Analysis of the Participation Reasons and Deterrents on Welfare Facility Dietitians for the Elderly / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the education participation reasons and deterrents of dietitians who work in welfare facilities for the elderly. METHODS: The survey was completed by 144 dietitians working at welfare facilities for the elderly in Korea. The survey was conducted in October, 2018, both on-line and off-line, based on the demographic characteristics, work status on welfare facilities for the elderly, Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) and Deterrents to Participation Scale (DPS-G). The data were analyzed using frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, regressive analysis using SPSS ver. 25.0. RESULTS: The reason for participation were divided into three factors: ‘Responsibility of professional and self-development (5.76 ± 1.04)’, ‘Job stability and personal benefits (4.98 ± 1.28)’, and ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies (5.85 ± 1.00)’. ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies’ was the highest motivation factor. Also, the deterrents for participation were divided into four factors: ‘Dispositional barrier (2.70 ± 1.29)’, ‘Dissatisfaction of education usability (3.39 ± 1.38)’, ‘Institutional barrier (4.21 ± 1.45)’, and ‘Situational barrier (2.36 ± 1.30)’. ‘Institutional barrier’ showed the highest deterrents factor. In addition, ‘Responsibility of professional and self-development’ and ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies’ were negative attributes for ‘Dispositional barrier’ (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results provide basic data to promote participation in education and contribute to the improvement of their job ability and education capacity of the food and nutrition management of welfare facilities for the elderly

Analysis of the Participation Reasons and Deterrents on Welfare Facility Dietitians for the Elderly / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the education participation reasons and deterrents of dietitians who work in welfare facilities for the elderly. METHODS: The survey was completed by 144 dietitians working at welfare facilities for the elderly in Korea. The survey was conducted in October, 2018, both on-line and off-line, based on the demographic characteristics, work status on welfare facilities for the elderly, Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) and Deterrents to Participation Scale (DPS-G). The data were analyzed using frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, regressive analysis using SPSS ver. 25.0. RESULTS: The reason for participation were divided into three factors: ‘Responsibility of professional and self-development (5.76 ± 1.04)’, ‘Job stability and personal benefits (4.98 ± 1.28)’, and ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies (5.85 ± 1.00)’. ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies’ was the highest motivation factor. Also, the deterrents for participation were divided into four factors: ‘Dispositional barrier (2.70 ± 1.29)’, ‘Dissatisfaction of education usability (3.39 ± 1.38)’, ‘Institutional barrier (4.21 ± 1.45)’, and ‘Situational barrier (2.36 ± 1.30)’. ‘Institutional barrier’ showed the highest deterrents factor. In addition, ‘Responsibility of professional and self-development’ and ‘Interaction and development of professional competencies’ were negative attributes for ‘Dispositional barrier’ (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results provide basic data to promote participation in education and contribute to the improvement of their job ability and education capacity of the food and nutrition management of welfare facilities for the elderly

Mother's Parenting Style at Meal Time and Their Preschooler's Dietary Behavior / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the nutrition quotient (NQ) by mother's parenting style which may influence the NQ in preschool children. METHODS: Subjects were 310 mothers and their 4-6 year old children. The questionnaire composed of demographic characteristics, mother's parenting style at meal time and eating behavior as measured by NQ questions. The NQ questions consisted of 19 food behavior checklist items and all items were grouped into 5 factors: balance, diversity, moderation, regularity, and practice. Mother's parenting style was classified by using words for nutrition education at meal time. All data were statistically analyzed by SPSS program (Ver. 23) and the statistical differences in variables were evaluated by Student's t-test, χ²-test, One-way ANOVA. RESULTS: We observed that in children whose mothers use the parenting style at meal time of ‘explanation’ and ‘compliment & cheer up’ had high dietary regularity, diversity, practice. The children of mothers who use the parenting style at meal time of ‘persuasion’ and ‘reward’ were found to have a lower degree of balance, diversity, and practice. Especially, children of ‘reward’ style mothers had lower moderation of dietary life. On the other hand, among the parenting style at meal time of ‘comparison & demand’, ‘treating’ and ‘faire’, there was no significant difference in the NQ factor by each group. NQ grade was higher among those who used more explanation (p < 0.001) and persuasion (p < 0.01) and with use of less persuasion (p < 0.01) and reward (p < 0.01). The positive association observed between the frequency of dietary education of mothers and higher NQ grade indicated the degree of dietary practices of those children. On the other hand, the children of mothers who rarely practice the dietary education at home had lower NQ grade (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In order to promote children's proper dietary behaviors, it is important to provide nutrition education to children as well as provide guidance on parenting style at meal time.

