The aim of the study was twofold. First, to explore understanding difficulties in nutritional concepts among nursing students and second, to analyse the effect of two teaching strategies on the level ...of understanding.
Previous studies have pointed out the need to improve the nutritional care education offered to undergraduates in health sciences. As nurses play a crucial role in lifestyle counselling and nutrition assessment, it is essential to identify the learning difficulties that can impair their learning capacity and the more effective teaching strategy in the nutrition area during the nursing degree.
A pretest-posttest study was conducted with a mixed-method conversion design.
146 first-year-nursing students were included. Two teaching methods, debate-based learning and lecture-based learning were used for instruction on the effect of macronutrient intake on an individual’s state of health. Each group completed two open-ended questions before and after the intervention. Firstly, phenomenographic analysis was performed to identify the learning categories representing variations in students’ understanding. Secondly, qualitative data were quantised and statistically analysed to address differences in learning improvement.
More than 40% of students struggled with the idea that proteins are associated with weight gain independently of the teaching strategy applied. In the first evaluation question, the debate-based learning teaching method improved students’ learning, achieving higher levels of understanding (p < 0.05). In the second evaluation question, no significant differences were found between the two groups.
Areas of problematic knowledge in nutrition education have been identified for the first time that will allow nurse educators to design research-based teaching strategies. Further studies are necessary not only on how to address these misconceptions in nursing students, but also to investigate how nurse educators can contribute to deeper levels of student learning.
•Including nutrition education on the syllabus does not guarantee students’ learning.•>40% of students struggled with the idea that proteins are associated with weight gain.•Debate-based learning helps to improve understanding of nutritional concepts.
This study reports the food habits of Vietnamese college women in association
with college life and their cultural background. Their food habits, food associated
beliefs, and the influences on their ...food choices were examined.
Interviews, using semi-structured questionnaire, were conducted with 25
Vietnamese college women at Oregon State University. The questionnaire included
general and particular food consumption, cooking/eating out practices, and food
associated beliefs.
The busy schedules of the Vietnamese college students in college life greatly
influenced their food choices. They preferred eating the same foods as before college,
which were mainly Vietnamese foods. However, they also considered convenience for
their food choices since they did not have enough time and/or skills to prepare and eat
meals. Generally they kept eating Vietnamese foods, such as rice and Vietnamese
flavored dishes; however, they increased eating easy to prepare food, such as pasta,
sandwiches, and fast foods in college life, which were not often eaten with their families
before college. All of them had rice cookers, chopsticks, and fish sauce, that are
substantial for a Vietnamese diet.
Their preference of eating Vietnamese foods led to their unique meal patterns.
They tended to adjust mealtime in order to eat Vietnamese foods at home and avoided
eating meals on campus. Instead, the high frequency of snack consumption was reported.
They had strong beliefs that Vietnamese foods were healthy. The Vietnamese
foods, which consisted of rice, a wide variety of vegetables, and small amount of meat,
tend to be low in fat. It led to avoidance of commercialized low-fat and low-calorie
foods. The Vietnamese diet was also believed to be a balanced diet. This was associated
with the small credibility of a vegetarian diet in spite of the fact that they considered
vegetables played an important role in their diets. Generally they were comfortable to
keep eating Vietnamese foods because of their health concerns, as well as their taste
preferences.
In college life, they consumed some foods that were not Vietnamese and not often
eaten with their families before. However, it could be temporary mainly because of their
busy schedules. They preferred to eat the same foods as before, if their schedule allowed,
and they considered that Vietnamese foods should be eaten as their real meals.
Graduation date: 1999
Dietary guidelines recommend that Americans consume no
more than 30 percent of energy intake from fat. The most
recent national survey reported that U.S. women consume
about 36 percent of energy from ...fat. Very little is
presently known about the fat intake, or food sources of
fat in the diets of college students, a subgroup of the
population, with newly established eating habits. This
study examined nutrient intake and sources of fat in the
diets of 233 women and 60 men enrolled in six introductory
nutrition courses from September 1987 through June 1988.
Female students were further subdivided to determine
whether the independent variables, living situation (on
campus or off campus), or fat content of diet (fat intake
less than or equal to 30 percent of energy consumed, or fat
intake more than 30 percent of energy consumed) had an
effect on nutrient intake or food sources of fat.
