Assessing the relationship between nutrition literacy and eating behaviors among nursing students: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Eating behavior is an essential aspect of life that can have long-term effects on health outcomes. Among the various factors influencing eating behaviors, nutritional literacy has recently been considered a key factor in improving quality, health, and well-being. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the relationship between nutritional literacy and eating behavior among nursing students at the nursing faculties of Ardabil University of medical sciences. Methods: In this cross-sectional correlational study, 224 students were selected using simple random sampling. The nutritional literacy self-assessment questionnaire for students (NL-SF12) was used to measure nutritional literacy, the adult eating behavior questionnaire (AEBQ) was used to measure eating behaviors, and a demographic characteristics form was used to evaluate demographic characteristics. SPSS Statistics 14 software package was used for statistical analysis. Results: Participants' scores in nutritional literacy performance ranged from 3.28 to 3.46. Among the dimensions of nutritional literacy, the highest score was related to knowledge and interactive skills, while the lowest score was related to applying skills and obtaining skills dimensions. Participants' scores in eating behavior performance ranged from 3.12 to 3.23. Among the dimensions of the "food approach" scale, the highest score was related to enjoyment food dimension, while the lowest score was related to emotional over-eating dimension (EOE). Among the dimensions of the "food avoidance" scale, the highest score was related to food fussiness (FF) dimension, while the lowest score was related to slowness in eating dimension (SE). Based on the results, nutritional literacy explains 44% of variance in eating behavior and shows significant explanatory power in two sub-scales of eating behavior. The adjusted R2 values for food approach and food avoidance scales were 0.33 and 0.27, respectively. Conclusion: Given the significant relationship between nutritional literacy and eating behaviors among nursing students, nursing faculty managers and health policymakers should develop new public health strategies to increase nutritional literacy among nursing students.