction) increased. Conclusion: It has been determined that the nutritional knowledge level of teachers, which is one of the important factors in the development of healthy eating behaviors in preschool children, is not at a sufficient level, and this may be related to negative results in eating attitudes and behaviors.