Survey on Foodservice Satisfaction and Dietary Education needs for Improvement of School Foodservice in Middle School Students in Seoul / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to examine the satisfaction of school cafeterias among the surveyed group at two middle schools located in Seoul. METHODS: 574 out of 600 middle school students in Seoul (95.7%) completed the study. RESULTS: Satisfaction rate of school meals was significantly higher among girls (73.2%) compared to boys (45.1%). The reasons for satisfaction factors of school meals were with the taste of school meals (55.1%), menu (19.3%), nutrition (14.2%), and food hygiene safety (7.0%). Students who had a double-income family, well-educated mother and higher happiness in their life reported a higher satisfaction with school meals. Both boys and girls who consumed milk frequently showed significantly higher satisfaction with school meals. Factors that were related to satisfaction of school meals were food temperature, the amount of food (especially among boys). Variety in the menu and food distribution speed were less related to the satisfaction of meals. In the case of girls, waiting time, food distribution speed were more important to them while the kindness of school staff was a less important factor. Improvements that were needed to increase the satisfaction for the school lunch meals, from the most important to least important were as follows: variety of meals (36.6%), food distribution speed·waiting time (24.6%), taste of food (15.7%), amount of food (7.7%), hygienic management (5.1%), food quality (4.7%), kindness (3.0%), temperature of the food (2.8%). Students preferred to broadcast on campus and cooking practice for the dietary education. CONCLUSIONS: To improve school meal satisfaction, it is necessary for food distribution facilities to make improvements with regard to variety of meals and reduced waiting time.

The Relationship between Stress, Social Support and Healthy Diet Score among Chinese University Students in Korea / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to examine whether healthy diet score was associated with stress and social support among 472 Chinese college students in Korea. METHODS: The study participants were 472 (187 male, 285 female) Chinese college students in Gyeong-gi area. From April 2013 to Oct 2013, participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on healthy diet score (20 questions), stress (20 questions), and social support (20 questions). Each question was scored by a 5-point Likert scale (total scores of each questionnaire were ranged from 20 to 100). Questions on healthy diet were sub-categorized as 'Healthy food eating (HFE)', 'Healthy eating habits (HEH)', and 'Avoidance of unhealthy food (AUF)'. Reliability test was conducted with Cronbach's alphalpha (alpha=0.79). RESULTS: Healthy diet score was higher in participants who stayed longer in Korea, who spoke Korean language fluently, and who assessed his or her own health status as very good. Adjusted means of healthy diet scores were estimated after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, duration of staying, and Korean language fluency. According to tertile categories, participants with low tertile stress but high tertile social support showed the highest score of healthy diet (72.59+/-1.45), whereas participants with high tertile of stress but low tertile of social support had the lowest score of healthy diet (59.22+/-1.54). As for the three sub-categories of healthy diet score, the score of HFE increased as the score of social support increased. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that social support system is beneficial to alleviate stress and to improve healthy diet score.

