Phenomenological Analysis of Barrier Factors Affecting Nutrition Education Jobs of Nutrition Teachers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to understand barrier factors affecting nutrition education jobs and determining priorities according to frequency of occurrence of obstacles. Focus group interview (FGI) was conducted on 11 nutrition teachers, and the result are summarized by the phenomenological analysis method. The barriers of nutrition education consisted of three categories, seven themes, and 10 sub-themes. The three categories were divided into work burden, recognition of nutrition education, and limitations of the nutrition education environment. Recognition of nutrition education was further divided into internal recognition from nutrition teachers and individual and external recognition from students and staff. The results showed that the most frequent barrier experienced by nutrition teachers in the work burden category was heavy work loads of foodservice management, followed by irrational working environment. In addition, limitations of the nutrition education environment consisted of absence of standard curriculum and textbooks, inadequate education infrastructure, and inadequate class time. To improve this, it is necessary to reduce nutrition teacher's food service management and develop standard curriculum and educational materials for nutrition education.