Environmental Education, Attitudes, and Behaviours of Nutrition and Dietetics Students on Buying Organic Foods

Year 2021, Volume: 18 Issue: 43, 6177 - 6194, 07.11.2021

Nurhan Unusan , Mustafa Agah Tekindal

https://doi.org/10.26466/opus.872561

Abstract

Environmental knowledge is a main determinant of organic food buying. This study investigated the relationships among nutrition and dietetics students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours toward organic foods as they are marketed as healthier and environment friendly. The participants included all fourth-year nutrition and dietetics undergraduate students at 3 faculties in Konya, Turkey. The Cronbach’s alpha and factor loadings were calculated for the constructed indexes to check the reliability. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test was conducted and the sample size was found to be sufficient. Bartlett’s sphericity test was used to measure the suitability of the chi-square value for factor analysis. The factor analysis was performed on the obtained data of the questionnaire items using the Varimax method. The higher the ratio, the more suitable the data set is for factor analysis. The ANOVA Tukey’s test of additivity was used to calculate the total score of the scale. It was found that students with a higher score on environment knowledge showed a more positive environmental attitude. Specifically, nutrition and dietetics students with more positive environmental attitudes showed positive environmental behaviours. Moreover, environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours were significantly associated with increased frequency of purchasing organic food among students. This is the first research study to investigate the environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of nutrition and dietetics students, which are believed to be associated with their frequency of purchasing organic foods.

Keywords

Environmental Knowledge, Organic Food, Nutrition and Dietetics Students

Beslenme ve Diyetetik Öğrencilerinin Organik Gıda Satın Alma Konusundaki Çevre Eğitimi, Tutum ve Davranışları

Abstract

Çevre bilgisi, organik gıda satın almanın temel belirleyicisidir. Bu çalışma, beslenme ve diyetetik öğrencilerinin daha sağlıklı ve çevre dostu olarak pazarlanan organik gıdalara yönelik bilgi, tutum ve davranışları arasındaki ilişkileri araştırmıştır. Katılımcılar arasında Konya'da 3 fakültenin beslenme ve diyetetik lisans öğrencilerinin tamamı yer amıştırı. Güvenilirliği kontrol etmek için yapılandırılmış indeksler için Cronbach alfa ve faktör yükleri hesaplanmıştır. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin testi yapılmış ve örneklem büyüklüğünün yeterli olduğu görülmüştür. Ki-kare değerinin faktör analizi için uygunluğunu ölçmek için Bartlett'in küresellik testi kullanılmıştır. Anket maddelerinin elde edilen verileri üzerinde Varimax yöntemi kullanılarak faktör analizi yapılmıştır. Oran ne kadar yüksekse, veri seti faktör analizi için o kadar uygundur. Ölçeğin toplam puanını hesaplamak için ANOVA Tukey’in toplamsallık testi kullanılmıştır. Çevre bilgisinden daha yüksek puan alan öğrencilerin daha olumlu bir çevre tutumu sergilediği görülmüştür. Özellikle, daha olumlu çevresel tutuma sahip beslenme ve diyetetik öğrencileri olumlu çevresel davranışlar sergilemişlerdir. Dahası, çevresel bilgi, tutumlar ve davranışlar, öğrenciler arasında organik gıda satın alma sıklığının artmasıyla önemli ölçüde ilişkilendirilmiştir. Bu, beslenme ve diyetetik öğrencilerinin organik gıda satın alma sıklıkları ile ilişkili olduğuna inanılan çevresel bilgi, tutum ve davranışlarını araştıran ilk araştırma çalışmasıdır.

Keywords

Çevre Bilgisi, Organik Gıda, Beslenme ve Diyetetik Öğrencileri

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