Differences in Solo Eating Perceptions and Dietary Behaviors of University Students by Gender

This study assessed gender differences of 'solo eating' perceptions and dietary behaviors among college students residing in Seoul and Kyongki province. Two types of questionnaires were used to analyze perception and dietary behaviors of subjects: a cross-sectional survey (N=893) and AGA (Associative Group Analysis; N=50). Women ate significantly more and intook a greater variety of foods when eating together (P<0.05). Men, on the other hand, showed no difference in these variables. Women, compared to men, spent more time eating both alone and together (P<0.001). In the associative group analysis (AGA), women showed a different semantic value for 'solo eating' compared to men. Women also tended to feel lonely when they ate alone and had positive images of eating together. Students began to decide their own dietary behaviors after junior and high school. Dietary lives of Koreans have rapidly changed along with social changes over the past half century. These research findings will contribute to more comprehensive and efficient nutrition education programs for preventing lifestyle-related diseases in the early stage of adulthood.

Perceptions and practices of commensality and solo-eating among Korean and Japanese university students: A cross-cultural analysis

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Commensality, eating together with others, is a major representation of human sociality. In recent time, environments around commensality have changed significantly due to rapid social changes, and the decline of commensality is perceived as a serious concern in many modern societies. This study employs a cross-cultural analysis of university students in two East Asian countries, and examines cross-cultural variations of perceptions and actual practices of commensality and solo-eating. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The analysis was drawn from a free-list survey and a self-administrative questionnaires of university students in urban Korea and Japan. The free-listing survey was conducted with a small cohort to explore common images and meanings of commensality and solo-eating. The self-administrative questionnaire was developed based on the result of the free-list survey, and conducted with a larger cohort to examine reasons and problems of practices and associated behaviors and food intake. RESULTS: We found that Korean subjects tended to show stronger associations between solo-eating and negative emotions while the Japanese subjects expressed mixed emotions towards the practice of solo-eating. In the questionnaire, more Korean students reported they prefer commensality and tend to eat more quantities when they eat commensally. In contrast, more Japanese reported that they do not have preference on commensality and there is no notable difference in food quantities when they eat commensally and alone. Compared to the general Korean cohort finding, more proportion of overweight and obese groups of Korean subjects reported that they tend to eat more when they are alone than normal and underweight groups. This difference was not found in the overweight Japanese subjects. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed cross-cultural variations of perceptions and practices of commensality and solo-eating in a non-western setting.

The Effectiveness of Na Reduction Program for Cook in Child-care Center: Focus on Self-reevaluation and Strengthen Consciousness / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop a Na-reduction education program and apply it for cooks who prepare meals in day-care centers. To development of the program was based on increasing the self-awareness of salinity, eating behaviors and enforcing skills of low-Na cooking. METHODS: The study was carried out from April to October in 2013, fifty five cooks participated in this program. The Na reduction program composed of 4 sessions of education which included a 90-minute lecture and self-reevaluation of personal saltsensitivity degree and three low Na recipe cooking classes. In order to measure the effectiveness of the program, the pretest and posttest of salinity of the soups provided by day care centers was conducted at registration and 5 month after the program with the same menu. RESULTS: After the conduct of the program, salimeter using rate was increased from 8.2% to 94.6% after the program and the other measuring instruments using rate was gradually increased. We observed that the score on eating behaviors increased 1.51 points from 38.80 to 40.31 after the intervention program (p < 0.001). Further, increased knowledge and skill provided by the intervention program resulted in improved Nareduction cooking capability. According to the results from analyzing the soup salinity, the salinity in watery soup was significant reduced from 0.556 to 0.449 0.107 and soybean-paste soup was significant reduced from 0.669 to 0.551 after the intervention program (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: As the result of fact, the intervention programs that was based on self-reevaluation, to enforce practical skill and consciousness was effective to serve low sodium menu at day care centers.

