Current Status and Activation Needs for Student Nutrition Counseling among Elementary and Middle High School Dietitians

This study was conducted to develop expanding strategies of nutrition counseling in school foodservices. The study participants were 102 school dietitians in Gyeonggi province, and information on the current status, dietitians necessity awareness, and practical activation needs for nutrition counseling were investigated. While 78.8% of dietitians were aware that nutrition counseling was in need, it was only 31.3% who understood the necessity of nutrition counseling. The implementation rate of students nutrition counseling was 26.2%, and 74.0% of counseling dietitians reported that they conducted nutrition counseling because it was on the inspection list by the Office of Education. Overall, dietitians did not have high consciousness of the need for nutrition counseling. The implementation rate of students nutrition counseling was remarkably low due to the reason of excessive work and insufficient participants, and it was interpreted that dietitians had a low intrinsic motivation for nutrition counseling. So, we suggested several strategies to activate school nutrition counseling as follows. First of all, dietitians needed to increase the students participation rate by promoting the importance of nutrition counseling to students and by assigning their available work hours for nutrition counseling. Second, in academic communities, standardized counseling manuals and media covering the important nutrition and health issues should be developed and disseminated, and education programs needed to build up dietitians self-esteem and knowledge on nutrition counseling. Lastly, the Office of Education should have the initiative in activating nutrition counseling in school foodservices by supporting a budget and counseling dietitians who exclusively responsible part-time counseling at schools.