The Current Status and Propects of Community Nutrition Services: II. The Perception and Needs of Community Nutrition Services among the Residents of the Pilot Service Areas

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to investigate the perception and needs of community nutrition programs for 379 community residents of 23 health centers where the pilot community nutrition programs are intervening. The awareness rate of the nutrition programs was 54.3% and the reason of the awareness was mainly happened to know when visiting health centers'. More than 90% of the respondents responded that public health nutrition services are necessary. But the residents who experienced the nutrition services showed higher needs of the programs(97.3%) and improved the impression about the roles of health centers(93.6%). They also showed a higher rate of balanced dieting, stronger intentions to change their inappropriate eating style and a higher practicing rate. The more they believed in the provided nutrition information, the more they showed concerns about their diet and practicing rate of the advices from nutritionists. These results show the positive and successful impact of the pilot nutrition programs on the community residents. We need strategies for a more active improvement of the programs and to maintain more qualified public health nutritionists to carry out targeted community nutrition programs.