The Effect of a Periodic Visiting Education Program on Food Safety Knowledge of Cooks in Children's Foodservice Facilities

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a visiting inspection and knowledge-based food safety education program for cooks in child care facilities provided by the Center for Children's Foodservice Management (CCFSM). The research was conducted among cooks at 91 child care facilities; 56 existing facilities had been enrolled since 2011 and provided with the inspection and education program for 2 years and 35 new facilities were enrolled in 2012 and provided with the program for 1 year. The food safety knowledge of the cooks of the two groups were compared by the presence and duration of inspection and education programs provided by the CCFSM. The total mean score for food safety knowledge was 18.48+/-3.09, with a group score of 19.34+/-2.68 for the existing facilities and 17.11+/-3.25 for the new facilities (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between groups in the knowledge of the personal sanitation. According to a post-test for food safety knowledge in the two groups after the completion of a one-year program on food safety by CCFSM, the mean score of food safety knowledge increased by 2.92 to 20.03 for cooks of the new facilities and both groups had significantly higher mean scores than pre-test (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the mean score of each group by post-test. Thus, the one-year continuous program by CCFSM was effective in improving food safety knowledge of the cooks of the child care facilities.

Menstruation and the Variability of Food Intake in Female College Students / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study aimed to elicit the variability of appetite and food intake patterns in female college students during different menstrual phases. The craving for certain foods and physiological and psychological symptoms of menstrual phase (pre- and post-menstrual) were investigated by self-administered questionnaire. Three hundred and sixty six students who were 20.9 years old and had 19.8 kg/m2 of BMI volunteered to participate in this study. Most of the subjects (89.5%) experienced the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) such as irritation, bodily fatigue, nervosity. Symptoms such as tiredness, stomachache, changes in taste and increased appetite were pointed out to be experienced at the onset of the menstrual cycle. The variability of food intake in premenstrual phase, 11.0% of subjects had decreased food intake where as 68.8% had experienced increased intake. The postmenstrual phase, 20.1% had decreased food intake while 45.2% had experienced increased intake due to changes in the appetite. Before starting menstruation, most of the subjects craved for sweets. The group who had experienced abnormal appetite during menstrual phase was significantly high ratio in overweight and obese students (p < 0.05). We also observed an association between the PMS score and the variability of eating patterns during the menstrual phase. The students who experienced changing appetite and food intake had significantly high PMS score in the premenstrual phase (p < 0.01) and postmenstrual phase (p < 0.05). These results suggested a need for future study related to changes in the actual nutrient intake and activity level during the menstrual phase.

The study of Perception in Body Somatotype and Dietary Behaviors - The Comparative Study between Korean and Chinese College Students - / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study aimed to analyze about the perception in obesity and body somatotype of university students in Korea and in China. This study provides the basic data of nutrition education for university student healthy weight program in China. The subjects were selected 240 university students of Korea and China. Two types of qualitative and quantitative questionnaires were used to analyze the attitude and body somatotype of subjects. The results of this study were as follows: The average BMI of Korean and Chinese male students was 22.3 and 22.5, respectively while the average BMI of Korean and Chinese female students was 19.8 and 19.7, respectively. In the past three years, the weight gain of Chinese students was higher than that of Korean students. Chinese students preferred the overweight body somatotype more compared to the Korean students. The overweight and obese students had more obvious insufficiency in body somatotype perception. The overweight and obese students had higher tendency to 'eat more meat', 'drink carbonated beverages', 'eat convenience food', 'take fast food' and 'drink alcohol' than the normal and low weight group. The major reasons for Korean students to control weight were 'appearance' and 'self confidence', while the major reasons for Chinese students were 'health' and 'employment'. From the results of associative group analysis (AGA), Chinese students had different semantic value of 'obese' than Korean students. Considering of the food transition status in China, it may be necessary to develop more suitable education programs for weight control for Chinese university students.