Each student in the sample kept a two-day food intake
record, and filled out a form reporting their sex, age, major, and living arrangement. Dietary intakes were
analyzed for macronutrients, types of fat, cholesterol,
vitamin B6, calcium, iron, and zinc. Mean intakes,
nutrient density, proportion of students who did not meet
75 percent of the RDA, and energy distribution as percent
intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrate were compared
between sample subgroups. Foods were categorized into 27
food groups. Groupings, adapted from Popkin et. al. (15),
were based on the Four Food Groups, which were further
subdivided by fat content. Per capita consumption of each
food group, proportion of users of each food category, and
per user consumption of foods in each category were compared
between sample subgroups. T-tests were used to compare
mean nutrient and food group intakes, and chi-square
analysis was used to compare proportion of individuals who
met 75 percent of the RDA, and proportion of individuals
that consumed foods from each food group.
The college women in this sample exceeded dietary
guidelines for fat consumption. They did, however, have a
lower intake of fat than a national sample of women 19 to
34 years, living in the western U.S. in 1986, and a
correspondingly lower intake of cholesterol. A large
proportion of the college women consumed less than 75
percent of the RDA for vitamin B6, calcium, iron, and
zinc. Meat is a major source for all of these nutrients
except calcium. College women consumed less zinc than the
national sample of women, and had a lower intake of meat. Women with a low fat intake, also, had a lower intake of
zinc, and consumed less meat.
The college men did not have a proportionately greater
intake of fat than college women, although they did have a
greater intake of cholesterol due to the greater
consumption of foods of animal origin.
Graduation date: 1990
The nutritional impact of snacking on the diets of female,
freshman college students between the ages of 17 and 20 years was
assessed. Sixty-five women living in freshman residence halls at
Oregon ...State University recorded their dietary intakes and eating
habits for four days. Questionnaires concerning eating and activity
patterns were also completed. Dietary intakes were analyzed for
energy (kcal), protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin,
niacin and ascorbic acid. The nutrient contents of snacks, meals,
and nutrient supplements consumed by the subjects were calculated.
Nutrient densities (nutrient/1000 kcal) of meals and snacks were
also calculated for the above nutrients. All subjects received a
Dietary Adequacy Score, which was computed from their mean daily intake
over the four-day period, by assigning one point for each
nutrient consumed at or above two-thirds of the RDA.
All but one subject snacked during the four-day recording
period. The subjects consumed a mean of 1.54 snacks daily, with
means of 0.19 morning, 0.47 afternoon, and 0.88 evening snacks.
With the exception of ascorbic acid, the mean nutrient desities
of snacks were significantly (p<0.01) lower than that of meals. The
mean nutrient densities of snacks were well below the RDA/1000 kcal
for all of the calculated nutrients, again, with the exception of
ascorbic acid. Snacks contributed about 20 percent of the mean
total energy intake; the proportions supplied by snacks to the mean
nutrient intakes were considerably lower (8 to 13 percent).
Meal frequency was negatively correlated with snack frequency
(r= -.24, p<0.05) and snack energy intake (r= -.40, p<0.01). Lunch
was the meal most negatively correlated with snacking frequency
(r = .33, p<0.01) and snack energy intake ( r= -.37, p<0.01). By
examining when snacking and when missed meals occurred, it appears
that snacks were often consumed as a result of missed meals rather
than the cause of them. Breakfast was missed most often and dinner
least often with snacking occurring most often in the evening and
afternoon. Snacks consumed at these times would not have interfered
with either lunch or breakfast.
Despite the relatively poor nutritional value of snack foods
eaten by the subjects (as evidenced by the low nutrient densities),
snacks actually improved the Dietary Adequacy Scores of 28 subjects.
However, 16 subjects exceeded the RDA for energy with the addition of
snacks, eight of whom were not included in the above group of 28
with the improved Dietary Adequacy Scores. But in all, 20 subjects
(31 percent) had their Dietary Adequacy Scores improved by snacks,
without exceeding the 2100 kcal RDA for energy.
The foods most commonly eaten as snacks were (in descending
order): cookies, cake and pastries; candy; fruit; dairy desserts;
popcorn; crackers, chips etc.; soft drinks; and alcoholic beverages.
Graduation date: 1982
