Influence of School Food Service Employees' Nutrition Education on Nutrition Knowledge

고등학교 급식 조리종사원의 영양지식과 영양교육 경험과의 관계 연구

This study was designed to investigate the relationships between nutrition education, nutrition awareness and nutrition knowledge of school food service employees. We analyzed 288 self-administered questionnaires. Most of the employees (89.8%) were with contract-managed food services, 45.1% were $41{\sim}50$ years old, and 45.4% had chef certification. Two-thirds of the employees received nutrition education on 'nutritionally balanced diet' and 'sources of calcium', whereas less than 50% received education on 'problems with carbohydrates', 'functions of iron', 'deficiency and sources of iron'. The degree of nutrition awareness was generally higher than the level of nutrition education experience. The mean nutrition knowledge score was 11.7 out of 20 possible points, The majority of employees correctly identified 'sources of calcium (91.8%)', 'functions of carbohydrates (91.4%)', 'sources of cholesterol (91.0%)', and 'problems with lipids (90.4%)'; less than 50% correctly answered 'sources of proteins (18.9%)', 'functions of iron (27.9%)', 'recommended dietary allowances (32.0%)', 'functions of lipids (40.2%)', and 'sources of vitamins (44.3%)'. A chi-square analysis revealed that the employees' actual knowledge did not differ significantly by nutrition education - with the exception of three topics; 'recommended dietary allowances', 'changes in vitamins during cooking', 'functions of water' - or by their nutrition awareness. Nutrition knowledge scores did not differ by sex, decreased with age, increased with academic background, and increased in careers of >10 years or that were contract managed. There were significant correlations between nutrition education scores and nutrition awareness scores (p<0.001); nutrition knowledge scores and nutrition education scores (p<0.001); nutrition knowledge scores and nutrition awareness scores (p<0.001).