Comparison of Eating Behavior between Commensality and Solo-eating of University Students by BMI / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The objective of this research was to explore the influences of 'having a meal with someone' on individuals' eating pattern. Eating is not a simple matter of energy intake but also serves to anchor daily routines being cultivated by people and society. This study was conducted using a cross-sectional eating behavior survey of university students (N = 893, 380 men, 513 women) aged 20 to 24 years. Results were analyzed and presented as frequencies, means and chi2-test with SPSS 14.0. Differences in dietary habits by commensality and solo-eating were observed; Students who ate alone, spent 15 min for a meal and ate convenience food items when they didn't feel hungry. Compared to students who ate alone, those who ate together with someone spent 30 min for a meal and ate more amount of food. Eighty percent of respondents ate more various menus in commensality than solo-eating. They felt lonely when they ate alone and preferred to eat together. In conclusion, university students start to decide and select their own meals by themselves after junior and high school food services which are fixed with regard to menu and the amount. Dietary habits of Koreans rapidly changed concomitant with social changes over the past half century. Governments and health experts recognize that unbalanced meals cause lifestyle-related diseases, in particular obesity. Our research findings will contribute to more comprehensive efficient nutrition education programs in order to prevent obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases in early stages of adulthood.

A Study on Customized Nutrition Intervention Program Design and Application for the Low-Income Elderly / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study aimed to plan nutrition support programs for the elderly living alone whose nutrition status were seriously concerned, conducted seven stages nutrition intervention program on a trial basis, and evaluated the effectiveness of the program of the Elderly Nutrition Support Project. Subjects were selected for personalized nutrition management based on nutritional risk score and nutrition intervention were tailored to the problems occurred. The elderly nutrition support program targets were 44 senior citizens who lived alone with low income. The 33 (as Type 1) of the subjects with whom milk, tofu, seaweed, eggs, black beans have been supported, and also provide nutrition education, and the rest 11 persons (as Type 2) to whom food was not supported but provide nutrition education programs. As a result, all subjects showed that compared with pre and post program implementation, their daily exercise time and milk and protein consumption level were increased and some improvement was observed regular meals consumption and low-salt diets. Their nutrient intake level such as calories, protein, calcium, iron improved after implementation. In addition, NSL DETERMINE scores significantly improved from 13.21 to 7.24 in Type 1 and 11.27 to 9.91 in Type 2. As positive dietary behavioral changes were observed as in that they purchased more protein and calcium rich foods.

The Effectiveness of Na Education Program in Elementary School: Six Month Follow-up Study / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Nutrition education in elementary school is confronted with the present problem, as a legal basis about obligation of nutrition education in school was clarified. Moreover, it's also important for providing evidence based scientific resources to make a study of evaluating the education effectiveness. Most studies of the nutrition education effectiveness have evaluated the changing dietary attitude and nutritional knowledge score before and after the nutrition education, and suggested the effectiveness of intervention as changing between pre- and post-treatment. Nutrition education, however, purposing long-term changes, follow-up evaluation process about the learned attitude and knowledge of nutrition education were requested. For these reasons, this study attempted to fulfilled standardized nutrition education program which use "Na Story and Food World" and "Na Story for Me", a textbook for the 1st-3rd grade and 4th-6th grade designed by KFDA, and analyzed the changes about the effectiveness of nutrition education happened over a period of time. In this study, each student was assessed their dietary attitude and nutritional knowledge by four periods, before the education, right after the education, after 3 months, and after 6 months. As a result, an average score of nutritional knowledge before the education, 70.08 +/- 17.91, were changed significantly higher right after the education to 85.69 +/- 15.05 (p < 0.001), but it lowered to 84 +/- 15.56 after 3 month. After the nutrition education, students in all grades had positive dietary attitude to Na reduction (p < 0.001). However, the healthy eating attitude about Na reduction had been unable to maintain after 3 and 6 months. Therefore, the systematic reeducated program in elementary school was positively necessary to reinforce children's learning and cognitive skills to maintain healthy eating knowledge and attitude toward Na reduction.

