Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the nutritional education status and the recognition of the importance of elementary school dietitians (N＝183) in the Gyeongnam area. The results are summarized as follows. All subjects took part in nutritional education program, but the educational methods were passive, as in the case of “home correspondence”(80.8%) and “bulletin board poster”(16.4%), and the education frequency was very low as in “one time/month”(90.2%). The subjects thought “as an independent subject”(41.5%) and “as a related subjects”(35.1%) were suitable teaching venues for the nutritional education. They were very low in individual counseling (4.5%) for school children because of “lack of opportunity”(42.2%) and “heavy work load”(24.1%). However, most of the subjects wished that nutritional counseling could offered in the future (95.5%). The parents＇ experience of nutritional education was also low (34.3%). Information sources for nutritional education were mainly the “internet”(53.1%) and “re-educational materials” (25.0%). The available instructional materials included “printed materials”(96.7%), “exhibition bulletin materials” (70.3%) and “electronic materials”(46.4%). The preferred education materials were “exhibitionㆍbulletin materials”(32.2%), “printed materials”(29.2%), and “electronic materials”(27.7%). However, materials they wished to purchase were “electronic materials”(54.5%) and “cubic materials”(26.0%). These results show a difference between the preferred materials and the possessed materials. Most school dietitians (98.4%) recognized the necessity of nutritional education with respect to “good table manners”(42.0%), “correction of food prejudices”(30.3%), and “proper nutrition for growth”(21.0%) Although they had a great interest in nutritional education, they had difficulty in cutting their teaming into practice because of “heavy work load”(30.9%), “lack of a systematic curriculum”(25.2%), and “lack of a educational opportunity”(22.8%). Ninety five percent of subjects wished to have nutrition education taught as an independent subject. They pointed out “kindergarten”(60.0%) and “lower grades in elementary school”(33.9%) as the optimal starting times for nutritional education and “school dietitians”(91.3%) as suitable teachers for these programs. The required topics chosen by the subjects for nutritional education for children were “proper eating habits”(54.2%) and “nutritional problem”(31.5%). The dietitians thought “food prejudices”(44.7%), “rat too much processed and instant foods”(36.5%), and “obesity”(11.8%) were the most common nutritional problems among elementary school children. These results suggest the necessity of solving the nutritional problems in children by developing a nutritional education program. Along with this program, if dietitian assisted programs for parents were developed, the effects of nutritional education could definitely be increased.