Evaluation of the Readability of Teacher's Guide Book for Nutrition Education-Sugar, Na, Trans Fat / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study is attempted to propose a quality evaluation method of the materials for nutrition education by applying readability test of printed materials for nutrition education. It is significantly important for the teaching class with nutrition education materials to consider students understanding level and education materials topics or choosing words in developed printed materials. This study performed an evaluation of the readability of text in teachers' guidebook, which is devised for elementary school students' education material about sugar, sodium and trans-fat and attempted to estimate the developing materials through analyzing difficulty level of the text. We utilized "The Teacher's Guidebook for Cooking Activity" that had been developed for elementary school by Ministry Education Science and Technology, as the readability evaluation standard. Compared with the average score of readability about "The Teacher's Guidebook for Cooking Activity", 72.94 +/- 6.85, "Sugar Guidebook" was 70.94 +/- 7.46, "Sodium Guidebook" was 68.76 +/- 14.50, and "Trans-fat Guidebook" was 58.87 +/- 10.79. Considering the subjects careers or ages, "The Teacher's Guidebook for Cooking Activity" has little deviation by the subjects careers or ages and was "intermediate" or "easy" level; however, "Sugar Guidebook", "Sodium Guidebook", "Trans-fat Guidebook" was "intermediate" or "difficult" level (p < 0.05). Readability score was especially low when the contents of some particular subjects were too professionalized or scientific terms were frequently used, and thes results were definitely seen in the "Sodium Guidebook" and "Trans-fat Guidebook". With Cloze test score, the readability evaluation will be using as an evaluation tool for the nutrition education materials.

A Factor Analysis Study on Blood Glucose Control in Diabetics Mellitus Patients(1):Focus on Blood Glucose Control and Lifestyle Factors / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Dietary therapy is a basic and emphasized treatment for diabetes. Several clinical studies have shown that diet can play a major role in preventing and managing diabetes. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the dietary behavior and to find solutions to barriers of diabetes mellitus patients. From February to July in 2007, questionnaires were distributed to one hundred and ten patients who were diagnosed DM by physicians and excluded first coming out-patients. One hundred and three data were used for statistical analysis using SPSS/Win 12.0. The main results of this study included the following: To measure dietary behaviors and barriers, a five point scale was used with the following labels: 'strongly yes', 'yes', 'fair', 'no', 'strongly no'. Thirteen dietary behaviors related to diabetes were grouped into the following 4 factors using factor analysis; 'taste control factor', 'blood glucose influence factor', 'practice volition factor', and 'exercise factor'. The mean scores of 4 factors were 3.88, 3.48, 3.55, 3.21, respectively. The 'taste control behaviors' score of subjects who had practiced diet therapy (4.00) was higher than those who had not practiced diet therapy (P < 0.05). The 'blood glucose influence behaviors' score of subjects who had nutrition education (3.59) was higher than those who had no nutrition education (P < 0.05) and subjects who had practiced diet therapy showed higher score (3.59) than those who had not practiced diet therapy (P < 0.05). 'Exercise behaviors score' of subjects who were over 60 (3.59) was the lowest (P < 0.05). Subjects who had nutrition education showed higher 'exercise behaviors' scores (3.38) than those who had no nutrition education (P < 0.05). Subjects who had practiced diet therapy showed higher 'practice volition behaviors' scores (3.72) than those who had not practiced diet therapy (P < 0.001). Subjects who were over weight showed the highest 'practice volition behaviors' scores (3.78) concerning BMI (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study expected that Nutrition educators (Dietitian) applied to patient effective nutrition education and counseling through evaluation of Dietary behaviors and barriers considered management types and ecological factors of diabetes patients. Also diabetic patients were easy to change dietary habits because they formed behaviors through education and counsel and there were positive effects in their blood glucose control through removing barriers related to dietary therapy.

A Study on Parents' Satisfaction with School Foodservice by Foodservice Monitoring Participation

This study was carried out to compare parents' satisfaction with school foodservice between participants and non-participants of foodservice monitoring. Surveys were conducted in six schools that implemented foodservice monitoring. In these schools, 126 participants and 167 non-participants were surveyed. The results were as follows: The participant group was more satisfied with taste (participation 3.63, non-participation 3.20), quantity (participation 3.69, non-participation 3.20), and menu composition (participation 3.67, non-participation 3.16) than the non-participant group. In addition, the satisfaction level of the participant group (3.74) was significantly higher than that of the non-participant group (3.24) (p<0.01). It was also indicated that the overall level of trust toward the foodservice operation was significantly higher in the participant group (3.90) than in the non-participant group (3.32) (p<0.001). After participating in monitoring, 74.8% of the parents changed their perception on school foodservice and 84.7% of them became to have more positive views. In conclusion, we found that parents' participation in school foodservice monitoring had positive effects on their satisfaction and perceptions on school foodservice.

Comparison of student's satisfaction on school food service environment by the eating place and gender

The purpose of this study was to compare student's satisfaction with school food service environment to improve the quality of middle school meal service. A survey was conducted of 680 students (boys 246, girls 433) from 6 middle schools providing school meals from October to November 2007. The questionnaires were directly distributed to the subjects for comparison of satisfaction of school meals depending on the eating place. As for the quantity of food, classroom group (3.40) expressed significantly higher satisfaction than cafeteria group (3.16, P < 0.01), but as for the satisfaction on hygiene, classroom group (2.76) showed significantly lower satisfaction than cafeteria group (3.03, P < 0.01). About the satisfaction of school meal environment, classroom group showed more satisfaction on distribution time, eating place, eating atmosphere (P < 0.001). The classroom group showed higher satisfaction than cafeteria group in cases of quantity, diversity of types of soup, dessert, and the cost of school meal. To improve eating place and hygiene of school meal, sufficient cafeteria space and pleasant environment is needed to be established.

Attitudes Toward Family Meals and Comparisons of Dietary Quality Between Family Meals and Meals Eaten Alone in Middle and High School Students

This study investigated attitudes and behaviors related to family meals among middle and high school students. Furthermore, it evaluated the dietary quality of family meals as compared to meals eaten alone. The data were collected between March and May, 2006, from 353 male and female students attending middle and high schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, using pre-tested self-administered questionnaires. The following results were obtained. In terms of family meal frequency, 44.0% of the middle school students ate with their family 'more than once per day', and 19.3% participated in family meals 1 or 2 times per day. However, only 16.4% of the high school students had family meals 'more than once per day', and 32.9% participated in family meals '1 or 2 times per a week', showing a significant difference between the groups (p<0.001). Fifty-nine percent of the middle school students answered they ate with their family everyday or on week days, whereas 67.8% of the high school students had family meals only on holidays (p<0.001). The nutrient intakes of those participating in family meals were compared to the intakes of those who ate meals alone. For both males and females, calorie intake was higher for those who ate family meals. Animal protein intake was significantly different (p<0.001) between groups, with the results showing a two-fold higher intake for those eating family meals as compared to meals alone. In addition, the intake of animal fat was significantly higher in the family meal group (p<0.001); however, plant-based fat intake was higher in the meal alone group.

The Educational Effect of Pre-medical Curriculum for a Service Learning Program

BACKGROUND: A curriculum in medical school should help doctors achieve professional attitude, ethics and values by socialization process. However, existing knowledge-based curriculum has lots of shortcomings to reach these ideal goals. This study was operated to investigate the effect of a 'service-learning program' for premedical students in medical college of Korea University. METHODS: The survey was conducted from July 3 2006 to 5 at Chungbuk Eumsung Kkottongnae. A total of 99 students completed surveys; before and after the intervention. The questionnaire was consisting of necessity and goal of the program and it also include assessment of students' attitude and contents of the program. Each item was assessed by using 5-Likert scale. For comparing the items, we practiced paired t-test. RESULTS: 97 (response rate 97.9%) students completed survey. 53 students (54.6%) agreed 'the program is really needed.' About the questions: 'self-development from program', 'the program will be helpful for medical activity in the future.' students gave positive answers. The participants' attitude, interest was significantly increased. Also 'the motivation', 'appropriation of the program and time allocation', 'general satisfaction' were all increased. CONCLUSION: 54.6% of participants thought a service-learning program was necessary for a medical curriculum and this program would be helpful to get self-development and professionalism. Active attending for a service-learning program increased interest and motivation. It will be needed further study about the long-term effect of a service-learning program.